Beginning Strength Training A 5 Step Plan for Strength Training Success

Citation preview

Beginning Strength Training A 5 Step Plan for Strength Training Success

Mark Sherwood Visit Mark’s Website at: www.precisionpointtraining.com

The author and publisher of the information in this book are not responsible in any manner for physical harm or damages that may occur in response to following the instructions presented in this material. As with any exercise program, a doctor’s approval should be obtained before engaging in exercise.

Free Books

Hi, I want to offer you three additional books for free. These books contain the reasoning for why the human body gains strength and provide the basis for the training strategies that are presented in all the strength training books that I have written and made available for purchase. A lot of common training methods are focused on obtaining quick results, but these same methods often fail to help you keep gaining over an extended period of time. You can avoid this problem by learning the concepts that are crucial to your long term success in the three free books I offer. If you would like access to these books, simply click on the link below, fill in your email address on the sign up form that appears, and the books will be sent to your inbox in pdf format.

Click here for 3 FREE strength training books

Table of Contents Introduction Chapter 1: The Most Important Piece of Equipment Chapter 2: Weight Training Equipment Chapter 3: Five Steps to Workouts That Produce Great Results STEP 1: Select the Best Exercises for Developing Strength STEP 2: Learn How to Perform Each Exercise With Excellent Form Your First Workout STEP 3: Determine the Right Amount of Weight for Ten Strong Reps STEP 4: Determine the Number of Sets you can do at Full Strength for Each Exercise STEP 5: Learn When to Add Weight Chapter 4: The Pyramid Method Chapter 5: Eating for Strength Chapter 6: Moving Ahead Strength Training Resources About the Author

Introduction Strength training has the potential to be tremendously rewarding and add several benefits to your physical wellbeing. In addition to helping you get stronger, strength training increases muscle mass which speeds up your metabolism and makes it easier to burn calories. It tends to lower cholesterol levels and improve insulin sensitivity which produces better blood sugar level stability. Weight training also increases capillary development and blood flow to working muscles, and it often results in increased bone density. If you play sports, gaining strength may contribute to improved performance within your sport. These benefits are especially applicable if you understand how to train correctly. I wish I could say that strength training always provides positive benefits for everyone who engages in it. Unfortunately, exercise has the potential to cause injuries and lead to negative experiences. It is possible to do workouts that require a huge amount of effort, but produce little in the way of strength gains. I don’t know of anything more frustrating than making a commitment to work hard to improve, only to experience negative results, or a lack of positive benefits. This does not have to happen, but before you jump into a strength training program, some basic knowledge can make a huge difference in the outcome of your efforts. When it comes to strength training, people either tend to err on the side of lack of effort, or they overdo it with the belief that training more, longer, and harder, is always better. These are common mistakes that negate the positive benefits that can be derived from strength training. If you don’t train hard enough, you won’t gain very much strength, and if you train too hard, you may be able to gain for a while, but it will eventually limit your strength gains. Strength training works best when it is done with precision. People understand that when it comes to taking care of plants or gardens that the right conditions are important. If plants don’t get enough water or light, and the temperature is too low, they don’t grow well. On the other hand, you can overwater plants, and you can give them too much light along with temperatures that are too high. When plants don’t get enough of what they need in order to thrive, they do poorly, and too much of a good thing can be just as bad. It’s far better to know the right conditions that the plant needs so

that it can thrive. Your body is the same way, it doesn’t do well when you are totally inactive, nor does it do well when you go overboard with excessive training and severe workouts. Precision is the key. In order to get started right, this will be emphasized by guiding you through a five step plan that will help you get the results you want.

Chapter 1 The Most Important Piece of Equipment

Before you begin strength training, it is helpful to have access to equipment that will provide you with the best opportunity to gain strength. However, the miracle of strength training is not in a piece of equipment that you can buy. Without question, the most important piece of equipment for strength training is your own body. Even if you have access to the most modern sophisticated equipment for strength training, it won’t help you very much if you don’t understand how your body works. When you understand how your body works, you will know how often to train, how heavy to train, how long to train, and how hard to train. You’ll know which exercises to do and how to do them, and you’ll know when to add more weight to each exercise. When you get these things right, you will be far better off than someone who has spent a fortune on elaborate exercise equipment, but they don’t have adequate knowledge in regard to how their own body works. Since your body is so incredibly important, make sure that it is working right before you get started with an exercise program. I suggest having a physical

examination, and let your doctor know that you will be starting a strength training program. He or she should also know your medical history in case there are any physical or medical concerns that would make it unsafe for you to lift weights or exercise. Along with this, please use common sense and don’t begin a strength training program if you already have an injury or physical condition that can be aggravated by exercise. Once you’ve been cleared by a doctor, you will be ready to engage in an exercise program. If your body is healthy, the next step is to consider the equipment that you will need in order to do productive workouts.

Chapter 2 Weight Training Equipment

Since I believe that that precise workouts are a critical component to your training success, one of the first things that I would emphasize is to obtain the right equipment. If you want to make the most of your strength training efforts, you will benefit from using adjustable free weights or weight training machines as the basis of workouts. The reason I emphasize this is because weights can easily be adjusted to fit your level of strength. This cannot be done very easily with bodyweight exercises. It may be that you lack strength and cannot do bodyweight exercises without compromising your exercise form. It may also be that you progress very quickly and need to use more than just your bodyweight for some exercises. If you know how to use them, weights can be adjusted as your strength changes in order to allow you to always train with strength specific precision. An Adjustable Barbell, Bench Press, and Squat Rack Some of you may train at a gym and have access to more than enough weight training equipment for your workouts. Others of you may end up training at home and will need to consider what equipment you need for your workouts. The most important piece of weight training equipment is an

adjustable barbell, preferably six to seven feet long, and made out of steel or chrome. A shorter barbell that is five feet or less will not permit a wide hand spacing when needed, nor will it permit space to add very much weight to the ends of the barbell. Not only that, but a short bar may not even be long enough to fit on a bench press stand or a squat rack. Be careful about buying a beginner barbell set that is less than 100 pounds, not only may the bar be on the short side in terms of length, but it may also be somewhat flimsy. A flimsy bar may start to bend and warp as you gain strength and add weight. Another important consideration when choosing a barbell is to know how big around the end of the barbell is. A standard barbell is one inch in diameter at the end, and an Olympic barbell is two inches in diameter at the end. It is very important to get weight plates that have a hole that matches the diameter of the ends of your barbell. Both the standard barbell and Olympic bar will work, but an Olympic bar is usually heavier and much more expensive. An example of a standard adjustable barbell is shown in the picture below.

