Almost
any form of exercise will stimulate some degree of strength and
muscle development. Unfortunately, misconceptions, myths, and
misunderstandings plague the fitness industry, especially in regard
to strength training. There is a huge attrition rate among those
starting a strength training program primarily because most people
are not taught the principles essential for a safe and effective
program.
This
article is part five of a five part series discussing the
very important principles and guidelines of a safe and effective
strength training program. This article discusses exactly
how to avoid the common mistake of over training. The previous
article, part four of this five part series, discusses the
importance of using the right amount of weight and number
of repetitions for each set, so you can achieve the results
you desire. The following exercise guidelines are extremely
important for your safety and the effectiveness of your strength
training program.
Avoid
Over Training
If
you feel burnt out, weak, and/or sore, you are probably over
training. Not providing your muscles with enough rest will
often prevent you from making improvements. Training the wrong
muscle groups on consecutive days will also counteract your
good results. Doing too many sets and exercises per muscle
group will also cause over training.
Remember
that weightlifting, especially in an intense program, produces
tissue microtrauma, those tiny tears in the muscles that temporarily
decrease strength and cause varying degrees of muscle soreness.
It is absolutely necessary to provide ample rest time between
successive training sessions. Muscles generally require about
48 hours for the resting and rebuilding process before you
work them again.
You
should never train the same muscle groups on two or more days
in a row (abdominals are the exception). Hypothetically then,
you would do your chest, shoulders, triceps, and abdominals
on Monday; on Tuesday you would train your legs, back, biceps,
and abdominals; you would take Wednesday off to give all your
muscle groups extra rest; on Thursday you'd do chest, shoulders,
triceps, and abdominals again; and on Friday you'd do legs,
back, biceps, and abdominals again. This would allow two days
(48 hours) of rest for each muscle between training days.
Those
of you who train very intensely, would benefit greatly by
taking even more rest time between sessions. A week does not
have to be limited to only seven days--you can expand it to
eight, nine, or even ten days. Think about it: why not? Day
one could consist of chest, shoulders, triceps, (pushing muscles)
and abdominals on Monday. Take Tuesday off. On day two, Wednesday,
the routine could consist of legs, back, biceps, (pulling
muscles) and abdominals. Take Thursday off. On Friday you
do chest, shoulders, triceps, and abdominals again--and so
on. This is especially important when mixing pushing and pulling
muscles for different sessions. For example, if you train
your chest on Monday and then triceps the next day, your triceps
never really get a complete rest because they are indirectly
trained with your chest on Monday and directly trained on
Tuesday. But if you split up chest/shoulders/triceps or back/biceps,
working them on different days, you can implement this eight
day program for maximum muscle resting time. Remember: always
allow your muscles a chance to grow, especially when you are
feeling over trained. If needed, give yourself an extra day
off to grow. Never feel guilty about skipping a workout. That
extra rest could be exactly what your body needs.
Many
people make the mistake of doing too many sets per exercise,
and/or doing too many exercises per muscle group. It's very
common for people who want great muscle size and strength
gains to simply do too much for each muscle group and overtrain
to the point where they do more harm than good. A common weightlifting
recommendation is to do at least four sets for each exercise
and at least four exercises for each muscle group. This idea
that "more is better" is a big misconception in
the strength training industry and is recommended in many
"muscle magazines" and other sources.
But
when you see Mr. or Ms. Olympia in muscle magazines describing
their workouts of four to five sets per exercise and four
to five exercises per muscle group, do not be fooled into
thinking that if you want their results you have to do what
they do. These are professional body builders, quite likely
to be on steroids; they can get away with these very intense
long programs because their muscles are able to rebuild very
quickly. If you are not on steroids--and for the sake of your
health I hope you are not—your muscles will not be able to
rebuild themselves quickly enough to make gains.
For
each of the large muscle groups in the body such as back,
chest, shoulders, quadriceps, and hamstrings, two to four
exercises for each muscle is enough. For the smaller muscle
groups such as biceps, calves, trapezius, etc. one to three
exercises are enough. Because your back, for example, has
specific muscles that need to be isolated, it is important
that of the three exercises you perform, you do one that primarily
targets each of the three areas: upper-middle back, lats.,
and lower back.
When
you're doing two to four exercises for each muscle group,
make sure you don't duplicate movements of specific muscle
groups. For example, it makes no sense to do three sets of
Bench Press using a barbell and then do three sets of Bench
Press using dumbbells or Push-ups. Each of these exercises
requires exactly the same movement and works the same specific
muscle. Instead, it would make much more sense to do bench
press for overall middle chest (either barbell, dumbbell,
or machine); do incline bench press for upper chest; and do
dips for lower-outer chest.
One
point--maybe the most important of all for ongoing strength
training programs--that is absolutely imperative to understand
and implement into your training regimen is the need to overcome
training plateaus. Ideally, you want to always be going through
a momentum phase in which you try something new and "shock"
your muscles, forcing them to make gains. Eventually however,
you will come to a point in your training where you either
get bored or stop seeing results.
When
this happens it is absolutely crucial that you change what
you are doing; this is when you need to get creative by incorporating
something new into your program. You can make effective changes
in your program in many ways: try new or alternate exercises,
change the order that you train your muscles or the order
of the exercises, and so forth.
I
hope you have found the information in these five part series
of articles helpful. You now have the knowledge to achieve
the results you desire and the benefits your body deserves.
Your greatest challenge, however, is not learning new exercises
or the proper technique; it's not learning how many sets or
reps to do or how much weight to use. Nor is it deciding when
or how to change your routine. The greatest challenge facing
you at this moment is deciding whether you are willing to
take action and make strength training a priority.
When
you begin achieving great results, the excitement and fun
you experience will make the change well worth the effort.
Action creates motivation! Good luck: I hope you enjoy all
the wonderful benefits of an effective strength training program.
Chad Tackett
is President of Global Health & Fitness. Learn how you
can have your own personal online trainer, dietician and motivator
at
http://www.global-fitness.com
