Thanks to Mighty Lingster for this image!

I am always happy to hear that guys are encouraging their female acquaintances and partners to train with weights. Many women are introduced to weights by male partners and friends, and this introduction creates an ongoing interest. Some women athletes may find themselves entirely surrounded by men, either because their sport of choice is so male-dominated (like powerlifting) or because the assistance they need can only come from another very physically strong person, and there aren’t as many strongwomen around as there should be!

I think that men can be a very positive influence in the gym, and certainly there have been numerous men who made a wonderful contribution to my training experience, both as trainers and workout partners. However I have also heard and experienced many negative things from men in the gym. Sometimes the guys are just clueless, other times they’re being deliberately obstructive and rude. So, what if you’re a guy that’s interested in women’s training, and want to know how to do a good job? Read on!

dos and don’ts

Do encourage the women in your life to train with weights. No matter what her skill level, ability, age, or body shape, every woman can benefit from weight training.

Don’t push her if she’s not interested. She may be uncomfortable, she may hate weight training, she may not want to work out with you (I know you’re a swell guy, but hey, it happens). She might prefer to work out in a different setting or in a different way.

Do debunk myths about women and weight training. Explain to her that she will not get too big, or turn into a man, or wind up muscle-bound and slow, or whatever people think happens when they lift weights. Assure her that it is okay to work out with free weights, and that it is much more effective to squat than to do a thousand unweighted leg lifts. Send her to this site if you must.

Don’t get too bummed out if she doesn’t listen to you. I get a lot of mail from desperate boyfriends, husbands, fathers, and sons who are trying unsuccessfully to convince the women and girls in their lives to lift weights. Many male trainers and coaches despair of this too. First, wives never listen to their husbands anyway (I should know). But quite often, the grrls need to be shown actual, positive examples of other women who have lifted weights and not turned into monsters. Try pointing her towards Maryse Turcotte, who lifts weights heavy enough to make her an international champion.

Along with role models, do show her positive real-life examples of what weight training can do, particularly examples which relate to her needs. She may want strength and power for another sport or activity. She may want functional strength. She may want to lose bodyfat. She may want to increase her bone density. All of these and a variety of other goals can be accomplished through weight training.

Don’t assume she shares your goals, but be happy if she does.

Don’t indulge in worries about her weight training threatening your masculinity. There is no direct, inverse relationship between her bench press and your penis size. Of course, if you’re reading this you’re probably not overly threatened. Strong women are cool! Every straight boy should want one!

Do be positive and encouraging about her progress. If possible focus on strength achievements and skill mastery, not losing bodyfat. For most male-female couples who aren’t pro bodybuilders, discussions about bodyfat are dangerous territory. This also goes for discussions about femininity.

Don’t criticize her body. There’s a good chance she will be more critical of herself than you could be of her, but make sure you’re not saying anything negative anyway. Also don’t compare her to other women (unless you want to score points by telling her how much more buff she is than Jane So-and-So).

Do start her off small if she is a beginner. Let her work within a range where she is comfortable and understand that many people need to progress slowly within the bounds of their security. Think long term progress rather than short term gains. A good weight to start with is something she can handle for about 12-15 reps per set, not because this is for “toning” but because it’s light enough that she can learn good form, as well as allow her connective tissue to adapt. After 6-12 months she can start going heavier.

Don’t underestimate her capacity to gain strength. She may gravitate immediately towards the heavy stuff. Let her run with it and you might be surprised where she ends up.

Do gear her training program to her needs and goals. This might not be the same kind of program you use. But do also steer her away from the typical female program of hours of low intensity cardio and tiny weights, if you can.

Don’t give her a sucky program just because she is a girl. Don’t tell her to tone, firm, or sculpt. Women do not need special programs with ultrahigh reps and low weight. We can squat, deadlift, power clean, throw a shotput, do one-rep maxes, yadayadayada, just fine thankyouverymuch! “Definition” is just a function of bodyfat levels, but I’m sure you know that already. (If you don’t, read this)

Don’t advise her against using “too much weight” unless that advice is genuinely useful (i.e. if you see her about to bench press 400 lbs. on her first day).