Weight Plates The round discs that are add onto the barbell are called barbell plates. Sometimes they are just called “plates,” or “weight plates.” They come in several sizes and weights. The most common sizes are two and a half pound plates, five pound plates, ten pound plates, twenty five pound plates, and forty five pound plates. You may not need the forty five pound plates, but you will probably need the various sized plates that range from two and a half pounds to twenty five pounds to get started. I feel that it is especially important to have at least one set of five pound plates, and one set of two and a half pound plates. If you only have plates that are ten pounds and bigger, by the time you add a ten pound plate to each side of the barbell, you have just increased the weight on the bar by twenty pounds. Adding a five pound plate to each side (two total plates) will increase the weight of the barbell by ten pounds. Adding a two and a half pound plate to each side (two total plates) will increase the weight of the barbell by five pounds. Increasing the weight of the barbell by five or ten pounds is much more manageable than adding twenty or more pounds with bigger plates. This is extremely important when selecting a weight that fits your strength level for an exercise, and it is a huge factor to consider when increasing your weights as you grow stronger. It is difficult to grow stronger in increments of ten or more pounds, and it is much easier to add on five pounds to an exercise as you grow stronger. It’s not uncommon for five pound plates to be the lightest plate to add to a barbell in commercial gyms. This forces you to increase the weight of an exercise by ten pounds as you get stronger. No wonder people eventually get stuck at the same strength level. They are forced to increase with increments of weight that are too big. If you work out at a gym that doesn’t have two and a half pound plates, I would suggest buying your own two and a half pound plates to have available when needed so you can progress by five pounds as your strength increases. Small weight plates are very helpful when adding weight

Bench Press The next most important piece of equipment is a bench press with stands that can hold the barbell. If you don’t already have a bench press, and are considering buying one, make sure that the stands that hold the bar are not the same width as the hand placement that you would use when grasping the bar. The stands should not get in the way of your hands when grasping the bar, which basically means that wide stands are better than narrow stands (unless you have a short bar). Another important consideration is that a good bench press can be adjusted from a flat bench press to an incline bench press. The bench press in the following picture is adjusted to an incline position, but can also be adjusted to a flat position. An adjustable bench is preferable as it will give you more options for chest exercises.

Squat Stands Most bench press stands are attached to the bench, but sometimes you can find a bench press that has stands that are separate from the bench. The advantage of stands that are separate from the bench is that the stands can double as a squat rack stand that will help you get the barbell in position on your shoulders for doing the squat exercise. If you are looking for a squat rack stand in order to exercise your legs effectively, make sure the stands are adjustable so that they can be raised or lowered to fit the height of your shoulders.

Helpful Equipment It is not mandatory to use weight lifting gloves or a weight lifting belt when you work out, but weight lifting gloves will save your hands from a lot of wear and tear, and a weight lifting belt will provide added support to your back and midsection. Weight lifting gloves and belts can usually be found by searching online, or by going to a sporting goods store, or the sporting goods section at a department store. The most important thing to consider in regard to belts and gloves is to find a size that fits.

Optional Equipment for Training If you still want more training equipment, the next piece of equipment that I would recommend is an adjustable dumbbell set. For those who want a full home gym, a lat pull machine is also extremely helpful for back training as it is a very safe back exercise that does not stress your spinal column. Some lat pull machines also come with a seated pulley row machine which is another great back exercise. It is also very common for attachments to come with the bench press. These attachments include a leg extension/leg curl attachment for your front and back leg muscles, and a preacher curl attachment for training your biceps. All In One Home Gyms If you look for exercise equipment for very long, you will probably come across some form of an all in one home gym. These are single machines that are equipped to provide you with several strength training exercises. They generally enable you to do exercises for almost every body part. The most important exercises for building strength on machines are: the bench press (or chest press); exercises that permit a rowing or pulling motion; and some form

of a leg press. If the machine provides these exercises, it is a good option to consider when selecting exercise equipment.

Chapter 3 Five Steps to Workouts That Produce Great Results If you have ever had something to eat that was so good you could hardly get enough of it, chances are it had a recipe; usually an exact recipe. There are times when being exact is important. Can you imagine getting on a commercial jet that wasn’t built exactly right, or having a pilot that didn’t know exactly how to fly the plane? I bring this up because if you want something to work the right way, specifics are necessary. It’s true with recipes, it’s true with building and flying planes, and it’s true for getting the most out of your workouts. The more you understand how strength specific training works, the more precise you can be in designing workouts that deliver optimum results when you begin training. Understanding the basics of strength specific training can get confusing if too much information is thrown at you at once. However, it can be broken into steps to make it much easier to grasp. All you need to do is focus on one step at a time until you master each step. If you approach strength training in this manner, it won’t be difficult to learn how to train effectively. Your overall goal is to master the five following steps: 1. Choose the most effective exercises for developing strength. 2. Learn how to perform each basic exercise with excellent exercise form. 3. Determine the right amount of weight for ten strong reps for each exercise. 4. Determine the number of sets you can do at full strength for each exercise. 5. Learn how to identify when you are ready to add weight. As you read through the steps, some of the terminology is probably unfamiliar to you right now, but it will be explained as you proceed through this book.

