The great objection to women exercising—namely, the fear of becoming muscular—is quite without foundation. It cannot be too often repeated that woman is not simply a weaker man: she is physically an entirely different being … In women the muscles simply become firm, close-knit, and well-rounded, and show under the layer of fatty tissue intervening between muscle and skin only in soft, hardly discernible masses, just sufficiently to give a delicate moulding to the form.
Eugen Sandow, Sydney Mail, October 22, 1902.

You don’t have to go far in the average gym to find someone willing to give you bad information. People are full of ideas and advice about women and weights. The other day I heard the most ludicrous thing yet: that cardio work was bad for you because it built muscle that pushed the fat out farther. Yep, I guess that’s why marathon runners are all so obese—duh. Some of the worst offenders are fitness magazines and personal trainers. This is somewhat distressing, considering that people look to such sources for help and information. The other day, reading a fitness magazine, I learned that yoga will firm my breasts (it won’t, unless they meant to write “plastic surgeon” instead of “yoga”), and that over 90% of all long term exercisers exercise in the morning (oops, I guess all the evening regulars at the gym are just fooling themselves).

Anyway I’ve compiled a list of some of the most common myths floating around like the alligator in the sewer stories. The difference is, of course, that there really ARE alligators in the sewer. And snakes that pop out of your toilet, heh heh.

LIE: Weight training will make you huge and masculine.

Probably the worst lie ever. People look at women bodybuilders and say, “Ohmigawd, they’re huge and if I lift anything heavy I’ll look like that too.” Nope. In general, women are not able to build monstrous muscle mass in the same manner as men, due to a number of physiological factors. It’s a rare woman that can become a competitive bodybuilder, and to get that big she has to combine genetics, extensive long-term training, strict diet, and supplementation (legal or otherwise).

If you enjoy watching bodybuilding, have a look at the tested (natural, i.e. steroid free) shows versus the untested (anything goes) shows. You will notice a great difference in the builds of the women onstage. A natural female bodybuilder is lean, almost wiry, and certainly not the mythical monsters whom exercising women fear resembling (have a look at my reader letters page to see some examples). Also, women bodybuilders do not normally have the low levels of bodyfat that they do while in competition. Low bodyfat makes muscles stand out, and it changes the contours of the face, making jawlines and cheekbones prominent, which contributes to a rather unnatural look. Bodybuilders about to go on stage for a competition look quite odd, actually, due to dehydration, extremely low bodyfat, and deep tans. During the offseason, competitors’ bodyfat is higher, and in clothing, most wouldn’t stand out as unusual in any way.

The average woman (that’s you) cannot achieve a masculine monster look simply through strength training. You’re not going to wake up after a workout and be huge. You don’t believe me? OK, then, try to get huge. Just try. And see how far you get. If you don’t believe me, check out what happened in my before and after photos. I’ve had people tell me that they think my legs are “too big” (too big for what?) but the old gams were a whole lot bigger before I started training.

LIE: Men train, women tone.

To be serious about strength training, eliminate the T-word-”tone”-from your vocabulary. Lifting a tiny weight for a hundred reps is a waste of time and energy, plus it never really stresses your muscles enough to make them much stronger. As the good Sgt. Robo says, “More isn’t better, better is better.” In fact, according to one study in which men and women trained the same muscle group 3 days a week for 20 weeks, “the women made significantly greater relative increases than men in strength.” (MacDougall et al, McMaster University)

Women and men have exactly the same skeletal muscle composition. It would not be possible to tell biological sex from muscle tissue alone. But more importantly, there is no such thing as “toning”. There is muscle mass and strength gain, and fat loss, and that’s it. In purely technical terms, “tone” refers to the ability of the central nervous system to provide passive muscular resistance to being stretched. What you probably think of as “toned” muscles are merely muscles which are not hidden by a lot of bodyfat. In other words, there is no reason why you should waste your time on the stupid little weights when you could be getting tough and strong.

LIE: There is a difference between toning, sculpting, and firming.

Please don’t write me asking how you can tone but not sculpt, or firm but not tone, or whatever. There is no such thing (see the next lie). There is only building muscle mass and losing bodyfat, nothing else.

LIE: Muscles grow different ways depending on how you work them.

This school of thought says that if you lift heavy, you’ll get huge, and if you lift light weights with high reps, you’ll just “tone”. AAACK! The T-word again! Muscles only know how to grow one way, and just how big they get depends on gender and genetics.

Okay, this isn’t exactly the whole picture. A helpful reader emailed me recently, encouraging me to clarify this point. We have several different types of muscle fibres which respond to different types of training. BUT nevertheless you won’t be able to get freaky big unless you try very, very hard and you have one-in-a-zillion genetics. And ultrahigh rep training is a complete waste of your time.

LIE: You can change the shape of your muscles.

You hear a lot from nimrods at the gym about which exercise is better for reshaping your muscles, or for building big peaks on your biceps, etc. Sorry, but the shape of your muscles is genetic. Muscles are attached to bones and joints in a way that is specific to each person’s body. As an example of this, look at the bump of people’s outer thigh muscles above the knee. You will notice that some people’s quads make a bump almost right at the knee, while other people have their quad bump higher up, sometimes quite high above the knee. This is merely an individual variation in muscle attachments. So, no matter what exercises you do, you’re not going to change where your muscles attach, and you’re not going to change their individual shape. You can, however, make them bigger and stronger.

LIE: Women shouldn’t work their leg and butt muscles, otherwise they’ll get too big.

Once again we have the fallacy of the “big muscles”. Have a look at women bodybuilders’ butts and you’ll see this isn’t the case. The truth is this: by building muscle, we can speed up our metabolism, resulting in more effective fuel (calorie) consumption. In other words, more muscle means less fat in the long run. And where do we find the largest group of muscles in a woman’s body? Why, her legs and butt, of course! Neglecting these means neglecting the best area for building calorie-burning muscle. In addition, women tend to have much better lower-body than upper-body strength, so it’s very satisfying to work the lower body and see some great results!

LIE: Women should stick to machines and stay away from free weights.

This is another heinous myth. In fact the opposite is true for a variety of reasons. Have a look at the article called “Don’t Fear the Free Weights.”

LIE: If you build muscle, it will just push the fat out more and make you look bulky.

Sorry to burst the bubble girls, but you’re not going to wind up like the Incredible Hulk, ripping through your shirt with the massive expansion of your muscles. The amount that muscle contributes to visible size is negligible compared to the bodyfat.

hall of shame

I hear so much bullshit about women and working out that I’ve decided to compile it into an archive of stupidity. If you have some to add, please do.

The following idiocies were contributed by reader Jenn Wilson:

• “Women shouldn’t squat past the point where their knees and shins make a 90-degree angle; their lower bodies are weaker than men’s and their knees can’t handle it.” (This came from a woman, believe it or not… she meant well, but it was obvious she’d never lifted a non-vinyl-covered weight in her life. Wanting to get back to my set, I smiled and responded with, “You must read a lot of fitness magazines.” She chirped “Yup!” and proceeded to list Shape, Fitness, …)
• “Trap muscles on a woman are unsightly.” (I nearly punched this guy.)
• “Women shouldn’t deadlift or squat, because it makes their waists too big, and that’s unfeminine.” (Nearly punched him too.)
• “Women shouldn’t look like little frogs.” (From my grandma, bless her soul.)

• “That’s pretty good… for a girl.”
• “You’re not supposed to be able to do that…you’re a girl.”
• “Do you need a spot?” (when I rack up my warm up)
• “Here… let me get those for you.” (when stripping/loading a rack)
• “I bet your breasts are really hard.” (oh yea…fat just hardens like cement)

Oh, and God forbid my pecs ever get sore because guys just find that to be funny for some reason…’

In the 1st issue of Muscle and Fitness HERS mag there was an article. I won’t say which one or who the “professional” is. It’s there. You can look it up. But what was said, and I quote: ‘Women, perhaps because of conditioning, dont push as hard as men.’ I know for a fact this is NOT true of most women I know. I mean for heavens sake. I work many times harder than the guys watching and checking me out at the gym. And lets not forget how hard it is to PUSH a baby out…

“Three older ladies in my gym (50′s maybe?) have been watching me work out for the last two years. A few months ago, fed up with making no gains on
our gym’s one set to failure protocol, they started asking me some questions and finally got up the nerve to ask me to set up a program for them.
Needless to say, I was happy to do so and we have great fun training together. They have since progressed to asking my advice on nutrition and
are really doing well. Well, one of ‘my girls’ went to her doc, who noticed a ‘mass’ in the center of her body, just under her breasts (at the lower tip of her sternum) and he sent her for a CAT scan. Needless to say, we were all upset and nervous waiting for the results.