Don’t tell her she is going to hurt herself unless, again, this is genuinely useful advice.

Don’t worry about her hurting her reproductive organs. Her reproductive organs are much better protected than yours.

Do realize that the average untrained woman is going to be weaker than the average trained male. Don’t expect her to immediately do stuff that was easy for you. I recall seeing a guy and a girl working out together. She was just starting out and he could not figure out why she couldn’t do a pullup. In his mind she just wasn’t trying hard enough. For him it had been easy to do a pullup right in the beginning.

Do be aware that while in most ways a woman’s program does not differ from a man’s, there are some things that might be dissimilar. Starting strength is one thing. She may also find that her menstrual cycle affects how her training goes from workout to workout. She may react differently to carbs than you, and will quite likely find it more difficult to lose bodyfat. Her squat or deadlift stance may be different than yours, or she may find it more comfortable to use narrower dipping bars. Her flexibility is likely better, but the downside of that is that her joint laxity may be too, which means watching out for joint hyperextension.

Do take her, her goals, and her progress seriously.

Don’t make stupid sexist jokes or comments, because this sends a negative message (and it also makes you look like an ass).

Do be aware of how other women feel in the gym, which continues to be a somewhat male-dominated space. Be aware of how you’re using the space, and be considerate of the fact that women may not feel as comfortable as you. Think about how you feel when you’re in a situation where you’re the only person like you and everyone else is different.

Don’t leave machines and bars loaded up with heavy weights. It’s totally intimidating for a beginner to have to unrack a pile of 45s and bad gym etiquette anyway. If you can lift it, then you should damn well clean it up too.

Don’t ogle or hit on women. You may think you’re being subtle but most of the time you’re not. If a woman is wearing a Walkman that’s likely a signal that she doesn’t want to be disturbed during her workout. Be polite and friendly but don’t act like a sleazy superstud. And if women in the gym avoid you, there’s probably a reason.

Don’t be yucky. Women have a better sense of smell than you do. And testosterone makes you funkier anyway. The ladies, they are not impressed by your masculine musk. Yeah, we all get sweaty, but there’s fresh gym sweat and “clothes marinating in a hockey bag for a month” sweat. Please, for the health of our olfaction, stay clean, use deodorant, and do your laundry!

Do help your female friend, partner, or client feel more comfortable. Include her as much as you can in the gym community. Help her feel like the gym is her rightful space too.

Now get out there and get your old lady hauling some iron!

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.

To understand why, a short and grossly simplified description of what happens during exertion is necessary. When muscles contract, their tiny fibres slide over one another. With sufficient amount of muscular stimulus, such as that which occurs when lifting a weight, these fibres pull apart, causing trauma at the microlevel.

The body responds to this stress by rebuilding the bridges between the fibres, because the body doesn’t much like to be disturbed. You see, the body is a funny combo of industrious and lazy. It likes to stay occupied with rebuilding things, digesting things etc. but it also likes things to stay the way they are. It’s like a busy little bee that nevertheless has its favourite flower route. The body’s goal is homeostasis — keeping everything running on an even keel. The body repairs itself to be slightly stronger than it was before, so that next time it will be able to manage the stimulus more effectively.

You don’t really need to remember this; but what you do need to remember is that the building-up and recovering from trauma part happens between, not during workouts.

In other words, what you do outside the gym is as important as what you do inside.

In addition, the body is a system, not just a collection of unrelated parts. Stress on one part becomes stress felt all over. You know how you get a stomach upset when you’re nervous, or a headache after being tense? Same idea. The body operates as a dynamic system that responds to a stimulus holistically. In other words, all for one and one for all. If your body is not allowed sufficient time for repair and rebuilding, you will not recover and become stronger. You will be at risk for chronic injuries, minor (or major) illnesses, and eventually, overtraining.

overtraining

Overtraining is the result of long-term training with too much work and/or too little recovery. In the short term, this is known as overreaching. Overreaching may be something as simple as pushing it just a little too much during one workout, or it may be not getting enough rest over a week of training.