Step 1 Select the Best Exercises for Developing Strength Effective strength training is based on identifying the muscle groups that have the greatest capacity for gaining strength. Exercises should then be selected for those muscle groups to make them as strong as possible. There are three main muscle groups that have the greatest size and capacity for strength development. They include, the muscles of the back, the chest (pectorals), and the leg and glute muscles (glute muscles are the muscles of your behind). Among these three muscle groups, leg and glute muscles are worked by doing squatting or leg press exercises, back muscles are worked by doing pulling exercises, and chest muscles are worked by doing pushing (also known as pressing) exercises. If you select the right exercises, you will reap an additional benefit by exercising smaller muscle groups that assist the leg/glutes, back, and chest muscles when lifting weights. For example, when doing squatting exercises for the legs, you will also be working the core stability muscles of the midsection. When doing pulling motions for the back, you will also be using the biceps muscles of the arms, and the rear deltoid muscles of the shoulders. When doing pushing exercises for the chest, you will also be working the triceps muscles of the back of your arms, and the front and side muscles of your shoulders. This is explained in the table below:

If you want to make the most of your efforts, do exercises that work the biggest muscles while also utilizing smaller muscles to assist the bigger muscles. The best exercises for this are called basic compound exercises. In the next chapter, you will see pictures of basic compound exercises that are great for building strength along with written instructions for how to perform them.

Step 2 Learn How to Perform Each Exercise With Excellent Form

While it is important to select the right exercises to build strength, it is also very important to perform each exercise correctly as this will make a huge impact on how well you progress. Correct exercise form insures that you do the exercise in a safe manner, and that the right muscles are being targeted during the exercise. Your first job is simply to learn the name of each exerise, and to understand how the exercise should be performed. Before you jump into using barbells or dumbbells, take the time to look at each exercise and read the instructions for how to do each exercise.

Squats

Muscles of emphasis: Upper leg muscles: (quadriceps and hamstrings) glutes, and lower back Exercise Instructions: 1. In order to use sufficient weight for the barbell squat, you need a squat rack that will hold the weight just below shoulder level. 2. Position your body under the bar so that you can place the bar across the back of your shoulders. Lift the bar off the squat stands, take two steps back, and set up in a standing position with your feet about shoulder width apart. 3. Keeping your back straight, squat down until your thighs are parallel with the floor and return to a standing position. Repeat the exercise motion until the desired number of repetitions have been completed.

Tips and Considerations The ratio between the length of your upper body and the length of your legs, plus the ratio between your upper leg and lower leg can have a large effect on how you squat. A person who has a long upper body and short legs, and has shorter upper legs than lower legs, will have a much easier time squatting in an upright position than a person who possesses long legs, a short upper body, and a long upper leg. The person with long legs and a short upper body will have to bend over much more while also allowing their behind to stick out behind them more in order to keep their balance. A person with very long legs may find that a wide stance is the only way to keep a fairly upright position with their upper body when squatting. Each person will have to experiment to find a way of squatting that is comfortable for them. If squatting seems very awkward for you, you may need to observe yourself in a mirror or get help from a lifter, or a coach who understands your body structure and personal needs.

Leg Press

Muscles of Emphasis: Upper Leg Muscles (Quadriceps & Hamstrings), Glutes Exercise Instructions: 1. Sit in a leg press with your with you behind firmly on the seat and your back centered flat against the back rest. 2. Place your feet about twelve to eighteen inches apart against the foot platform. The further up you place your feet on the foot platform, the more it tends to work the glute muscles of your behind along with the back of your thighs (your hamstrings). The further down you place your feet on the foot platform, the less it will work your glutes and hamstrings, while utilizing the quadriceps (front of the thighs) to lift the weight.

3. Many leg press machines have a safety bar that holds the weights in place. This requires that you grasp the handles to the safety bar which are usually located down by the side of your hips. You must then extend your legs into a straight position and rotate the safety bar handles outward. 4. Once you have extended your legs into a straight position, lower the weight until your legs are bent at a 90 degree angle to establish a starting position. From the starting position, extend your legs against the weight until they are straight, then return to the starting position. Repeat until you reach the desired number of repetitions.

Bent Over Barbell Rows

Muscles of Emphasis: Back, Biceps, and Rear Deltoids Exercise Instructions: 1. While keeping your back straight (do not round your back), bend over a barbell that is on the ground and grasp it using an overhand grip with hands spaced about shoulder width apart. 2. While maintaining a bent over position, pull the barbell up until it touches the middle of your waist. 3. While maintaining a bent over position, lower the bar carefully to arm’s length. 4. Repeat this motion until you have reached the desired number of repetitions. 5. Keep your back stable during the exercise; be careful not to jerk the weight up with your back.

Variations 1. Use a narrower hand grip spacing for more of a stretch in latissimus dorsi muscles. 2. Use a wider hand grip to stress the upper, outer muscles of the teres major muscles of the back. 3. Dumbbells can be used instead of a barbell when doing bent over rows. 4. This exercise can be done with one arm at a time when using dumbbells.

Seated Pulley Rows

Muscles of Emphasis: Back, Biceps, and Rear Deltoids Exercise Instructions 1. Not all equipment for seated pulley rows is the same. The essential concept is to face a pulley device and sit down close enough to grasp the handle (preferably a v-bar handle) at the end of the pulley. 2. Legs should be slightly bent and positioned forward in front of the body with the feet placed forward on the foot platform or crossbar if it is available on the pulley device. 3. Make sure your upper body is positioned upright with the back straight and chest high. 4. Reach forward with both hands to grasp the handle at the end of the pulley. 5. Pull the handle towards your body until it touches the upper abdomen area.

6. Squeeze your shoulder blades together as you pull the handle into your body. 7. Lower the weight by returning your hands and arms to the starting position in front of your body. 8. Repeat pulling the handle into your body and returning it to the starting position for the desired number of repetitions.

Bench Press

Emphasis: Chest (Pectoral) Muscles, Triceps, and front Deltoids Exercise Instructions: 1. Position yourself on your back on a bench press bench. 2. Use an overhand grip to grasp the bar with your hands a little wider than shoulder width apart. 3. Take the barbell that is on the bench press rack and push it up to arm’s length above your chest. 4. Carefully lower the bar down until it is touching your lower chest. 5. Push the bar straight up to arm’s length. 6. Repeat until you reach the desired number of reps and carefully put the bar back on the bench press rack that supports the barbell. Variations

1. A wider grip with elbows wide to the side during the lift will emphasize the outer chest muscles. Caution, a wide grip with elbows wide to the side can be stressful to the shoulder joint if done too often or with weights that are too heavy. 2. A close grip will emphasize the triceps muscles. Keeping the elbows in close to the body will emphasize the inner triceps on the back or your arms and the front deltoid muscles of the shoulders. Flaring the elbows out to the side while using a close grip will emphasize the outer triceps muscles of the arms. 3. Dumbbells can also be used instead of a barbell as a bench press variation.

