Strength training is the most important component of any fitness program.
Do you want to lose weight, build muscle, be resilient, get better at everything you enjoy doing & look & feel better?
If your answer is yes, then you need to be strength training!
In this 4 part article, I’ll cover everything you need to know about strength training.
In Part 1, I go over what exactly strength training is, the principle of progressive overload, the benefits of strength training, different ways to strength train & common terminology.
In Part 2, you’ll learn some common myths about strength training & why they aren’t true.
In Part 3, you’ll learn how to put together your own strength training program.
In the 4th and final part, I’ll lay out sample training programs for you!
Strength Training 101
What exactly is strength training & how does it work?
Strength training is the movement of any weight that forces muscular contraction.
And through progressive overload, it begins the process of rebuilding & adapting, which leads to strength improvements.
Put simply, strength training is using muscular force to work against resistance.
This resistance can be in the form of dumbbells, barbells, bodyweight, resistance bands, or anything else that weighs something!
So how do you know if your training program or workout counts as strength training? A strength program/workout generally has certain characteristics.
Here’s what a strength training program should look like:
- It is specific to your individual goal
- The majority of it is made up of the basic, compound movements (squat, deadlift, bench press, row, pullup, shoulder press)
- It stays consistent from week to week for at least 4 weeks
- You progress weekly in some fashion (see progressive overload below)
- It has a balance of push & pull, upper & lower exercises
- It incorporates postural & posterior chain exercises
Here’s what a strength training workout should look like:
- Deliberate, focused movements
- Utilizes the mind-muscle connection
- Make every rep count with good form & full range of motion
- Begins with the most important exercise of the day
- Pushes you hard in every set (within 1-2 reps of failure)
- Utilizes adequate rest periods in between sets
Progressive Overload
Progressive overload is an essential factor in strength training.
The principle of progressive overload involves the increase of stress placed on the body during training.
You push your muscles to do more over time & this forces your body to adapt & progress, which leads to stronger muscles!
This stress can be in the form of added weight, more time under tension (slower tempo), increasing your speed, advanced variations of exercises, better movement quality or technique, and a larger range of motion.
Example
- You can goblet squat a 25 lb dumbbell for 3 sets of 10 reps.
- Your body has adapted to be able to lift that 25 lbs for 3 sets of 10 reps.
- If you never increase the 25 lbs, the 3 sets or the 10 reps, you will not get stronger.
- You will only maintain your current state, because you’re not exposing your body to any new stimulus.
- You’re not asking your muscles to do more, so they won’t.
Progressing in your workouts doesn’t just mean using heavier weight. Of course, this is important & necessary, but there are other ways to improve & build strength. The most effective way to make progress in your strength training is to use a combination of all these tools.
- Improve your movement quality – this includes performing exercises with better form, more control & less effort
- Use a larger range of motion – this increases the number of muscle fibers you recruit to perform the exercise
- Increase time under tension by slowing down the tempo at which you perform the exercise
- Lift the same weight for more reps/sets to increase the amount of volume you’re performing
- Lift the same weight with more speed/acceleration to increase how much power you’re generating
- Lift heavier weight
- Perform more difficult variations of exercises
Important Points about Progressive Overload
- It is a REQUIREMENT for progress. Without it, you won’t get stronger, you won’t build muscle & you simply won’t progress or improve.
- Your progress won’t always be linear. There will be ups & downs, but it’s important to stick to the process & keep pushing yourself. In the long run, your strength will increase.
- Your progress will slow down. When you first start strength training, your progress will be the fastest it will ever be! This is mostly due to improvement in neuromuscular coordination. It’s important to know that your rate of progress will slow down & that this is a normal occurrence!
- Good form should be your priority. Never sacrifice form for more weight/reps/etc. Get strong with a certain load. And only when you’ve mastered that load do you move up in the weight you’re using.
- You don’t have to progress in every exercise or in every workout to be making progress. As long as you’re continuously trying to increase how much demand you’re placing on your body, you will progress.
The Benefits of Strength Training
Strength training leads to positive, long-lasting changes in your health.
Let’s take a look at all the benefits of strength training:
- Strengthens your muscles & increases your muscle mass
- Decreases body fat & helps keep it off
- Strengthens your core
- Reduces the risk of injury
- Decreases your risk of chronic diseases (such as Type 2 diabetes & heart disease)
- Improves sleep, mood & energy levels
- Improves & teaches you how to maintain good posture
- Improves endurance
- Helps you move more effectively & efficiently in your day-to-day activities
- Increases feelings of confidence & empowerment
- Makes you better at doing everything you love to do!