Very few recreational athletes ever accomplish true overtraining. Overtraining is usually restricted to high-level athletes who train for hours a day, and it’s a product of over-reaching for a long, long time. Symptoms of overtraining include:

• Fatigue
• Elevated morning heart rate
• Aches and pains
• Chronic joint injuries (e.g. tendonitis) and illnesses (e.g. viruses)
• Degraded technique on complex movements (missing reps, can’t find the “groove”)
• Problems focusing and concentrating
• Decreased gym performance: getting weaker, inability to tolerate formerly manageable workouts
• Anxiety and worry over workouts
• Loss of interest in training; giving up easily
• Irritability and mood swings
• Disrupted sleep

True overtraining takes time to occur, but unfortunately, by the time it gets serious, it will require some bigtime recovery. So try to work within your limits as much as possible, and err on the side of a little extra R ‘n’ R.

how much rest?

How do you know what’s enough rest? Well, partly trial and error, and partly informed guessing. By and large, a beginner cannot handle the workload that an experienced trainer can. Nor does a beginner need the workload of an experienced trainer. A beginner can make gains training as infrequently as twice weekly, with one set per exercise. Many elite trainers train nearly every day, or even twice a day. Most people fall somewhere in between that, opting to train with weights around 3-4 times weekly, for somewhere around 30-60 minutes.

A good rule to go by is that as frequency of workouts increases, the workload of each individual workout should decrease. So, if you train twice weekly, you can do a full body workout with fairly high intensity or a lot of volume. If you train 5-6 times weekly, you should have a shorter workout that may only consist of a few sets of a single lift. Or you need to rotate your exercises and the demands of each workout.

In general terms gains can often be superior with more frequent training, but you have to be very careful to keep each workout reasonably short, and the intensity moderate.

Most experienced folks make some kind of allowance for frequent training. Either they put lots of rest between heavy sessions, or they work different bodyparts on different days, or they vary the intensity of their workout sessions, or all of the above.  You can indeed train a body part more than once a week, perhaps even several times a week, if you use a manageable or varied intensity. So, for example, you can squat without consequence 3 times a week if you use heavy, medium, and light squat workouts. You could even squat daily if you include unweighted work. Or you could train the chest area twice weekly, once with heavier bench presses and dips, and once with pushups. As long as workload is carefully controlled, there is no reason why you cannot work body parts more often than once a week. You may even find that depending on your goals, more frequent, less intense training can be more beneficial and yield more progress than less frequent, more intense training.

See my program page to see suggestions for possible splits that you can use. A well designed program gives all your 2000 parts sufficient time to recover and be ready to get the crap beaten out of them again. In addition, every 2-3 months give yourself a full week off. Don’t worry, all your hard-won gains won’t disappear in such a short time, and when it’s time to get back into it, you will leap once more into the breach with newfound vigour.

sleep

Rest is not confined to merely abstaining from working out three times a day. Sleep is also fundamental to fitness success. Yeah, I know, it sort of seems like a waste of time to just lie there for eight hours a night, but your body does it for a reason. You might find that after a few nights of crappy sleep that your performance in the gym is impaired. Your immune system will also be compromised with a lack of rest, meaning that whatever gross viruses are smeared on the machines and floating happily in the humidity of the locker room will be more eagerly accepted by your exhausted and apathetic body.

In addition to straightforward resting, both in the form of sensible program design with days off, and lots of sleep, there are many things you can do to improve your overall recovery. These may be known as “active recovery” or “restoration” tools. They include:

• Massage
• Light to moderate cardio either after weights or on non-weights days
• Warm/hot baths, or periods of warm/hot immersion alternated with cool/cold immersion, such as going from a hot tub to a pool
• Various types of stretching, active mobility such as tai chi and yoga
• Good nutrition with sufficient caloric intake
• Supplementation geared at improving recovery and maintaining good health, such as a basic multivitamin, glucosamine sulfate, ginseng, antioxidants, etc.
• Attention to psychological needs in training, such as variety, fun, and manageable, relevant goals

Remember, more isn’t better. Better is better. If you train hard, you have to rest hard too!