Barbell Curls

Emphasis: Bicep Muscles of the Arms Exercise Instructions: 1. Grasp a barbell with an underhand grip and allow your arms to hang straight down in front of you with the barbell just in front of the thighs. 2. Lift the barbell up to your chest with your lower arm while keeping your upper arms stationary and in close to your sides. 3. Carefully lower the bar back to the starting position and repeat the exercise motion until the desired number of repetitions have been completed.

Triceps Extensions

Emphasis: Triceps Muscles of the back of the arms Exercise Instructions: 1. Stand facing a triceps extension machine and grasp the triceps handle with palms down and upper arms and elbows close to your sides. 2. The arms should be bent at a 90 degree angle with the upper arms perpendicular to the ground and forearms parallel to the floor. 3. Press the triceps handles downward until it touches your thighs. 4. Carefully return the handle to the starting position and repeat the lift until the desired number of repetitions has been completed.

Dumbbell Side Lateral Raises

Emphasis: Outer Deltoid Muscles of the Shoulders Exercise Instructions: 1. Grasp one dumbbell in each hand and start with your arms and dumbbells hanging down by your sides. 2. Raise each arm straight out to the side from the starting position until the dumbbells are at shoulder height. Palms should be facing down at the top of the movement. 3. Carefully lower your dumbbells and arms back to the starting position and repeat the exercise motion until the desired number of repetitions have been completed.

Planks

Emphasis: Abdominal Muscles of the mid-section Instructions: 1. Assume the position that is shown in the picture above. 2. Make sure your body forms a straight line from your head to your feet. 3. Make a deliberate effort to tighten your thighs along with your stomach (abdominal) muscles, lower back, and glute muscles of the behind. 4. Make sure to maintain a steady breathing pattern while holding the plank position for thirty seconds. 5. Increase the time you hold the plank position little by little until you can hold it for 90 seconds.

Sets and Reps When doing the exercises that are listed and explained, the common way to express the amount of work you do for each exercise is usually expressed by using the terms “sets” and “reps.” The term rep(s) is an abbreviation for the word repetition. A rep (or repetition) is done each time a weight is lowered and lifted. Reps are usually done one after another without stopping until a specified number of reps have been completed. For example, a person could to do ten consecutive reps for an exercise and then put the weight down to rest. Any number of consecutive reps can be done to form what is referred to as a set of reps. If ten consecutive reps were used for a set, it would be referred to as “one set of ten reps.” A person could do two sets of ten reps, three sets of ten reps, or any amount of sets and reps that they choose for a workout. I recommend basing the number of sets and reps that you do upon what I refer to as strong reps and strong sets, which will be discussed as you proceed through the book.

Your First Workout For your first workout, I suggest doing the following exercises: Bench Press (or chest press on a machine) Barbell Squats (or leg press on a machine) Barbell or Cable Pulley Rows (or seated pulley rows or lat pull downs on a machine) Barbell Curls Planks Do Each Exercise for 3 Sets of 10 Reps Your workouts should consist of three sets of ten reps for each of the exercises listed with the exception of planks. For planks, you will simply hold the plank position for 30 seconds. A written workout is shown below:

Bench press:

3 sets of 10 reps

Barbell Squats:

3 sets of 10 reps

Barbell or Cable Pulley Rows: Barbell Curls: 3 sets of 10 reps

3 sets of 10 reps

Planks: Hold a plank position for 30 seconds. Do this workout 3 times per week Your Primary Goal: Learn Excellent Form Your primary goal for your first workout should simply be to get the feel of how to do each exercise, and to strive to use excellent exercise form. Don’t worry about using heavy weights in your first workout as it will interfere with your ability to concentrate on doing the exercise properly. I highly recommend that you start each exercise with an empty bar without putting any weight plates on it. Some of the strongest men on earth begin their workouts with an unloaded bar in order to warm up and work on lifting form.

Guidelines for Excellent Exercise Form To the best of your ability, strive to do ten perfect reps. If the weight that you used for your first set of an exercise was easy and your form felt good, you can add five or ten pounds for your second set, and add a little more weight to your third set. If the added weight feels heavy, or your form feels awkward, go back to a lighter weight that you are comfortable with. Use the following guidelines while doing each exercise: -Your body is properly positioned (refer to the pictures) -A correct starting and finishing position is used for each rep to promote a full range of motion. -Both your body and the weights are always on balance. -Reps are done using a smooth even pace without jerking or bouncing. -The weight is lowered over a period of two seconds and is lifted over a period of two seconds when learning the exercise. -Breathe in when lowering the weight, breathe out when lifting the weight. Do Three Workouts per Week After you work out, rest the next day without doing a workout. Your goal is to do three workouts on nonconsecutive days for your first week. An example of this would be to work out on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, or Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. Remember that you are focused on learning the exercises correctly, not on finding out how much you can lift as that will come next week. Monitor Your Body During the first week, it is very important to monitor your body. If there are any exercises that feel hazardous or awkward to the point where you feel at risk of an injury, make sure you review the instructions on how to do the exercise to insure you are doing it in a safe manner. Continue to learn how to do it using very light weights until you are comfortable with the exercise. If there is a part of your body that feels weak or vulnerable to injury, back off by using lighter weights until you have mastered the exercise and the weakness has been strengthened enough to proceed with added weight. It’s possible that

this may take several weeks or a couple months, but the idea is to build your body up, not to break it down. Only proceed to work out as long as your body is working properly without any type of discomfort that makes you feel vulnerable to injury. If any part of your body is experiencing pain, or you feel vulnerable to injury, either back off by using less weight, or stop doing workouts.