Because of all these health benefits, strength training has a direct impact on your daily life.
1. Improved quality of life
When you strengthen your body, you’re going to be able to do the things you love to do better & for longer. And you can go about your daily life without having to worry as much about getting injured from one wrong move.
- Strengthen your body’s basic movement patterns which you use every single day for every activity you perform
- Strengthening your movement pattern strengthens & engages your core more than a crunch or sit up can
- Strengthen bones, connective tissue & joints
- Improve your coordination & balance
- Improve your endurance
- Improve your ability to move mindfully & intentionally
2. Increased confidence
It’s incredibly empowering to be & feel strong. Strength training improves your
- mood
- brain function
- energy levels
- sleep quality
3. Improved body composition
If you have any body composition related goals (weight loss, muscle gain, looking more defined & toned), strength training is the most important form of exercise. Along with proper nutrition, strength training is the most effective way to lose weight & keep it off long-term.
- Increasing your muscle mass is the most effective way to increase your metabolism When you have more muscle, you will burn more calories at rest
- This makes it easier to stay lean long-term & maintain weight-loss achievements
Modes of Strength Training
There are many tools you can use to build strength, including bodyweight, resistance bands, dumbbells, kettlebells & barbells. Each of these modes of strength training have their own benefits. If you’re a beginner, start with bodyweight, then progress to including resistance bands, dumbbells, kettlebells & finally the barbell. After you get familiar with all these tools, the goal is to incorporate them all into a comprehensive training program, so you can take advantage of the benefits of them all!
Bodyweight Training
Click here for bodyweight exercises for each body part plus a step-by-step guide to putting together your own bodyweight routine!
- Allows you to learn proper form & technique of your body’s basic movement patterns
- Is convenient & can be done anywhere at anytime without any equipment
- Is efficient – every exercise works multiple muscle groups at the same time
- Improves your body awareness
- Builds a great foundation of strength on which you can continue to progress
- Helps you get stronger for everyday life & become resilient to prevent injury
- Improves the quality of your body’s foundational movement patterns
- Improves mobility & stability
Resistance Bands
- Are convenient & accessible
- Provide a different training stimulus compared to weights
- Are easy on the joints & safe
- Provide variable resistance throughout a range of motion to strengthen specific portions of movements
- Allow you to work on stabilization
- Build power & explosiveness
Dumbbells
- Great progression from bodyweight training to using weights & less intimidating than barbell training
- Allows you to learn how to use & stabilize external loads
- Can even out strength imbalances
- Allows you to safely to train alone
- Are joint friendly
- Are versatile & accessible
- Allow you to perform unilateral loaded exercises (train one side at a time)
Kettlebells
- Build strength & power
- Are convenient
- Require core engagement & stability
- Build grip strength
- Work the entire body as a unit
- Build stability
Barbells
- Allow you to build maximal strength
- Allows for simple progression – just add plates to both sides of the bar!
- Allows you to lift heavier compared to dumbbells
Strength Training Lingo
There are many terms used in strength training that you should be familiar with. Here are the most commonly used ones & their definitions.
- Weight – the amount of load you use in an exercise.
- Set – a group of consecutive repetitions.
- Repetition (reps) – one complete motion of an exercise.
- Rest – the amount of time between sets.
- RPE (rating of perceived exertion) – how hard you feel like your body is working on a scale of 0-10.
- Failure – the point in a set when your muscles are fatigued & can’t perform another rep with complete range of motion & good form.
- Superset – 2 exercises completed in an alternating fashion.
- Circuit – 3 or more exercises completed by doing one set of each back to back.
- AMRAP (as many reps as possible) – perform as many consecutive reps as you can.
- Concentric – the shortening phase of a movement.
- Eccentric – the lengthening phase of a movement.
- ROM (range of motion) – degree of movement that occurs at a joint/how far you move through a movement.
- Progression – increasing your level of performance.
- Progressive – increasing frequency, volume & intensity over time.
- Hypertrophy – muscular enlargement due to training.
- Compound Exercises – multi-joint movements that work multiple muscle groups at the same time.
- Isolation Exercises – single joint movements that work one specific group of muscles.
- Volume – how much total work you do (sets, reps, weight)
Click here to read Part 2 – Common Strength Training Myths Debunked!