If I say to you that I’m driving my car at 80 km/h, that tells you a bit, but what’s also important is whether I’m in second or fifth gear while doing that 80 km/h. In fifth gear, the car’s not working terribly hard and the intensity is low, but in second gear, that engine is just about to explode out of the hood.

Leaving aside my problems with learning to drive standard, what I’m getting at is that knowing the “speed”, i.e. the number of reps, is not enough. You also need to know how hard that weight is to lift, i.e. the gear. If I lift a weight for 10 reps and it’s pretty easy, that’s not a whole lot of work. But let’s say I have a weight that is nearly as much as I can lift for one rep. 10 reps of that will probably take me the afternoon to execute, and it’ll be a whole lot different from my body’s point of view than 10 reps with the light weight. (And it’ll probably irritate the rest of the people at the gym waiting to use the barbell.)

Thus, more sophisticated lifters (hint: that will be you after reading this) learn to talk about intensity and volume.

intensity

Intensity can be defined in various ways, and usually it is defined relative to something else. In lifting, intensity is frequently used to express what percentage of one’s maximal weight one is using.

Let’s say that the most I can do for one all-out, blood-vessel-exploding rep on a particular exercise is 100 lbs. That 100 lbs. is referred to as my one-repetition maximum (1RM). You can have other “RM”s, such as 3RM or 5RM, but most often the 1RM is used as a standard.

Intensity would then be expressed as a percentage of that 1RM. Thus, if in this exercise I choose to lift 50 lbs., then I would say I am working at 50% of my 1RM. If I chose to use 75 lbs. in this exercise, I would say I am working at 75% of my 1RM.

volume

Volume is generally defined as the total amount of work (sets x reps x weight) done in a particular workout (or for a particular exercise).

Let’s take two workouts. In one workout, for exercise A, I do 3 sets of 8 reps at 100 lbs. My total volume for exercise A in that workout (3 x 8 x 100) is 2400. In another workout, I do the same exercise, but for 3 sets of 2 reps at 150 lbs. My total volume for this exercise in this workout (3 x 2 x 150) is 900, obviously much lower.

My lovely assistant, Doris, demonstrating the amazing brute strength, poise, and femininity that can be gained from proper seasonal rotation of workout wardrobe. Above: the low-intensity endurance segment while wearing a charming summer swimsuit and smashing pumps.

Now that we’ve done all that clever math, what does it mean? It means that you need to look at the big picture when planning your workouts. Looking at either intensity or volume alone won’t allow you to plan training optimally. When planning a workout, you must think about both volume and intensity.

Thus we come to the foundation of what is called periodization, or planned variation. For workouts to be consistently successful, intensity and volume should be varied over time. Working with a high intensity and/or high volume consistently results in insufficient recovery, and will eventually lead to overtraining, while working with intensity and volume that is too low will not be challenging enough to stimulate growth.

Using periodization means that you need to develop both a short-term (micro or mesocycle) plan and a long-term plan (macrocycle) for your training.

Periodization was originally aimed at athletes who would have a competition and offseason, and train accordingly over a period of time to meet varying expectations. There are a zillion ways of organizing training for the competitive athlete, most of which don’t concern you as a lifting neophyte, except to note that “for everything, there is a season.” Even though the most athletic thing you do might be getting under the occasional barbell, it doesn’t mean you can’t benefit from this kind of planning.

why periodize?

For the competitive athlete, the benefits of periodization are pretty obvious. Competitive athletes have different stages of readiness and skill development over time. Baseball players, for example, aren’t going to be trying to perfect their technique in December, but are rather recuperating from the summer season, and perhaps working on some general fitness. Or sitting on the couch and chowing down a few Philly cheese steaks, from the looks of some of them.

But let’s say you’re an average lifter who has no World Series plans in the immediate future. What are the benefits of periodization for you?