Step 3 Determine the Right Amount of Weight for Ten Strong Reps

At this point, you know which exercises to select for your workouts, and you should have a feel for how to do the exercises after week one. This covers the first two steps that contribute to successful workouts. You are now ready to focus on step number three, which is to determine the right amount of weight to use for ten strong reps. In order to do this, you must be able to identify what a strong rep is. This will be explained as you continue reading. The Importance of Strong Reps When you are performing repetitions, you will either be doing strong reps, or weak reps. Your goal is to only do strong reps and avoid doing weak reps. When you perform a set of an exercise, strong reps are being done as long as you have the ability to repeat repetitions using a steady even pace from one rep to the next. However, if you keep repeating reps during a set, you will eventually grow fatigued to the point where it will affect the pace of your reps. When you can no longer maintain a steady even pace from one rep to the next, you are no longer doing strong reps, you are doing weak reps. Weak reps are

often marked by pausing longer between reps and doing them slower with more strain. It is important to develop an awareness of how far you can push a set before you start to do weak reps. Your muscles lack the ability to produce force and power when you grow tired and are doing weak reps. This will result in suboptimal force production, which can interfere with the strength development process. Two Seconds Down, One Second Up In spite of the fact that strong reps are faster than weak reps, it is ok to do slow reps during your first week of training when learning how to do each exercise. The slow controlled reps will help you to learn how to do the exercises using correct form. However, after a week of doing each exercise with the best form possible, you may consider increasing how fast you lift the weight. You should still take approximately two seconds to lower the weight, but the upward lifting motion can be shortened to one second (a full second). The lifting rhythm should be two seconds down, one second up. Doing a rep in this manner will resemble what a strong rep should look like. If you are not fully comfortable with your lifting form when using a two second down, one second up pace, go back to a two seconds down, and two seconds up pace. Positive - Negative Among people who are familiar with weight training terminology, lowering the weight is often referred to as the negative portion of the rep. Lifting the weight upward is often referred to as the positive portion of the rep. Goal for Week 2: Accomplish Step 3 by Finding Your Strong Rep Max for 10 Reps Your primary goal for week two is to accomplish step three. Step three requires you to experiment until you find the maximum amount of weight that you can use for ten strong reps. This is also known as your strong rep max for ten reps. Please understand that your strong rep max for ten reps is not the same as pushing so hard that the tenth rep is the last rep that you can possibly do (which is called training to failure). When you do ten strong reps, you could push to do more reps if you wanted to. You may be able to push yourself to twelve, thirteen, or fourteen reps, but they will be weaker slower reps. Don’t do weak reps, only do strong reps that can repeated while using a steady even rep pace.

It may take you a few workouts to find the maximum amount of weight that fits your ability to do ten strong reps for each exercise. When doing your workouts during week two, I suggest that you limit yourself to three sets for each exercise by using the following procedure: 1. Start out with a light weight that you can easily do for ten reps on your first set of an exercise. 2. Assuming the weight is easy to lift for ten reps, add a little weight and do a second set for ten reps. 3. Your goal for the third set is to find the maximum amount of weight that permits ten strong reps. 4. If the weight was either too heavy or to light for your third set, wait until the next workout and make adjustments by using more or less weight. You will eventually find a weight that matches your strength level for ten strong reps, but it may take you a few workouts to accomplish this. Week two should consist of three workouts. The written workout looks exactly the same as your workout for week one, but you will focus on finding the maximum weight that you can use for ten strong reps for your third set. If you are not able to find the right amount of weight to do ten strong reps during week two, then take another week of workouts to do so. The written workout is listed for you again:

Bench press:

3 sets of 10 reps

Barbell Squats: 3 sets of 10 reps Barbell or Cable Pulley Rows: 3 sets of 10 reps Barbell Curls:

3 sets of 10 reps

Planks: Hold a plank position for 30 seconds. Advice to the Super Motivated Those who are very motivated and highly enthusiastic may want to push beyond their capacity for strong reps in order to do as many reps as possible. Resist this temptation. Doing strong reps will insure that you emphasize the

ATP creatine phosphate energy system, which is the most powerful energy system in your muscles for producing speed, power, and strength. When you push too far into a set, you will start to emphasize the lactate system, which is weaker in regard speed, strength, and power. This system may help you to improve at doing more reps, and it may even speed up your strength gains for a while, but in the long run, it is inferior for helping you to improve with consistent strength gains. If your goal is to keep gaining strength for as long as possible, stay within the boundaries of emphasizing the creatine phosphate system by training to your capacity of strong reps, without exceeding it with weak reps.

Step 4 Determine the Number of Sets you can do at Full Strength for Each Exercise

Once you have learned the right amount of weight to use for ten strong reps for each exercise, you are ready for step four. Your goal for step four is to determine how many sets you can do at full strength for each exercise. Warm up sets and Work Sets At this point, it is important to distinguish the difference between warm up sets and work sets. Warm up sets are lighter sets that are done before you do work sets. During week two, your first two sets for each exercise were to be done with lighter weights. These first two lighter sets will now be referred to as warm up sets. For your workouts, work sets are heavier sets (set number three) that are done with the maximum amount of weight that you can use for ten strong reps.