As it turns out, the ‘mass’ was the first row of her abs, which are visible to her for the first time in her life!

Can you believe it! We all laughed with her pretty hard once the relief set in…”

At health clubs, pear-shaped people in their 40′s and 50′s obsessively lift
weights, trying for those defined muscles that, even in youth, come only to those with a certain genetic predisposition. But by middle age, the overweight tend to stay that way, and the body has a harder time increasing muscle mass. So even the greatest personal trainer will not produce rippling abs.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/17/weekinreview/17kola.html

Obviously the writer has never seen the photos of the women on your site who began lifting in their 40s and 50s. Hmf.”

A woman at my gym asked me, “I see you lifting really hard and really heavy all the time. How do you keep from getting too big?” I wish there was something I was doing to keep from getting ‘too big’, because then I could stop doing it and get bigger!

A client of mine, as we were walking past the elliptical machines: “Those women are on those machines all the time. Why do they still have cellulite on the backs of their legs?” (she’d just started working with me, so I forgave her the silly question and explained that the two had next to nothing to do with each other)

Some old man in the gym to a younger woman who was doing dumbbell shoulder presses with 15 lb weights and excellent form: “You know they have lighter weights over there” and points around the corner. (Though strangely enough he ignored the woman next to her — me — who was pressing 40s.) After she glared evilly at him for a few seconds, I felt the need to try to break the tension, so I told her, “yeah, you wouldn’t want to get too big.” She started laughing, he walked away, and a good time was had by all who deserved to.

(Not really about people being particularly dumb, I just found this really funny.) I was doing dumbbell wrist curls (of all possible things) when a guy comes up and asks me, “Can I take one of your thighs home with me?” He only wanted one of them apparently, and he wasn’t trying to be lewd or insulting, just asking in a normal conversational tone. I wasn’t sure how to react, so I just said, “No, I need them… but you can have half of one…”

(1) After doing two months of intensive swimming training for a triathlon I was told how female swimmers are so ugly because they always look like men, and the friend who told me this stopped swimming after two weeks because she didn’t like looking so “boyish”.

(2) My sister mentioned she wanted an exercise program she could do on her own pace and not have to talk to other people. I suggested she try free weights. She said she lifted weights once (yes, once, as in one time), and didn’t like how big her arms felt after. Apparently our family’s shoulders are too broad and look unattractive when showing muscle (my husband begs to differ). One of the best compliments he ever gave me was that he loved being married to a strong woman.

(3) I really liked the way my legs looked after I added lunges to my routine. I pointed them out to my mom, who said my legs were too big to wear a skirt anymore and I should probably cut down on those exercises. (Don’t worry, I corrected her swiftly.)

My next-door neighbour, a little old lady originally from Greece, is out every morning at 7 a.m. to do battle with the weeds in her vegetable garden. Ancient men and women can be seen scuttling everywhere in Chinatown with enormous loads of groceries perched on their backs. My landlord’s Portuguese father, a wizened man in his 70s, visited his son in Canada to “relax” by building a stone retaining wall. My grandfather, when he “retired”, built a house by himself. You get the picture.

Aging need not and should not mean that your butt finds a comfy groove on the couch at age 35 and stays there for the next 50 years.

Don’t believe me? Check out this link to 72-year old Kelly Nelson. I don’t want to hear any more complaining about how you’re too old to lift weights! Thanks to reader Stephanie Ferguson for alerting me to this amazing woman.

Oh, 72 is too much of a spring chicken for you? Then how about an 86 year old bodybuilder who probably looks better than most of us will ever look in our entire lifetimes? Scroll down!

what’s “older”?

In this article I’m going to talk about how to put together a program for an older person. What defines “older” is a matter of opinion. In our culture, 50 is often considered an indicator of late adulthood. I think this is ridiculous, but it is true that 50 and after tends to be the time when age-related complaints begin. So, for the purpose of this article, I’m going to lump everyone from 50-100 together. It’s seriously incorrect to do so, but since, as I said, in our youth-obsessed culture, 30 is considered “old”, many of our practices reflect that assumption. Many folks in their 40s might have a lot in common with people 20 years older if they have neglected their physical fitness. So, my apologies for gross categorization. Obviously there is great diversity and range of abilities.

It used to be “common knowledge” that aging involved physical and mental degeneration. Some effort was made to keep old people reasonably ambulatory, but it was generally thought that aging just meant a long, miserable ride downhill.

There are many stereotypes about older people which continue to circulate and which contribute to incorrect assumptions about what kinds of physical activities older people should choose.

For example, it is often thought that older people are dependent and sickly. In fact, most stats show that up to 85% of seniors are healthy, vigorous, and living independently. Only 2-5% are sufficiently disabled to require institutionalization. In addition, it used to be thought that older people are unable to gain muscle or lose fat. For this reason, nobody really bothered to find out what might happen if older people were put on a program of serious weight training.

what’s “normal”?

Above, my beloved Grandma pumping iron in the pool.

Now, as our population ages, the face of the “senior” citizen is changing. Far from going gently into that good night, older people of the late 21st century are kicking and screaming every step of the way. Much more attention is now being given to debunking the myths that shaped our “knowledge” of aging.

Research is proving that most of what we thought to be part of “normal” aging was simply a result of physical inactivity and disuse, not to mention poor nutrition and lack of focus on preventive medicine. If you think that at age 40 you’re over the hill, then you’re going to start to act like it. As my father in law likes to say, “If I’d known I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself.” Basically, your motto should be use it or lose it.

physiological issues in aging

One of the most significant consequences of aging combined with disuse is age-related muscle loss, commonly known as sarcopenia.

Lose muscle and a lot of stuff goes with it: balance, mobility, daily-life strength, bone density, etc. Regardless of whether you want to bust out a 400-lb deadlift on your 80th birthday, having enough muscle is important for health and function. Few things make you feel like less of a schmuck who should’ve taken better care of yourself like getting stuck on the toilet, or struggling to open a jar.

(This, by the way, is why I do not respond to queries from misguided women asking me how to lose muscle. Muscle will go away on its own soon enough. Do not rush it.)

A 2009 study examined the phenomenon of sarcopenia and noted that while the origins of sarcopenia are multifactorial and still not fully understood, we are well aware of the consequences, “i.e. loss of independence and metabolic complications, represent a major public health [problem].”

The researchers speculate that in part, poor protein synthesis relative to protein breakdown is one key cause, “but other causes like neurodegenerative processes, reduction in anabolic hormone productions or sensitivity such as insulin, growth and sex hormones, dysregulation of cytokine secretions, modification in the response to inflammatory events, inadequate nutritional intakes and sedentarity lifestyle are involved. Consequently, the age-related loss of muscle mass could be counteracted by adequate metabolic interventions including nutritional intakes or exercise training.”

When older people lift weights and eat enough protein, they stay lean, strong and healthy even though they don’t necessarily break down and use protein as efficiently as younger people: “Recent observations clearly show that changes in quantitative as well as qualitative intakes of dietary protein are able to counteract some pathophysiological processes related to muscle loss progression. Other strategies including changes in daily protein pattern, the speed of protein digestion or specific amino acids supplementation may be beneficial to improve short term muscle anabolic response in elderly people. The beneficial impact of resistance or endurance training on muscle mass and function is highlighted in many studies suggesting that the potential anabolic response to exercise still remains despite a lesser metabolic response to nutrients. Thus a multimodal approach combining nutrition, exercise, hormones, [and] specific anabolic drugs may an innovative treatment for limiting the development of sarcopenia with aging.” (Boirie Y. Physiopathological mechanism of sarcopenia. J Nutr Health Aging. 2009 Aug;13(8):717-23.)

Other studies have confirmed that older people don’t need less protein and exercise as they get older — in a sense, they almost need more.

benefits of strength training

The most important discovery for us to know about (which actually seems like common sense to me, but I guess I don’t get the big research bucks to come up with “breakthroughs”) is that weight training gets results whether the trainee is 19 or 90. Even people in their 90s have been shown to derive substantial benefits from a regular program of weight training.