• Allows for planned variation in training program, while maintaining a coherent structure (like, you’re not just changing stuff just for the sake of changing it, but with a bigger picture in mind).
• Gives a clear and specific outline of what you should be doing every day, every week, and every month in the gym.
• Shows you measurable progress in strength gains.
• Can help you develop skills and abilities in various domains, such as:
  • muscular endurance
  • hypertrophy (muscle mass gain)
  • strength gains
  • technical skill (e.g. in a sport)
  • power and explosiveness
  • agility
• Balances the demands of your workout with proper recovery.

In my experience, periodized training allowed me to make gains in all rep ranges. My endurance for high-rep work improved, as did my ability to push the envelope of the high intensity range.

making a plan

Now that I’ve sold you (hopefully) on the benefits of periodized training, how do you make a short and long term plan for periodization?

step 1: identify priorities

Begin by looking at the page on goal setting, and write down your goals, both short and long term. Although periodization can help you develop more than one thing concurrently, it’s best to keep focused, so don’t do the equivalent of asking the magic genie for 100 more wishes by trying to do everything at once. Start with 2-3 key goals.

Keeping goals constrained doesn’t mean you won’t do anything else. You might get lucky and make progress in other areas while you do this. (If that happens, hey, free dummy.) It just means that you accomplish the most when you’re focused.

Make the goals as concrete as possible. “Get stronger” isn’t bad. But “improve my squat by 10 lbs” is better.

step 2: define cycles

Once you have a goal or three, define your microcycles, mesocycles, and macrocycles.

A microcycle is two or more training sessions which are different from one another. So, for example, let us say that during one week we have workout A, workout B, and workout C, all of which are in some way different from each other. That week is a microcycle.

A mesocycle is a series of microcycles that together form a unit. So, let’s again say we have workout A, B, and C comprising our week-long microcycle. We might then decide to repeat that microcycle for a period of 8 weeks. That 8 weeks is our mesocycle.

A macrocycle is a series of mesocycles which, again, form a unit (have you figured out the oh-so-complicated pattern yet?). Let’s take our 8-week mesocycle and repeat it over a period of 6 months. Maybe that 6 months is part of our offseason for our competitive athlete. Or maybe 6 months is wintertime when you stay in the gym and don’t do outside sports. In any case, 6 months is our macrocycle, composed of 3 eight-week mesocycles, which in turn are built from 8 one-week microcycles.

Let us say that we have as our short-term goal to increase our 1RM squat weight by 10 lbs. Let us say that we have as our long-term goal to compete in a powerlifting competition in one year. Adding that 10 lbs. might be the work of one mesocycle, while competing might be the end result of one or two macrocycles.

forms of periodization

There are many forms of periodization. Here I will deal only with the most basic and common ones: linear and conjugated periodization. I’ll also only use two variables: volume and intensity. We’ll apply these ideas to a hypothetically simplified lifter.

If you are interested in developing more complex periodized programs, check out the work of Tudor Bompa. Bompa is not the only source on periodization (Mel Siff has a good section about it in Supertraining, as do the folks at Ultimate Athlete Concepts), but his works are likely the most easily available to Western readers.

The basic contention of this simplified form of periodization is that volume exists in an inverse relationship to intensity. In other words:

• as volume goes down over a period of time, intensity goes up
• if you’re using heavy weights (i.e. high intensities) you shouldn’t do a lot of volume
• if you’re doing a lot of reps (i.e. high volume) you should use less weight

What does this mean in real terms? Let’s return to our example of increasing 1RM squat weight by 10 lbs. We can play with volume and intensity in a couple of simple ways.

linear periodization

The premise of a simplified linear periodization program is that you start out with high volumes and low intensities. Over time, you increase the intensity and lower the volume. Intensity here is defined as a percentage of the one-rep maximum, or 1RM. Volume can be defined as the total number of reps in a workout (e.g. 3 sets x 10 reps = 30 reps total).

Let’s say we know our 1RM is 100 lbs, just to make it easy.