Warm up sets should be easy and allow you to get comfortable with the exercise. If you do warm up sets correctly, they should help you establish good exercise form for your work sets, and they should also enhance your ability to move through the entire range of a lifting motion without any tightness or discomfort in your muscles. Ideally, warm up sets should energize your muscles and nervous system to maximize your strength in preparation for the heavier weight that you will be using for your work sets. You should never feel weakened and fatigued after doing warm up sets as this is a sign that you have pushed too hard. This will rob you of strength when doing work sets, instead of enhancing your strength when you do them. Refine your warm up sets You can refine your warm up sets by being precise about how much weight you use for each set. The amount of weight that you will be using is a percentage of weight based on the amount of weight that you use for your work sets. Refer to the following guidelines for how much weight to use for your warm up sets: 1st Warm up Set: Use 50% (half) of the amount of weight that you use for your work sets. 2nd Warm up Set: Use 75% of the amount of weight that you use for your work sets. We can take a look at an example of how this works for clarity. If you can do ten strong reps with eighty pounds for a given exercise, you will do lighter warm up sets before using eighty pounds. The first warm up sets should be with about forty pounds because it is half (50%) of eighty pounds. You will then use sixty pounds for your second warm up set as it is 75% of eighty pounds. To calculate 75%, simply take half the amount of weight that you used for your first warm up set, and add it on to the amount of weight that you used for your first set. This will give you the total amount of weight you should use for your second warm up set. Repeat Sets of 10 Strong Reps as Long as you are at Full Strength Your third set will be a work set that is the maximum amount of weight that you can use for ten strong reps. After you do your third set, rest three minutes and keep doing sets of ten reps for the same exercise every three minutes as long as you are at full strength. I call sets that you are doing while at full

strength as strong sets. You know you doing strong sets at full strength as long as you can hit ten strong reps on each set. However, if you come to a set where you begin to weaken, you have transitioned to weak sets and will end up doing only eight or nine strong reps, followed by one or two weak reps in order to complete ten reps. If you have to do one or more weak reps at the end of the set in order to make it to ten reps, stop doing sets of that exercise. Only do strong sets, don’t do weak sets. Individual Differences Not everyone is the same in regard to their capacity for strong sets. One person may experiment and find that they can only do one strong work set and then they begin to weaken. Such a person should only do one work set. Another person may be able to do three strong work sets before they weaken, and someone else may be able to do four. Most people will be able to do two or three strong work sets, but this is not a rule as some people will be able to do more, or less. Each person must experiment and find their capacity for the number of strong work sets that they can do. More Than One Exercise for a Muscle Group I want to make sure that you understand the difference between being at full strength for a muscle group, and full strength for an exercise. Some people may reason that they have the capacity to do two warm up sets, followed by two work sets for an exercise, and apply this to each exercise. This is ok if the exercises are for different muscle groups, but if would not be ok to do two warm up sets and two work sets for two different exercises for the same muscle group. For example, the bench press and the incline press both work the chest muscles. If you did two warm up sets and two work sets for both exercises, it would equal a total of four work sets for the chest, which is way too much if your capacity for being at full strength is two work sets. If you want to do both the bench press and incline press during the same workout, you can do your warm up sets for the bench press, then do one work set of the bench press, and one work set for the incline press. This would equal two total work sets and would be how to do two exercises for the same muscle group while staying within your capacity of sets at full strength. Exercises for Smaller Muscle Groups When planning what exercises to do for your workouts, the most important exercises for building overall strength are exercises for the chest, back, and

legs, so I recommend doing basic exercises that cover these muscle groups in every workout. Some of the strongest men on the planet only do basic exercises that work these three main muscle groups, and you also can get strong by simply working these three muscle groups. Exercises such as barbell curls for biceps, triceps extensions for triceps, dumbbell lateral raises for the side deltoid muscles of the shoulders, and planks for abs, are extra exercises that can be added to your workouts if you choose to do them. However, they should always be done after doing the basic exercises for your chest, back, and legs. Your biceps, triceps, and deltoids are smaller muscle groups that assist when doing chest and back exercises, so these smaller muscles will already be strongly worked from doing basic exercises. With this in mind, one set of six to twelve strong reps for these exercises should be sufficient if you choose to do them. You must be Honest with Yourself When determining how many strong reps, and how many strong sets you can do, you must be completely honest with yourself in order to come to the right conclusion. You may work out with people who can do more strong sets than you. You may also hear about successful lifters who do way more sets than you. Things like this can tempt you to refuse to acknowledge when you are truly starting to weaken, and cause you to convince yourself that you are still at full strength when you’re not. It is also possible that you want to skim through a workout without much effort by stopping short of your capacity for strong reps and strong sets. You must be objective, honest, and truthful with yourself in order to individualize your workouts to maximum advantage.

Step 5 Learn When to Add Weight

At this point, you should be ready for the fifth and final step that is needed to experience long term strength training success. Step five is based on knowing when to add weight at the right time. Adding weight is based on repeating the same workouts until you gain enough strength for the same workout to become easier to perform. Repeating the same workout means that you should keep using the same weight, the same amount of sets, and the same number of reps (10 reps) for the same exercises. If you think the workouts are feeling easier, you can add five pounds to your exercises to test your strength. We will look at an example of what will happen if you test your strength and you are ready to add five pounds, and an example of what will happen if you are not ready to add five pounds. Example of Being Ready to Add Weight We’ll imagine that you have been doing 100 pounds for ten strong reps for the squat. You decide to test your strength by adding five pounds and find that when you use 105 pounds, you can still do ten strong reps. This means that you are ready for the added weight and should keep on using it in your workouts. Example of Adding Weight before You are Ready

Now we’ll imagine that you move from 100 pounds up to 105 pounds, and you find that you can only do nine strong reps. You push yourself to do another rep to reach ten reps, but the tenth rep is a weak rep. If this happens, you haven’t given your body enough time to get stronger. You would need to keep using 100 pounds in your workouts until you gain enough strength to do ten strong reps with 105 pounds. Trying to Progress to Quickly If you become impatient and start to add weight before you are ready, it will force you to do weaker slower reps at the end of your sets. Weak reps will move you outside of the boundaries of strength specific training and move you towards the direction of endurance training. Endurance helps you to train longer rather than stronger. If you want to keep gaining strength, add weight when your body is ready for it by staying within boundaries of strong reps. It is important to know that pushing yourself beyond the boundaries of strong reps and strong sets is a common strategy that tends to work for a while; especially for beginners. It may even help you to speed up your progress for a short time, followed by no progress for a long, long time. If you want to keep on gaining strength for as long as possible, you must be patient and train within the boundaries of strong sets, and strong reps. Differences in Rate of Strength Gain Different people gain strength at different rates. Some people may gain 100 pounds or more of strength for a lift within a year. This would happen in the case of someone who is physically blessed and finds it very easy to gain strength. It would be considered a rapid strength gain. Rapid gains are most common among beginners. People who have been lifting for several years are closer to reaching their potential for strength gains and rarely experience rapid gains. If you happen to gain forty to seventy pounds of strength for your lifts within a year, this would also be a great accomplishment. Of course a twenty to thirty pound gain in strength would still be profitable. It is important to understand that some people gain at a fast rate, some at a medium rate, and some at a slow rate. Regardless of whether you gain fast or slow, train correctly and only add weight when your body is ready. If you don’t know what to expect, you may believe that you should be adding weight to your exercises every week or something is wrong with your body or with your training. There may be weeks when you do gain five pounds