This means that they were able to gain strength and muscle long after people figured the body had packed it in. And one need not have started weight training at a young age. People can start at any age and make significant gains, even after only 6-8 weeks of training.

The benefits of training should be obvious to you by now if you have been reading any of this website, but let me give you a brief rundown again. Older people, especially women, are particularly prone to loss of bone density, which results in osteoporosis and a greater risk of serious fractures, such as hip fractures. A hip fracture for a teenager means a short stay in the hospital. A hip fracture for a person in their 80s can mean death from a resulting infection or a long convalescence. Weight training, combined with a diet rich in calcium and magnesium, is the best gift you can give to your bone density.

59-year-old Leena from Norway, looking fabulous after getting into weight training at 54. Check out her before shots on the reader’s page.

In fact, weight training has been shown to be more effective than simply supplementing minerals alone. Weight training also helps combat age-related muscle loss, improves circulation, helps thermal regulation and improves the body’s response to the environment, improves general work capacity, eases arthritis, improves balance and stability, builds up muscle around joints to prevent joint problems, and translates into functional strength for daily tasks such as carrying groceries or shoveling snow.

In addition, since weight training is not a contact sport and doesn’t involve trying to hit a ball or subject the body to sudden shocks, it can be done by people with a variety of abilities and levels of mobility. Weight training requires no special skills, requires no learning of complicated processes, and can be adapted to fit everyone’s individual needs.

There are, of course, considerations involved in planning a workout program for older adults. Here are some basic guidelines.
Consider your beginning level of fitness. My grandma, the original tough old broad, could probably crank out a set of squats on her first day. Other trainees might not be so lucky, and might be starting from complete physical inactivity. Before beginning any workout program, have a complete medical evaluation done by your physician.

If you are using a trainer, select one who is knowledgeable about aging and working with older people. Don’t hire a trainer who doesn’t take your concerns seriously, who won’t challenge you enough because s/he thinks you’re “too old”, or who doesn’t appear to know how to tailor a program to your individual needs. Your program should be safe and comfortable, yet also interesting and have a sufficient level of difficulty. Also, do your own homework. I’ve recommended some further reading at the end of this article.

Ease into a workout program gradually. Older people will obviously not have the recovery capacity of a 20-year-old. The level of difficulty and complexity of a program should be increased slowly over a period of weeks and months. Begin with very modest goals.

Take care to warm up and cool down properly. The workout should start with 5-10 minutes of gentle cardio, such as moderate walking on a treadmill, to get the joints moving (joint mobility decreases with age, and joints will need plenty of coaxing before they will accept weight bearing activity). The trainee should then carefully stretch her entire body. After the workout, repeat the full body stretching.

Few exercises are truly off-limits. There is an assumption that older people should stick to the foo-foo stuff and forgo free weights or challenging compound exercises such as squats. While it’s true that the older trainee might need to work on building the skills, strength, and stability necessary for performing some exercises, this should not mean that these exercises are contraindicated. It just means that they’ll take a little longer to get to. In addition, moderating the weight can be done just as easily with free weights. Many challenging exercises have excellent payoffs. For example, learning and practising a squat can help older folks get out of a chair more easily.

Muscles learn by doing. If you need to learn balance, do exercises that help you develop it, not exercises that allow you to do without it. Compound free weight exercises force the body to function as an integrated system. You don’t learn stability by doing machine exercises that provide the stability for you. That being said, older trainees will likely have to make allowances for beginning a program with reduced stability and balance, and gradually increase the level of difficulty in their exercise choice.

Muscles should be worked through a full range of motion (ROM). Working through a full ROM develops strength in all positions.

Aim to develop functional, “real-world” strength. Identify weak points and work hard to strengthen them. Often people’s bodies compensate for weaker parts by forcing stronger parts to work harder. This can lead to strength imbalances and injury if the weaker part ever gives out completely. Look at your daily routine and identify tasks that require strength, then take this into consideration when designing a workout. For example, older people often find that their grip strength is reduced. To remedy this, add a hand and/or forearm exercise to the workout. Two of the most important tasks to improve are rising from a seated position, and rising from the floor.

Progressively increase the difficulty and complexity of the program. Research shows that learning new things is a workout for the nervous system and helps keep it healthy. This progression should be gradual of course, but change is important to avoid stagnation and to ensure continual progress. Set clear goals for each week, month, and quarter, and plan ahead carefully so that slow yet significant progression and change can be achieved.

Know yourself. Know what good pain and bad pain feels like. Know what your limits are, and when you can push them. Watch your temperature and hydration levels. Wear stuff that you are comfortable in, and invest in a good pair of shoes that gives you good support.

Allow yourself plenty of recovery time. Rest at least a couple of minutes between weight sets. Rest at least a day between weight workouts. And get enough sleep. The older we get, the less recovery capacity our bodies have, though this improves somewhat with training. Don’t train to failure. In fact, more frequent and less intense training is better than less frequent, more intense training for optimizing recovery.

Be more wary of indiscriminate supplementation. If you have high blood pressure, don’t take ephedrine, for example. Also, many people become lactose intolerant as they age, which means that a whey protein supplement would be an unpleasant experience. This doesn’t mean that older people can’t benefit from supplements, especially a protein supplement, but read labels carefully and be conscious about medication interactions. Older women especially should look into supplementing with soy protein, as soy contains plant estrogens which have been shown to help prevent certain kinds of hormonally based cancers.

Above all, don’t be intimidated by the younguns in the gym. Get in there and have fun, and know that you’ll be the fittest old broad on the block.

More reading:

• Wayne Westcott. Strength Training Past 50 (2nd ed.). Human Kinetics, 2007.
• Clarence Bass’ site
• Art De Vany’s Evolutionary Fitness

This article originally appeared in the Philadelphia Citypaper August 2006.

flex appeal

At 86, great-grandmother Morjorie Newlin keeps pumping iron.

Fourteen years ago, when Morjorie Newlin was 72, her neighborhood supermarket had 50-pound bags of kitty litter on sale. Without anyone to help her carry the bags back to her house, she struggled mightily under the load. Never a particularly athletic woman, but staunchly independent, she decided that she had to do something about her deteriorating physical capabilities. Though osteoporosis was also on her mind, the septuagenarian began lifting weights — for her cat.

“I want to be as independent as I can be, for as long as I can,” says Newlin, a great-grandmother and retired nurse who turns 86 tomorrow. “I just want to do things for myself.”

After 13 years of weight training, Newlin is more than taking care of herself. At her two-story home in Mt. Airy, Newlin, who runs up the stairs with the sprightliness of a 10-year-old, has a room dedicated entirely to plaques, certificates and trophies (some almost as tall as her) from bodybuilding competitions that have taken her as far away as Italy, France and Germany. She’s won more than 40 trophies in her late-blooming career. “There are so many, I don’t know what to do with all of them,” she says.

“I chuckled when I saw this little old lady walk inside the gym,” says Richard Brown, a personal trainer at Rivers Gym in Mt. Airy, where Newlin began her training. “I was a little leery. I was just training young athletes at the time.”

The little old lady quickly showed him what an older athlete could do. “She kept coming in day after day, week after week, and month after month,” Brown remembers. “She didn’t want to do ‘girly’ workouts. She wanted to train with us fellows. After a few months of training, I looked at her physique and knew she was ready for a [bodybuilding] show,” he continues. “She definitely had something to show.”

74 years old, on the bodybuilding stage. I want to give high fives for this until my hands fall off.

Newlin was bench-pressing 65 pounds when she was 73 years old. A year later she was throwing up 85.

Newlin recalls being a little reluctant when she saw the string bikini she’d have to wear in front of the bodybuilding audience.

“I knew the contest meant a lot to my trainer so I went along with it,” she says. To everyone’s surprise, Newlin won. The crowd went crazy on hearing she was 74 years old. Newlin began her competition career in that AAU’s Master’s Division, which splits contestants into two categories: under and over a certain age limit, usually 35 or 45 years old. Newlin obviously fell way over the dividing line, wherever it was set, but was competing and winning against women half her age.

“I was always the oldest in all my competitions,” says Newlin.

