Ok beginners, I know the vast amount of information relating to fitness can be overwhelming.
How much is enough? How much is too much? No pain no gain? Sets, Reps, volume? There is a lot of confusing and contrasting jargon that often scare people away from even attempting to work out at all! It seems to me that more you educate yourself, the clearer the big picture becomes.
If your goal is simply to stay healthy and to maintain a sense of well being, then doing a little bit everyday can work wonders.
If your goal is to become a top-level athlete, then your needs will require much more work and thought.
To get you started, I'll define a couple terms that are necessary to know should you decide to start any kind of resistance workout.
The term "Reps" is just an abbreviation for the word "Repetitions".
Repetitions refer to each complete movement of the exercise.
For example, if your exercise is the push up, then down and up is equal to one repetition.
The term "Set" refers to the total number of repetitions performed before exhaustion or completion.
If you can only do 10 push-ups before you become exhausted, then there would be 10 repetitions in that set.
Note that it is not necessary to perform every exercise to exhaustion to attain results.
The "no pain, no gain" theory can be very misleading.
Your workouts should be somewhat challenging for you, but should not be "painful".
"No Burn, no Gain" would be a more accurate statement but it doesn't have that nice ring to it.
For beginners, the word to remember is "progression".
Muscles and tendons need time to adapt to exercise and weight lifting.
Start with a low number of reps/sets and gradually increase the amount and intensity of your exercises.
A great training approach for beginners is the circuit workout.
A circuit workout refers to performing a group of different exercises in succession with little rest time in between exercises.
Each different "set" should be multi joint exercise targeting a different area of the body to ensure a full body type of workout.
The weight used in circuit session should be light so you will be able to avoid complete fatigue and complete the workout.
The main idea is to establish your foundation in fitness by targeting as many muscle groups as possible.
When the time comes to increase your training volume (total amount of reps/sets/intensity), your muscles will be better prepared for intensity and more resistant to injury.
Here is a sample workout that would be beneficial and safe for beginners:
Remember to use light weight!
How much is enough? How much is too much? No pain no gain? Sets, Reps, volume? There is a lot of confusing and contrasting jargon that often scare people away from even attempting to work out at all! It seems to me that more you educate yourself, the clearer the big picture becomes.
If your goal is simply to stay healthy and to maintain a sense of well being, then doing a little bit everyday can work wonders.
If your goal is to become a top-level athlete, then your needs will require much more work and thought.
To get you started, I'll define a couple terms that are necessary to know should you decide to start any kind of resistance workout.
The term "Reps" is just an abbreviation for the word "Repetitions".
Repetitions refer to each complete movement of the exercise.
For example, if your exercise is the push up, then down and up is equal to one repetition.
The term "Set" refers to the total number of repetitions performed before exhaustion or completion.
If you can only do 10 push-ups before you become exhausted, then there would be 10 repetitions in that set.
Note that it is not necessary to perform every exercise to exhaustion to attain results.
The "no pain, no gain" theory can be very misleading.
Your workouts should be somewhat challenging for you, but should not be "painful".
"No Burn, no Gain" would be a more accurate statement but it doesn't have that nice ring to it.
For beginners, the word to remember is "progression".
Muscles and tendons need time to adapt to exercise and weight lifting.
Start with a low number of reps/sets and gradually increase the amount and intensity of your exercises.
A great training approach for beginners is the circuit workout.
A circuit workout refers to performing a group of different exercises in succession with little rest time in between exercises.
Each different "set" should be multi joint exercise targeting a different area of the body to ensure a full body type of workout.
The weight used in circuit session should be light so you will be able to avoid complete fatigue and complete the workout.
The main idea is to establish your foundation in fitness by targeting as many muscle groups as possible.
When the time comes to increase your training volume (total amount of reps/sets/intensity), your muscles will be better prepared for intensity and more resistant to injury.
Here is a sample workout that would be beneficial and safe for beginners:
- Squats- 12-15 reps / 2 sets
- Bench press- 12-15 reps/ 2 sets (this will just be the 45 lb.
barbell for somebeginners) - Lunges- 12-15 reps (each leg)/ 2 sets
- Lat pull downs- 12-15 reps/ 2 sets
Remember to use light weight!
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