of strength, but to expect this every week would be unrealistic. If you were to gain five pounds of strength every week for a year, you would be 260 pounds stronger at the end of the year. This means if you could bench press 100 pounds in your first workout, you would be benching 360 pounds in a year. It is not likely that many people will accomplish such a rapid gain, so don’t be surprised if it takes two to four weeks before you can add weight (5 pounds) to an exercise. Adding Weight Every Two Weeks If you gain strength quickly enough to add five pounds to your exercises every two weeks, you will be about 125 pounds stronger in a year. Adding Weight Every Three Weeks If you add five pounds to your exercises at an average of every three weeks, you will be about eighty five pounds stronger in a year. Adding Weight Once per Month If you add five pounds to your exercises at an average of once per month, you will be sixty pounds stronger in a year. This shows you that you don’t have to add weight every week to gain a lot of strength. If you can add weight just once per month, you will be much stronger within a year.

Chapter 4 The Pyramid Method

Workouts that consist of ten reps per set is a good starting place for strength training. However, after a few months of doing ten reps, you may want to move on to another workout. One of the most common methods for gaining strength for basic exercises is called the pyramid method. When using the pyramid method, you will start out with your first warm up set by using light weight and a fairly high number of reps; usually in the twelve to fifteen rep range. You will then add weight to each set while decreasing the amount of reps you do for each set. For example, if you are doing squats during your workout, you could start with a light weight for your first set and work your way up to a heavier weight by doing the following four set pyramid: Set 1: 12 reps with 45 pounds Set 2: 10 reps with 75 pounds Set 3: 8 reps with 125 pounds Set 4: 6 reps with 135 pounds

The advantage to this type of workout is that you will use a variety of weights and rep ranges that all benefit your body in their own unique way. Light weights are good for warming up your nervous system and a lot of reps can be done with light weights in order to increase your total overall workload. Light weights also make it easy to do a lot of repetitions which increases blood flow to the muscles and promotes capillary development. As you proceed from one set to the next in the pyramid, the weights become increasingly heavy. The heavier weights with less reps are excellent for building strength and muscle mass. When doing the four set pyramid, the first two sets generally serve as warm up sets. They should feel very easy and should be done with light weights. The first two warm up sets should not be taxing or cause fatigue, but should prepare your muscles for heavier lifting. Your third set of the pyramid should be your first work set where you use as much weight as possible for eight strong reps. These reps should all be done using a steady even pace without needing to slow down at the end of the set. Your fourth set is another work set that is done with added weight. Use as much weight as you can for six strong reps, but don’t sacrifice form or a steady even rep pace in order to achieve six strong reps. Adjusting the Number of Sets The amount of sets that you perform using the pyramid method can be adjusted. Regardless of how many sets you do for an exercise, the first two sets of the pyramid are warm up sets, and every set after that will be a work set. The number of work sets that you do is based on the knowledge that you have already gained from doing workouts where you did ten reps for every set. The number of work sets that you could do at full strength for the ten rep workout is the same number of work sets that you will be able to do when using the pyramid method. A person who has the capacity to train at full strength for two work sets will do the four set pyramid which consists of two warm up sets followed by two work sets. A person who has the capacity to do three work sets at full strength will do a five set pyramid, and someone with the capacity to do four work sets at full strength will do a six set pyramid. The difference between four set pyramid and a five set pyramid is that you will repeat the last set of six reps when doing the five set pyramid. An example

of the five set pyramid is listed below Set 1: 12 reps with 45 pounds Set 2: 10 reps with 75 pounds Set 3: 8 reps with 125 pounds Set 4: 6 reps with 135 pounds Set 5: 6 reps with 135 pounds A five set pyramid is easily enough sets for most people to build strength. If you possess a very high workload capacity, you may have the ability to do four work sets at full strength after your first two warm up sets. If this is the case, you can do a six set pyramid. An example of a six set pyramid is shown below: Set 1: 12 reps with 45 pounds Set 2: 10 reps with 75 pounds Set 3: 8 reps with 125 pounds Set 4: 6 reps with 135 pounds Set 5: 6 reps with 135 pounds Set 6: 6 reps with 135 pounds How Many Workouts per Week For your first month of training, I suggest three workouts per week on nonconsecutive days. Many people warn against doing more than three workouts per week, but I believe that this is because so many people do workouts that create too much fatigue by doing too many exercises and too many reps and sets. When workouts produce a lot of fatigue, it is difficult to recover from them unless they are limited to three per week. If you follow the guidelines in this book, and you only do strong reps and strong sets, you will stop before the workouts produce a great amount of fatigue. When you avoid the development of a high degree of fatigue, you may find that you can work your whole body more than three times per week and still recover and grow stronger without any problem. As long as you are making progress from working out three times per week, you can stick with it.

If you want to experiment by working out more or less often, then you can do so. Some people find it best to work out three or more times per week, and some do better by working out a couple times per week. Do what works best for you.