The daughter of very active Barbadian immigrants, Newlin admits that athleticism is in her genes: “My family is used to walking and running long distances.” Although she’s taking a break from bodybuilding competitions for now, Newlin is still training at least three days a week, now at Bally Total Fitness in Cedarbrook, and can still throw down with the best of them. “I could bench-press 90 pounds with a spotter. I can dead lift 95 pounds. I can squat 135 pounds,” says Newlin.

She’s been featured on Oprah and The View, and has appeared in commercials in Barbados. She spends her time out of the gym as a motivational speaker at schools and banquets, discussing the importance of exercise, weight training and dieting. “A lady called me earlier this week from Hawaii,” Newlin says. “She asked questions about how to use weights.”

Though some in her position might wonder how much longer they can keep it up — or how far they might have come if they’d started earlier — those questions never cross Newlin’s mind. “Every day is different. The next day will take care of itself,” she says with Zen-like calm. “Age is only a number,” says Brown. “There is only one Morjorie Newlin. … She could do this for as long as she wants.”

So I took up step aerobics. Guess what happened. The pain didn’t go away. It just found a friend. My knee started hurting too. I thought the problem was with me. It wasn’t until much later that I learned that a lot of conventional advice about diet and exercise is not geared to folks who are out of shape.

If you’re a significantly overweight beginner, the last thing you want to do is jump around like a fool on already overstressed joints (and let’s face it, who wants to endure a perky instructor who has no problems moving around?). Traditional advice about exercise for beginners seems to have been written by folks for whom running 10 miles a day is a pleasant pre-breakfast constitutional. It’s time to rethink everything you thought you knew about the right way to start losing weight.

Scroll to the end of this for a suggested routine for an overweight beginner.

rule #1: do what you can

You know the drill. “Do 30-60 minutes of aerobic activity 3-6 times weekly.” The more aerobics the better! Sweat to the oldies! Get that heart rate up and keep it up!
Obviously the physicists in the audience never pointed out that for significantly overweight beginners, jumping up and down puts a great deal of stress on the joints. Overweight folks get the same joints as skinny folks, which means that the joint is already under significant stress. Adding more stress in the form of sustained impact is hard for a beginner to manage.
In addition, a body which is carrying a lot of excess fat is already working hard to move itself around. Overweight people who are avoiding moving around aren’t lazy, they’re sensible. It’s a lot of effort to get going when you have excess mass to carry along with you.
So, what should the overweight beginner do instead? She should work in short bursts throughout the day, within the capacity that she feels is manageable. Instead of getting up the energy to drag through an hour-long aerobics class, try incorporating a series of 5 or 10-minute bursts of activity into your daily routine. Climb a flight of stairs instead of taking the elevator. Park your car farther away from the store. There are many little ways to begin. Many overfat folks like water aerobics and swimming because of the reduced strain on the joints.
Do not, I repeat, do not, leap into a fitness routine if you are an overweight beginner. Take it slowly and do one new thing every week. Injury is very discouraging.

rule #2: cardio is overrated

I can hear the gasps of righteous horror from here. Cardio overrated?! Blasphemy!
Yeah, well, if endless bouts of cardio are so great, why do marathoners all look like beef jerky? What the heck happened to all their muscle tissue?
While doing cardio can contribute to the development and maintenance of aerobic fitness, cardio training on its own is not necessarily the best way or only way to lose fat. It merely assists you in creating an overall caloric deficit which contributes to your body burning more resources than it takes in. It is a sensible part of a fitness regimen, but it is not the be-all and end-all, and it should not stand alone.
And don’t believe that stuff about “low intensity burns fat for fuel, while high intensity burns sugar, so you should do a bazillion hours of low intensity cardio.” First of all, doing so much low-intensity work is as exciting as watching amateur shuffleboard on TV, and second of all it’s not true. While different activities utilize different fuels, it’s the big picture that matters to your body. Your body is a dreamer and visionary, not a nitpicker. Weight training, while it burns sugar-based glycogen for fuel in the short term, ultimately helps the body burn more fat. Building and maintaining muscle is much more metabolically demanding in the long run than a few turns around the block. Combining sensible cardio with weight training is the one-two punch that will keep fat loss going. This doesn’t mean, of course, that you should immediately start into a sprinting program. See rule #1.

rule #3: weight training is a must for long term fat loss

One of the stupidest pieces of advice I’ve heard is that overweight people shouldn’t weight train because it will build muscle that will push the fat out more. It’s very hard to build that kind of muscle mass in a short time, or ever. In fact overweight folks are perfect candidates for weight training.
Any loss of bodyweight involves a loss of both fat and muscle. The key is to maximize the fat loss and minimize the muscle loss. You do this through both your diet and your training. In terms of training, cardio alone doesn’t cut it. Extended bouts of cardio are catabolic to muscle, which means they contribute to muscle mass loss. So you might lose some fat, but in the long term, your metabolism is compromised because you’ve lost muscle too. For long term body recomposition, nothing seems to get results that measure up to weight training combined with other activity (if desired) and sensible nutrition.
Weight training has other benefits besides retention of muscle. It helps keep you motivated as you see strength gains quickly, as most newbies do. Many folks report that strengthening the muscles results in less joint pain and less difficulty in moving around.
This doesn’t mean you should run into the gym and start killing yourself. The beauty of weight training is that it can be easily modified to every trainee’s needs, and adjusted as the trainee becomes stronger and more familiar with technique. Many overweight beginners are surprised to discover how strong they actually are.

rule #4: do something you like

Weight training is a must, as I said, but every other activity you do is your choice. Find something fun and do it. If you hate aerobics, don’t do them! Don’t listen to other people telling you what you should like. Get out in your garden instead, or walk the dog, or anything that gets you moving around. Try a variety of activities to see which ones you enjoy and can do. See rule #1 about not overdoing it and incorporating your activity into your day in short bursts. Of course, if you don’t like anything, then you are in deep sheeyat, my dear.

rule #5: whatever you do, stick to it

One common pitfall for overweight beginners is quitting after a few days or weeks when they don’t see results. Something is always better than nothing, and starting small will mean that your results are gradual.
This is another reason why weight training is a good idea: gains in strength occur almost immediately and can be observed easily by the trainee, unlike gains in muscle or fat loss. Focus on how much you’re lifting for the first 6 months, and meeting your process goals — ie. rather than losing X lbs, make “sticking to a healthy eating and activity plan” your first goal.

rule #6: don’t drop calories too low

So you have decided to lose weight, and you’re eating carrot sticks and rice cakes, and you feel like crap and don’t want to exercise. Then your fat loss stalls altogether and you can’t figure out why. Too low a caloric intake is the likely culprit. Yes, I said too low.
There are a few ways to calculate your daily dieting caloric intake, and they’re based on your existing level of bodyfat, as well as your overall activity level and age. In general, though, intake is based on bodyweight. The higher the amount of bodyfat, the lower the intake coefficient (the number that you multiply by your bodyweight to figure out caloric intake).

• For a woman who’s fairly active and doesn’t have a lot of bodyfat to lose: multiply bodyweight (in lbs.) by 10-12 to get daily intake.
  For example: A 200 lb. person’s daily intake = 2000 to 2400 calories daily.
• For moderately overfat and/or somewhat active and/or older women: multiply bodyweight by 8 or 9.
  For example: A 200 lb. person’s daily intake = 1600 to 1800 calories daily.
• Very overfat and/or sedentary and/or older women: multiply bodyweight by 7 or 8.
  For example: A 200 lb. person’s daily intake = 1400 to 1600 calories daily.

These numbers are NOT carved in stone. If you are very overfat and still getting good results using 12 x bodyweight, great. Keep careful track of progress so that you know for sure. If appetite is a problem, try raising your intake slightly. And don’t forget to adjust intake upwards as bodyfat decreases. Men can use these formulae too. Their intake will often be slightly higher than women of comparable bodyweight. Men in general can often get away with a higher intake coefficient than women, and tend to lose bodyfat more effectively. What can I say, the rules of biology suck sometimes.
For more on proper dieting protocol, check out Dieting 101 and the rest of the articles in the “eating” section on this site.

rule #7: monitor progress closely

This goes for both positive and negative results.
Positive results include fat loss, increase in endurance, and strength gain. Adjust workouts accordingly to match your increased capacities.
Negative results include pain, fatigue, and discouragement. If you’ve started an activity that you’re not enjoying, or you had a bad workout, figure out why and try to solve the problem for next time.

rule #8: supplement wisely

As an overweight beginner you are at risk for joint problems, so head them off at the pass before injury happens. My suggestions:
1. A good multivitamin. You can’t go wrong here.
2. MSM, aka methylsulfonylmethane. This is a good all-purpose supplement and can be found at most drug or health food stores. Take 1-3 grams daily in divided doses with food. Start at 1g per day and work up gradually. If you’re already experiencing joint pain, you can take up to 5 g daily (but again, do this over a period of time, and pay close attention to the dose that works for you… you may be experience relief with only 2g daily).
3. Chondroitin and glucosamine sulfate. Used in conjunction with MSM, these help heal and keep joints healthy. You can usually find combination chondroitin and glucosamine products, again at drug and health food stores. Follow dosage instructions on the label.
4. Don’t waste the cash on diet drugs. Most don’t work, some are dangerous, and none are a long term solution. A few people may benefit from carefully prescribed medication, but this is something you should discuss with your doctor. Don’t self-medicate.

suggested workout plan for overweight beginners

Note that this plan is for weight training only. I assume that you’ll be incorporating some additional activity into your routine every day, as laid out in rule #1. This plan is intended for those folks who are overweight/sedentary beginners, who have bravely joined a gym or who have some equipment at home. I’ve planned this out so that you gradually ease into a workout program over several weeks. I’ve also planned it so that as your workout capacity increases, the workload increases. If you feel that you need more time to adjust before you go to the next level, then by all means take a few more weeks to do so. Conversely, if you improve very quickly, then you’re welcome to challenge yourself within your limits. Just don’t push it too far in the beginning. There is always time to improve.

week 1

Familiarize yourself with the equipment you have access to. If you’ve joined a gym, ask one of the trainers to show you around, and show you where everything is. Now, they’re likely to breeze past the free weights in favour of the foofoo machines, so this is where you have to get tough and tell them clearly you’d like to see their free weight section. Ignore them if they tell you that machines are safer than free weights (or, if you want to watch them squirm, ask them to provide clinical research which proves that machines are safer). Read the section on this site on free weights if you want some ammo.
Make a realistic plan of how much time you can devote to training. Even 2 days a week is good in the beginning. Once you’ve decided how and when you’ll incorporate this into your routine, write it down like an appointment and stick to it. You should allow around an hour, although you won’t use this hour up at first.
Read up on correct form for exercises. You can find this information on this site or at sites such as ExRx and Biofitness.
Get checked out by your doctor to make sure there are no contraindications to your beginning a fitness program.
Get a notebook, preferably the kind divided into sections. In one section, record your workouts, in another section your food intake, and in the third, the following measurements: weight, bust, waist, hip, thigh (taken at midpoint between groin and knee), calf, upper arm and forearm. Take a picture too, if you like. Write down the date. You’ll come back to the measurements page soon.

week 2

You’ve booked 2-3 days to get to the gym, now do it. Bring your notebook and record what weights you use, and how many reps of each you do, as well as how you feel.
Here’s your routine. You will do this at least 2 days a week, making sure to get at least one rest day in between. Remember good form. Most of these exercises, except the lat pulldown and calf raise, are designed to be done with free weights. If you don’t have access to machines, then do rows instead of lat pulls and single legged calf raises on a step, holding a dumbbell. These exercises require minimal equipment: all you need is a bench and a barbell and/or dumbbell (you can modify all exercises to be done with dumbbells).
If you get out of breath, take breaks as needed, but aim for about 1-2 minutes rest between sets.
1. Warmup: 2-3 minutes of light cardio (slow walking on the treadmill is good)
2. Gentle dynamic stretching: get the joints moving by gently bending them and slowly moving them through their range of motion
3. Squat with no added weight (hold on to something sturdy for balance if you need to), 1 set of as many reps as you can manage (work up to 20), through as full a range of motion as you can do
4. Lat pulldown, 1 set of 10-12 reps
5. Bench press, 1 set of 10-12 reps
6. Dumbbell shoulder press, 1 set of 10-12 reps (ideally do these standing, but you can do seated if you feel very unbalanced)
7. Dumbbell or cable row, 1 set of 10-12 reps
8. Calf raises, 1 set of 12-15 reps
9. Ab crunches, 1 set of as many as you can do
10. Cooldown: gentle static stretching for 5 minutes
Cardio is optional at this point, but if you feel up to it, do 5-10 minutes of gentle walking after your workout.

week 3

This week you will focus on making sure you get to the gym regularly. Bring a notebook and write down what you do (weight, reps) and how you feel. If you feel up to it, add some more cardio. If not, don’t worry about it.
You will also begin to keep a food diary. The point of this is not to be obsessive, but to figure out what you eat during the average day and when, so that you know where to make changes. Record what you eat, how much (portion size), when you eat it, how you’re feeling when you eat it.

week 4

This week you will focus on your diet and getting to the gym regularly. Read Dieting 101 and make one small change in your eating habits, such as eating 5-6 small meals daily or decreasing portion size.

week 5

This week you will increase the difficulty of your workout routine. Changes as follows:
1. Warmup: 2-3 minutes of light cardio
2. Gentle dynamic stretching: get the joints moving by gently bending them and slowly moving them through their range of motion
3. Squat with added weight if you’re strong enough, or continue with no added weight if you’re not. 2 sets of 10-12 reps in good form. Use a light bar or hold a couple of dumbbells.
4. Lat pulldown, 2 sets of 10-12 reps
5. Bench press, 2 sets of 10-12 reps
6. Dumbbell shoulder press, 2 sets of 10-12 reps
7. Dumbbell or cable row, 2 sets of 10-12 reps
8. Calf raises, 2 sets of 12-15 reps
9. Ab crunches, 2 sets of as many as you can do
10. Cooldown: gentle static stretching for 5 minutes
You should be adding in some cardio at this point. Aim for 10-15 minutes.
Continue to focus on diet and regular gym attendance. Make another small change in your eating habits, such as getting more lean protein.

week 6

Same as week 5. Slightly increase either the duration or intensity of your cardio, and/or of the daily bouts of activity if you are able to do so.
Make another small change in your eating habits, such as eliminating some regular junk food.

week 7

Same as week 5. Slightly increase either the duration or intensity of your cardio and/or daily bouts of activity if you are able to do so.
Make another small change in your eating habits, such as switching to water from sugary juices and soda.

week 8

Time for a progress report. Take the same measurements you took on the first week. If you see little improvement, don’t panic. Your strength will be the first thing to show noticeable progress, while fat loss will take longer.
Also take this opportunity to address any problems which have cropped up, such as missed gym time. If you’ve fallen off the wagon, don’t be too hard on yourself. Just get back on.
Workouts are the same as in week 5. Increase cardio time and/or daily bouts of activity if you are able to do so.
Make another small change in your eating habits, such as adding a multivitamin supplement.

week 9

Time to increase workout difficulty again!
1. Warmup: 2-3 minutes of light cardio
2. Gentle dynamic stretching
3. Squat with added weight if able, aiming for 3 sets of 12 to 15 reps in good form.
4. Lat pulldown, 2 sets of 10-12 reps
5. Bench press, 2 sets of 10-12 reps
6. Dumbbell shoulder press, 2 sets of 10-12 reps
7. Dumbbell or cable row, 2 sets of 10-12 reps
8. Calf raises, 2 sets of 12-15 reps
9. Ab crunches, 2 sets of as many as you can do
10. Cooldown: gentle static stretching for 5 minutes
You should definitely be adding cardio to the end of your workout at this point. Instead of making the session longer now, try making it harder (you can even try cutting the time down and do 10 challenging minutes rather than 20 moderate ones). Increase the incline of the treadmill, or the level of resistance on whatever machine you’re using.
Make another small change in your eating habits, such as cutting down on caffeine or alcohol intake.

week 10

Same as week 9.
Make another small change in your eating habits, such as adding an extra piece of fruit or vegetable every day.

week 11

Same as week 9.
You’re probably well on your way to good eating by now!