Chapter 5 Eating for Strength

It would be an oversight to discuss strength training without addressing diet. Diet can be ignored and underemphasized, or it can be overemphasized. Those who ignore diet may find that they are working out faithfully without making any progress because of an inadequate supply of nutrients that must be available for the body to build strength and muscle mass. On the other hand, some people over do it with nutrition and invest huge amounts of money on every supplement they can get their hands on. You can succeed at getting stronger without spending a fortune. The number one thing to invest your money into is healthy food that will make up a balanced diet. There are several factors to consider in regard establishing a diet that will complement your workouts. Calories It is very difficult to gain strength if you are not eating enough. Strength training will stimulate your muscles to utilize incoming nutrients, but your body can not utilize nutrients that are not available if you are not eating enough. Since people can vary greatly in regard to their metabolic rate and the

amount of physical activity that they are engaged in throughout an average day, it is difficult to state a specific amount of calories that is beneficial for everyone. Not everyone may desire to gain weight while training for strength. Most people who are training for strength don’t mind putting on extra muscle. If you desire to increase your lean bodyweight, I suggest increasing your caloric intake to gain a little at a time. A pound of muscle per week is a very fast rate of muscle gain. A pound every two weeks is very good, and a pound of muscle every month would be quite commendable if it is done for several years. How Many Meals? People have gained muscle and strength while eating anywhere from two to six meals per day. Nonetheless, I recommend eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner for anyone who wants gain strength. If you also want to gain as much muscle as possible, it is preferable to eat three meals with a mid-morning protein snack in between breakfast and lunch, and another mid-afternoon protein snack between lunch and dinner. Eating the right foods in the form of frequent meals is a way to keep your blood sugar level balanced. This will in turn regulate your insulin level to increase your ability to gain muscle and decrease the tendency to gain fat. In order to gain strength and muscle, it is also important to consider what foods you are eating to achieve a balanced diet. Carbohydrates, Protein, Fats Carbohydrates, proteins, and fats are all an important part of a balanced diet. Overemphasizing, or underemphasizing any of these three basic types of nutrients can be unhealthy. It’s not a hard fast rule, but a general guideline for balance between carbohydrates, proteins, and fats, is to obtain 40% of your calories from carbohydrates, 30% of your calories from protein, and 30% from fat. You may not always perfectly achieve this balance, but if you are fairly close, you will insure that you are getting enough calories from each type of food. Quality Food The highest quality protein for building muscle is whey protein. Whey protein comes in a powdered form and can be mixed with water or milk to make a protein drink. If you find it difficult to get twenty or more grams of protein from your food at each meal, the one nutritional supplement that I would suggest you invest in is whey protein powder. Lean meats, eggs, and

dairy products (that are not excessively high in added sugar) are also good sources of quality protein. Be sure to include at least twenty grams of protein in every meal. Complex carbohydrates consisting of fresh fruits, vegetables, and whole grains are the basis for high quality carbohydrates. Sugar, high fructose corn syrup, and white flour are simple carbs that tend to over-elevate your blood sugar level. If you want to keep your blood sugar level under control and avoid gaining fat, it is best to avoid foods that contain simple carbs. Fats are also a necessary part of your diet, but I recommend avoiding transfat, which is often found in fried food and commercially prepared baked goods. If you check the nutrition label on the packages, trans-fat usually shows up on the label as “partially hydrogenated oils.” The hydrogenation process can alter the fat molecules in a way that makes it less healthy. If for some reason you need to add fat to your diet because it basically consists of low fat foods, I recommend coconut oil. Food Compatibility One thing to consider is whether or not the food you are eating is compatible with your personal physiology. Some people can eat almost anything without any adverse effects, while other people experience negative side effects from certain foods. No matter how healthy a food is declared to be, if it has a bad effect on your stomach, or causes some other side effect, eliminate it from your diet, or reduce how much of it you eat until the side effects go away. Eat foods that are easy for you to digest and have a positive effect on the way you feel. If you look for it, you will be able to find healthy food that you enjoy eating. This is a huge key to sticking with a healthy diet that will enhance your strength building efforts. Do your best to stay within the guidelines that were addressed in order to insure that the effort you put into your workouts don’t go to waste.

Chapter 6 Moving Ahead

After starting out and seeing the benefits of weight training, some of you will want to keep moving ahead and learn all you can about how to work out. This is good, but I want to warn you that there is a lot of media hype the centers around methods that consist of severe workouts that often do more harm than good in the long run. When progress stops, people often end up trying one form of brutal training after another to start making rapid progress again. This often backfires and hinders progress instead of promoting it. The result is either no progress, or strength will tend to zig zag up and down without ever making gains that build one upon the other. If you ever experience rapid progress, it can be addicting and lead you to believe that you should always experience rapid progress. It is not uncommon for people to experience rapid progress for a few months when they first begin training, but long term rapid progress is extremely rare. I learned the hard way that if you want to experience long term progress, you must be patient and gain at a rate that your body will still be able to handle next week, next month, next

year, and in the years to come. I say this to encourage you to stay within the boundaries of using strong reps and strong sets, as this is what gives you the ability to gain on a consistent basis, rather than to experience a quick increase in strength that comes to an abrupt halt. The workouts that you have learned from this book are fairly simple as they are designed for beginning strength training. However, don’t mistake simple for ineffective. The effectiveness of weight training is not in the complexity of the workouts, or the amount of time and effort that you put into your training, rather, the primary factor that leads to effective workouts is understanding how to train with the strength specific precision that I have outlined in this book. I strongly recommend that you stick with the workouts in this book for a few months before looking into other workouts. If you find that you are highly motivated when it comes to strength training, your curiosity will drive you to study and experiment with different forms of strength training. For those who choose to try other training methods, I would like to say I wish you the very best of training, and I would also like to supply you with a list of books that I have written on strength training if you are interested in furthering your knowledge in regard to weight training.

Strength Training Resources Strength to the Max

High Frequency Strength Training

Rest Pause Training

The 1 x 100 Challenge

About the Author Mark Sherwood is a long time fitness enthusiast who has pursued weight training and other fitness activities for over thirty years. His educational and professional background include a B.S. degree as an exercise specialist in physical education from the University of Wisconsin Madison, and positions as a fitness instructor and physical education teacher. One of Mark’s passions is to distinguish between strength training concepts that are consistently effective as opposed to those that are effective for a short time period. Through his education, research, and personal trial and error, he has endeavored to gain the necessary knowledge to share effective training strategies with those who desire to maximize their training results. Mark resides with his family in Southern California. For more training resources from Mark, you can visit www.precisionpointtraining.com and highfrequencytrainingmst.com.