week 12

Congratulations! You stuck with it for 3 months! Reward yourself.
Take progress measurements and pics again.
Continue with this workout routine for another 4-8 weeks, then select another one of your choice from the workout section. You should be able now to handle much more activity. If you like the workout you’re currently doing, simply increase each exercise to 3 sets.
Continue to increase the difficulty and duration of your cardio, up to 30 minutes per session (or you can split it into several sessions per day of 5-10 minutes).
One reader liked this page so much she emailed me to say:
What a smart, wild woman you are. I am a 37 year old woman who loves to lift. Been keeping extra pounds on for too long and am finishing the BFL thing. Much better shape now. Anyway, love your site and
your advice for the overly fat. I suppose I’m not fat anymore but your suggestions are so right on. Lift and forget about intense cardio until you feel better and, well, just plain physical again. Then cardio can begin to feel fun or at least tolerable. Push yourself to lift more and more and just get in 20 minutes of something that moves your legs throughout the day. You’ll burn more fat when you are packed with muscle anyway. Anyway, I used to model and eat NOTHING and that is when I let my weight training go. I steadily got fat over several years even though I was eating NOTHING. At 31%BF I got sick of being sick and started to lift again. The fat fell off. Just fell off. Eating 1800-2000 cals a day. I felt like I was stuffing myself compared to what I had been doing and now that I ripple with muscle instead of fat I kinda like those silly step classes again just to watch the other, younger girls wince with pain when the burn kicks in. Hee, hee!

A PDF presentation by powerlifter Keith Hobman that explains some basic principles of functional fitness. Easy to understand, with lots of illustrations.

Download PDF

sets and reps

Let’s start from the ground up. No matter what exercise you choose, you’re going to do it for a particular number of sets and reps. Sets and reps are the building blocks of your routine.

repetitions

A rep (repetition) is one complete execution of an exercise. So, for example, one rep of a bench press or one rep of a squat would be the full down-and-up.

A rep has a few parts.  The positive or concentric portion is where you have to exert the most force. In a bench press, it’s the up part. In a pulldown, it’s the pulling down part. The negative or eccentric portion is where you simply provide some controlled resistance for the weight as it returns to its starting position. In a bench press, it’s the down part. In a pulldown, it’s the part where the bar travels back up as the weight on the cable stack pulls it back. To successfully complete a rep you must also release the weight in a slow, controlled fashion, not just drop it when you’re done pushing it off your body.

Gym geek alert! There’s also what’s known as the amortization phase of a rep. That’s where you have to decelerate the weight and get it moving in the other direction. In the bench press you don’t just let it drop on your face. (Well, not on purpose.) You slow its descent (the negative), and then eventually you have to stop it altogether and reverse its motion so that it goes back up. You don’t need to worry about this, but it does become relevant in exercises such as squats.

A rep should move through the full range of your joint motion. In the case of the bench press, this means pushing the weight up till your arms are straight (but never lock your joints!), then lowering it down as low as it will go (try to avoid crushing yourself here). In the case of the squat, you move from standing straight to fully bent at hips and knees.

tips on reps

Remember to breathe. This sounds like pretty stupid advice, but there can be the temptation to hold your breath while completing a rep. It’s not a problem for most people to temporarily hold their breath, but folks with high blood pressure should be careful. The best way to do it is to breathe in before the rep, hold the breath momentarily during the eccentric and the most difficult part of the concentric, then let it out at the finish of the concentric. Breathing out as you initiate the concentric can cause your body to reflexively relax, which is something you don’t want at the bottom of a squat. You can also breathe between reps if you need to. This is particularly important when doing oxygen-sucking exercises such as squats. Pause, take a breath or two, then get ready for the next rep.

You don’t have to worry too much about breathing properly. Your body will generally know what to do with this. You’ll notice that your midsection instinctively tenses, and you might even make a little “ungh” sound when the weight gets really heavy.

Beginners should use slow, controlled movements. Do not jerk or bounce the weight as this can lead to injury in an inexperienced trainee.

what makes a set

A set is composed of reps performed until the lifter chooses to pause and rest. A set can be anything from 1 rep to nearly any number of reps. Powerlifters and Olympic weightlifters often use 1 or 2-rep sets. On the other hand, wrestlers will often do sets of hundreds of unweighted squats. There are lots of possibilities once you get the hang of things.

How do you know when to stop? Well, there are a few methods.

Working to failure.
Failure is when you are struggling like a madwoman just… to… move… the… weight… another… inch… uggghhh… can’t do it.

Working to just less than failure.
In this case, you go until you feel as though the next rep will be a challenge to complete with proper form, but you’re not totally out of gas. This is the method I’d recommend over going right to failure.

Using a prescribed rep range.
This generally involves planning out the workout in advance, and aiming to complete a predetermined number of reps per set. The goal here is usually to complete the desired number of reps in good form. The set may stop short of total failure, and the trainee may feel that there are more “reps left in the tank”. The majority of elite strength trainers, such as competing powerlifters and Olympic lifters, train this way. You do not have to train to failure to make progress.

Cheating sets, breathing sets, forced reps, etc.
This is what some folks do when they get to the failure point. They may have a spotter assist them with the load, so that they’re still pushing weight but it’s lighter. Or, they may be performing something like the 20-rep squat routine, which is done using a weight heavier than one can use for 20 reps, and pausing with the bar on their back in between reps.

These techniques are not ideal for the beginning lifter, although the 20-rep squat program can be done after you’ve gained some familiarity with squatting (if you’re interested in the 20-rep program, head over to Ironmind, go to their book section, and check out “Super Squats” by Randall Strossen). Overuse of forced/cheating reps can also lead to a false sense of strength. I see a lot of guys who claim they can bench press, say, 200 lbs. What benching 200 lbs. actually means to them is that they bench 100 lbs. while their spotter rows the other 100 lbs. worth off of them, while yelling, “It’s all you, man!” Or it means they take 200 lbs. through a tiny range of motion.

where to start with sets and reps

A basic beginner’s routine generally consists of something approximating 3 sets per exercise with 10-15 reps per set, though you can start with doing only 1 set per exercise for the first few weeks. Between sets you rest for 1 to 3 minutes, until you feel ready to tackle that thing again. You’ll want longer rests between sets of more complex exercises such as squats and deadlifts.

When you are starting out and figuring out what weights are good for you, you’ll have to go through some trial and error to find the correct weight. In general, aim for a weight that you can do for around 10-15 reps in good form. The 10-15 rep recommendation is based on the principle that beginners should use slightly lower weight for the first several months, in order to allow their connective tissue time to adapt to the loading. A weight which someone can use for 12 reps is usually a good weight to begin with.

But this isn’t a hard-and-fast rule. You can use more reps, and you can use fewer reps. It depends on what is appropriate loading for the exercise, the trainee’s level of expertise, and her goals.

More reps

More reps are useful for movements that require a lot of stability. In the case of learning squats, I like to have trainees start with unweighted squats, focusing on balance and full range of motion, and working up to around 25-30 reps per set before tackling additional weight. This helps folks feel confident and sturdy once the bar gets on their back.

Fewer reps

Fewer reps are useful for movements that fatigue trainees quickly. Beginners who are learning complex movements can also opt to use fewer reps per set, so that weaker muscles don’t fatigue too early. For example, it is common in beginners for the torso musculature to be weak. If the trainee tries to perform long sets of squats, the torso may not have the endurance to hold up. She may feel some discomfort in her lower back. So, instead of doing 3 sets of 12 to start with, a beginner might do 5 sets of 5, with the same weight she’d use for the 12-rep set, and perhaps slightly shorter rest intervals. Once the last reps of the last set are a piece of cake, move the weight up.

Fewer reps are also often used for exercises that are initially difficult for the trainee. This includes things like pushups and pullups. Maybe you can only do three pushups when you start. So that’s where you start.

tempo

Another word you hear used with regard to sets and reps is tempo. Tempo refers to the speed at which you execute your reps. So, for example, a tempo of 2-1-3-1 would mean that the positive segment of the rep is two seconds, the pause at the top is 1 second, the negative part is 3 seconds, and you pause for 1 second at the bottom. By slowing the tempo, you can make a rep more challenging.

I know you have a lot to think about already, being a beginner and all, so you don’t have to worry about counting out the speed of your reps perfectly. Just think slow and controlled for now. A slow, controlled rep allows you to learn the movement and be sure that you are executing it correctly.

However, it is a myth that explosively performed reps are dangerous. Yes, they can be dangerous for someone who is inexperienced. But there is a place in a training program for a quickly performed rep. Jumps, plyometrics, and explosive exercises are important for building speed and power. But again, for now, if you’re a beginner, just focus on controlling the weight.

rep speed: the gym geeky explanation

An important factor in strength is called the rate of force development (RFD). When you go to lift a weight, you have to generate enough force to make it move from where it’s resting. So, if you are trying to pull a deadlift off the floor, you have to generate enough upward force to make that barbell leave the floor. The speed at which you can generate this force is called RFD. The faster your RFD, the more power you can put into the lift, kind of like a sprinter who can blast out of the blocks and accelerate quickly. Olympic weightlifters performing the clean and jerk and the snatch depend on a good RFD in order to get the bar quickly moving off the floor and above their heads. However a good RFD would also be important for many sports which depend on quickly generating power, such as throwing sports.

RFD is trained through emphasizing explosive acceleration of a weight. It is generally done by using lighter weights which are not moving, and trying to get them moving as quickly as possible. An example of this would be the pause squat, where the lifter descends into a squat position, pauses for a few seconds keeping muscles tight, then blasts upwards. This isn’t something you have to worry about as a beginner, but experienced trainers often include explosive or speed training as part of their program.

variations on the set

Once you get good at the basic stuff and feel like a bit of a smartypants, try some variations in your set-rep combos. There are thousands of different things you can do to mix thing up, and many fans of one or the other will try to tell you that X training protocol is the only way to train. Unfortunately for weightlifing metanarratives, human beings are infinitely variable, and so should their routines be. You should avoid like the plague any school of thought that tells you there’s only one way to go. With weightlifting, there’s definitely more than one way to skin a cat. Find what works for you, even if that’s standing on your head between sets and chanting Hare Krishna mantras.

The only thing you need to do for sure is occasionally vary the intensity and volume of your routine (this is more an issue for intermediate and advanced trainers; for more on this see material on periodization). You have a veritable smorgasbord of variables in your routine. Number of reps, number of sets, level of weight, tempo, number and type of exercise, workout splits, length of rest period, all of these can be manipulated periodically to ensure that you keep meeting your goals.

Some variation and diversity is good. This includes choosing a good range of exercises (and activities in general) and varying your intensity and workload over time. However, resist the temptation to endlessly tweak your routine. You want enough novelty to keep yourself entertained, and enough consistency to generate and measure progress. You do not need to “shock the body” with constant variation at every workout. You do not need to “hit the muscles from various angles”. The body is not a bratty toddler requiring ever-changing new stimuli and a host of new toys. And either muscles contract or they don’t. As long as it gets enough of a challenge to make it pay attention (but not too much to damage it), and as long as it gets progressive resistance (i.e. the weight gets heavier over time), the body doesn’t care.

Here are some ideas for variation and increased intensity:

Drop sets
This is a set where you begin on a moderately high weight, then do all the reps you can. Immediately drop the weight by a small increment, say 10 or 20 lbs, then do all the reps you can again. Drop the weight down again, do more reps. Repeat. This is a pretty intense sequence, and I guarantee you’ll feel it the next morning. Don’t use this one at every workout.

Pyramid sets
First set, light weight, high reps. Second set, medium weight, medium reps. Third set, heavy weight, low reps. Fourth set, medium weight. Fifth set, light weight. Fall down on the floor and groan (optional).

Superslow sets
These—rather self-evidently—involve executing the reps at a very slow speed. I’m not much on this protocol. It feels hard, but doesn’t result in appreciable strength gains for an experienced trainer, nor does it enable one to develop good RFD (see explanation above). Slow and controlled is good, but superslow isn’t a big improvement on basic good form. Besides, unless you’re a tree sloth, it doesn’t have much practical application outside of some potential rehab.

Set cycles
Try a week of high weight/low rep/low exercise volume sets then a week of low weight/high rep sets/high exercise volume.

Supersets
There are two different kinds of supersets. In the first kind, you execute two or more different exercises for the same muscle group with little rest in between. That might include, f’rinstance, putting a set of preacher curls together with some concentration curls. Both exercises work the biceps, but in slightly different ways. The second kind of superset involves more or less the same principle, but instead works two opposing muscle groups. So you might pair the biceps curl with a triceps extension.

Timed sets
These sets don’t operate by rep count but by time. Set a timer and go for 30 seconds, 60 seconds, or longer. This is a handy method for exercises such as kettlebell swings.

You see where I’m going with these. The point is to find out what works best for you, then mix it up a little. Although some variation in a weight program is important, you should also be able to find the groove that suits you best.

exercise choices and the workout split

Many weightlifters work on a split routine or cycle. For the reasons why they do this, see my page on rest and periodization. They may break the workouts up by:

• bodyparts: e.g. one day upper body, one day lower body
• lift type: e.g. pushing versus pulling exercises
• intensity and loading: heavy, medium, and light
• skill focus: strength, speed, agility, etc.

Essentially, splitting the workout up allows you to focus on different things, while optimizing recovery potential.

However, while beginners should usually start with a full body workout, it is a myth that experienced trainees must always use a split based on bodyparts. It can be quite effective to perform a full body workout (or approximately a full body workout) each time, as long as the amount of work performed is carefully controlled. Indeed, no matter how experienced a gym rat you are, you can do a full-body routine at each and every workout without overtraining. The key is in the application: you don’t go all out each time, and you don’t do three billion exercises. For an example of an effective full-body routine, check out my workout pages.

No matter what you choose to do, your exercises should be thoughtfully selected. Compound movements, movements which involve more than one joint (such as movement at the ankle, knee, and hip as happens in a squat) or a large muscle group, should always form the basis of your routine. Common compound movements are squats, deadlifts, presses, pullups, pushups, and rows, as well as the Olympic lifts (clean and jerk, squat) and their assistance exercises (such as pulls, presses, shrugs on toes, etc.). Ideally more difficult movements which use many joints and muscles are placed first in the workout, while simpler exercises which move only one joint (such as biceps curls) are placed at the end. Usually exercises for torso musculature (abs, obliques, lower back) are also placed at the end in order to ensure that they are fresh for more demanding exercises in the beginning, and able to provide as much torso support as possible.

Because compound movements involve so many moving parts, they’re much more efficient and effective for most goals than isolation exercises. Generally, I don’t bother with most isolation work unless there’s some particular need for it, such as rehab. Doing a few sets of underhand-grip pullups is a much better use of your time than a few sets of biceps curls.

stretching and flexibility

Stretching and flexibility are often accorded a magical power they does not possess.

People assume that stretching before a workout prevents injury. In fact, this is a myth. Clinical research has not substantiated stretching’s ability to prevent injury, and some research suggests that static preworkout stretching can actually increase possibility of certain injuries, such as hamstring tears in sprinters. Preworkout stretching of the stretch-and-hold variety can also temporarily decrease strength for up to an hour after the muscle is stretched. Excessive laxity (looseness) of the connective tissue in joints is associated with injury.

Frequently people fail to distinguish between active and static flexibility. Active flexibility is the ability to move a joint through a full range of motion, such as a martial artist or Rockette doing a high kick. Static flexibility is the ability to go into a stretch and hold it.

Active flexibility is what you want as a weight trainer, and the best way to develop this is performing the movements themselves. It is a myth that weight training inhibits flexibility. In fact, taking joints through a full loaded range of motion does wonders for developing functional flexibility. Being able to drop into a deep squat, for example, demonstrates excellent active flexibility of hips, spine, and calves. Olympic weightlifters are among the most flexible athletes. Static flexibility should be seen as an adjunct to active flexibility, and applied for particular purposes, such as rehabilitation. For more on stretching and flexibility, check out the FAQ and the article “Myths and Truths of Stretching”.

What does this mean for incorporating stretching into your workout? Well, for starters it means that you may not need a whole lot of unusual flexibility to do well as a weight trainer. You will need enough active flexibility to perform the movements.

Before starting the workout, warm up with some light cardio for a couple of minutes to get the circulation going. If it’s early in the morning, do a few reps of reaching overhead to engage the spinal musculature.  Then perform some gentle movements that take the joints through a progressively fuller range of motion. Move to doing one or two warmup sets of the movement with lighter weight than you would normally use. Finally begin your work sets with your desired weight. If you want to do more extensive stretching, save it for after your weights.

One exception to this rule is rehab (as always). Many folks need to stretch out something or other before a weight set, because the tightness of that part inhibits proper execution of the lift. However for the average person this is usually not much of a concern.

putting it all together

So, what does all of this stuff look like when you assemble it? Well, probably something like this:

1. Warm up, 3-5 minutes of light cardio
2. Warm up, gentle range-of-motion movements
3. Warm up sets of desired exercise
4. Work sets of desired exercises, moving from more difficult compound exercises to simpler isolation exercises
5. More active stretching if desired
6. More extensive cardio if desired
7. Passive stretching if desired

how much time should I spend on all this?

There are no clear rules on how long a weights workout should be. It depends on what you are training for, your level of expertise, your frequency of training, and so forth. However, I would say that if you are working with weights for longer than an hour, you might be able to cut it down by choosing fewer, but better, exercises. Probably aiming for somewhere between 30 and 60 minutes in total, 3 to 5 times weekly, is about right for the average person.

Doesn’t that all sound exciting?! Now, go to the program page and pick out something pretty for yourself.

Anecdotal evidence from my own experience and reader emails suggests that women are less guilty of it than men, since some men seem to feel that if they don’t cheat, then they can’t lift a ton of weight, and they can’t impress all their idiot friends with what a manly man they are. Women tend to be more circumspect in their approach; usually their terrible form is due to not taking the whole thing seriously enough or being too scared to try something they think is risky. Well, enough of further building up gender barriers. Here’s why you should prostrate yourself before the bitch goddess, FORM. For those who anger her meet her wrath.

what is this thing called… form?

Good form is called good form for a reason—it’s the best way to do an exercise (I know you’re thinking, “Well DUH”, but this really doesn’t seem to be obvious to many people). It’s the most efficient and effective way for your body to execute a certain movement so that it is challenging yet safe.

Good form makes an exercise more challenging to do. If it was easy your muscles would eat it for breakfast and you wouldn’t make them stronger. So cheating ultimately costs you optimum strength gains, in that your muscles aren’t being forced to get off their fat butts and work. Common forms of cheating to make things easier include:

• swinging the weight quickly to get cetrifugal force working
• throwing your whole body into what should be an isolation exercise (for example, cranking your back in order to do a biceps curl)
• rounding the back to pull or lift something, relying on your spinal connective tissue to do the work, rather than the spinal musculature
• cutting the range of motion short (e.g. doing quarter-squats)
• bouncing or jerking the weight (f’rinstance, some folks think they are very clever in getting that extra bit of momentum by bouncing the bar off their chests during a bench press–I doubt their sternum agrees)

A rep should be controlled and involve only those muscles targeted. In general, it should move through the entire range of motion, within the joint’s capabilities. Whenever I see guys in the gym thinking they’re Hercules because they can stack the calf machine although they only move up and down an inch, my pacifist nature snaps and I get a wild urge to duct-tape them to the machine while they do it properly, from all the way down to all the way up, crying crocodile tears of repentance for offending Her Form Holiness. Specialized strength trainers, or folks in physical rehab, do sometimes use partial reps for specific training purposes, but most of the time, the nimrod whose spine is vibrating under 400 lbs. of a weighted curtsey isn’t a powerlifter.

By the way, by “controlled”, I do not mean that every movement must always be slow. Simply because a movement is fast does not mean it is dangerous. There are many movements, such as Olympic lifts, throwing a ball, or executing a punch in martial arts, which are and should be done quickly. “Controlled” means that although you are deliberately accelerating a weight against resistance, you are doing it purposefully and with proper technique. If a pitcher is throwing a ball, she doesn’t just whip her arm around randomly and hope for the best; she executes a very specific and planned sequence of events.

Advocates of extra-slow weight training argue (wrongly) that any fast movement involves the use of “momentum”, and is thus inherently dangerous. This reasoning is erroneous and based primarily on misunderstandings of physiology and physics. If you are training to move slowly, then move slowly. If you are training to move quickly, then you must train at least some movements that involve the acceleration of a weight against resistance. If you’re just learning to move quickly, you can either start by moving slowly (going through the motions step by step, carefully), or by moving quickly with much less of a load (such as learning an Olympic lift with a broomstick). There is, as usual, a happy medium somewhere between these two poles that is generally appropriate for the average trainee.

But don’t be ascairt of speed. Humans are much more like quick, hyper monkeys than snails on Quaaludes and we do just fine when we move rapidly. I mean, c’mon, our ancestors would literally have been dead meat had they insisted on careful walking instead of running or scampering up a tree away from the sabre-toothed tiger. Think about this: what happens when you touch a hot burner by accident? Without conscious thought (and in fact, the signals don’t even make it all the way to your brain before your body responds), you yank your hand away. We have an entire peripheral nervous system whose job (among others) is to respond instantly to dangerous external stimuli with rapid movement, without even waiting for that lazy-assed brain to make a decision.

In real life, you often don’t get a chance to decide whether to move fast or slow. What keeps us injury-free is being prepared and conditioned for the speed, not spending our whole lives afraid of sprinting.

No-one likes being injured, and the majority of injuries in the gym (aside from dropping plates on your foot) are a direct result of bad form. Good form is intended to make sure that your musculoskeletal system is in optimum alignment. For example, when squatting, the lower back should keep a tight arch, and your butt should be sitting back behind your heels. This ensures that undue stress is not placed on the knees, and that the spine is bearing the load appropriately. Do it right the first time and save yourself the cost of that econo-bottle of Advil. For more on avoiding injuries in the gym, head to my injury section.

fundamentals of form

Each exercise is different, of course. But here are some general principles:

• Neutral spine — there are very few exercises where good form while moving a heavy load involves hunching your back or tucking your tailbone under. Head up, chest up, and don’t sag.
• Full, but not excessive range of motion — take the joint through its full range of ability. Don’t overstretch it till your sinews make crackling sounds. Don’t cut the rep short just to move more weight. Work within a range that is natural and pain-free. If you have an injury that limits your range, work within the range that is comfortable for you, trying to expand that range gradually over time.
• Use the strongest muscles to do the most work unless you’re doing some funny little rehab exercise that targets some teeny weeny muscle. When squatting or deadlifting, use your glutes and hamstrings. When pressing, use your shoulders. If you find that small parts such as your grip or lower back are fatiguing, it could be that you just need to give them a little extra targeted work and let them catch up. Or it could mean you’re relying on them too much and letting the big parts get lazy.
• Be controlled and mindful in your movements, whether those movements are fast or slow. (See above.)
• Never sacrifice technique to move more weight. Leave your ego outside the gym. Nobody is impressed by a 1/4 squat except the ignorant. It’s more impressive to do a lift properly with less weight than to do it poorly with more weight. (Naturally, your goal is to do an awesome lift with awesome weight, but be patient, darling.)
• For most goals, aim to integrate body parts rather than isolate them. (Again, for rehab, you may have to begin with isolation first if you have something that isn’t firing properly, or if you need to retrain the movement.) The body is designed to operate as a coordinated system. It performs best everyone works together.
• When learning a new exercise, start with very light weight (or no weight at all) and practice the movement first. Add weight gradually.
• If form breaks down, the set is done. Again, nobody is impressed by a bunch of ugly reps unless this is your one chance at setting a powerlifting world record. (Even then, the rep can’t get too hideous or the judges will fail it.)

form links

Of course you should start with the Dork to Diva page on this site.

Biofitness provides form diagrams for an extensive variety of exercises including many assistance exercises for the Olympic lifts. Personally I would ignore all their scary warnings about contraindicated exercises. Sure, I wouldn’t start a beginner on what the guy in the picture is lifting, but there’s no reason folks couldn’t learn these movements with no weight or a broomstick.

Bill Pearl has a good all-purpose information resource site for beginners.

ExRx lists exercises by type and muscles used. This is one of the best sites out there for basic anatomy, kinesiology, and exercise diagrams.

Exercise Armoury has a wide selection of exercises illustrated.

Exercise videos, lots of Olympic lifts and assistance exercises.

University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse Strength and Conditioning Centre has videos of exercises, including some Olympic and powerlifting lifts.

Bodybuilding.com Exercise Guide

Exercise Technique animations by body part