In our squat example, that might be as follows:

Week 1 – 3 sets x 15 reps @ 55% = 55 lbs

Week 2 – 3 x 12 @ 65% = 65 lbs

Week 3 – 3 x 10 @ 75% = 75 lbs

Week 4 – 3 x 8 @ 80% = 80 lbs

Week 5 – 3 x 6 @ 85% = 85 lbs

Week 7 – 3 x 4 @ 90% = 90 lbs

Week 8 – 3 x 2 @ 95% = 95 lbs

Week 9 – Take the 1 rep max

On week 9, we discover that our new 1-rep max is 110 lbs. Success! Now, we restart our program on week 10 as follows, rounding the weight as needed:

Week 10 – 3 x 15 @ 55% of new 1-rep max = 60 lbs

Week 11 – 3 x 12 @ 65% of new 1-rep max = 70 lbs

And so on.

conjugate periodization

One major criticism of linear periodization is that it takes too long to get from beginning to end, and that lifters may lose some of what they’ve accumulated along the way. To get around this problem, some folks like to use conjugate periodization, which is organized in sort of a linear way over the mesocycle, but also alternates lighter and heavier days within the microcycle. Lighter days can be endurance days, explosive days, and/or assistance exercise days.

For instance, using our squat as the example:

Week 1

Monday (heavy): 3 x 2 @ 80%

Thursday (light-speed): 3 x 5 @ 50%, explosive reps

Week 2

Monday (heavy): 3 x 2 @ 85%

Thursday (light-speed): 3 x 5 @ 55%, explosive reps

And so on.

More on conjugate periodization:

Dan John’s newsletter (PDF)

Dave Tate (Elite FTS) on conjugate method

how do you know it’s working?

Using a 1-rep max (or any-rep max) is one good assessment tool. But it doesn’t really matter what type of assessment you use, as long as it’s something that’s reasonably easy to quantify, and something that you measure regularly.

If you find that you consistently overestimate how much progress you’ll make, re-evaluate your workouts/nutrition, re-evaluate the timeframe; and/or re-evaluate your goals. Maybe you aren’t pushing hard enough throughout the mesocycle. Maybe you need a little longer to get where you want to go. Or, maybe your goals are just not feasible within the timeframe. Ninjas were not built in a day!

If you find that you end up overshooting your goal and making too much progress, then… uhmm… well, who complains about too much progress?

Typically, I like to work in shorter cycles (6 weeks) and smaller incremental increases (5 lbs.), but mesocycles can range in length from 4 weeks to 16 weeks. I get bored chasing the same goal for too long, personally, so the shorter cycles allow for a good blend of change and constancy. The longer your mesocycle, the more gains you can plan for. So, for example, you’re quite likely not going to increase your squat 1RM by 20 lbs. in a 6-week cycle, but you may be able to increase it by 20 lbs. in 16 weeks. (Maybe.)

Remember that there are lots of ways to periodize. These range from super-simple to “Annie, get your calculator”.  Even having a heavy, medium and/or light day in your workout is a good start.

Just remember the basic principle: volume decreases as intensity increases. When you do your new 1RM, rest a little extra afterwards. The higher the intensity, the greater the demand on the body and mind. Once you’ve rested a little, then start all over again with a new goal.

To recap, the basic principles of this form of periodization:

• Volume decreases as intensity increases
• Base your plan on a projected rep max (RM), most often a one-rep max (1RM), but you can pick another number such as 3RM or 5RM
• Make your projected 1RM relative to the amount of time you plan to use for your mesocycle; in other words, don’t try to add 20 lbs. to your squat in 4 weeks. Roughly a 1 lb. increase per week is a good formula, so 10 lbs. in 10 weeks, 5 lbs. in 5 weeks, etc.
• To calculate the percentages of 1RM from week to week, try this simple formula (there are others, but this one is easy to start wtih). Work towards your projected 1RM in 5% increments and 1-2 reps. When you’re figuring this out on paper, it helps to start with the projected 1RM and work backwards. So, you can easily figure out that on the last week of your cycle, you do 1 rep at 100% of your projected 1RM. Then work backwards from that: the second-last week you do 2 reps at 95% of your projected 1RM, the third-last week you do 3 reps at 90%, the fourth-last week you do 4 reps at 85%, and so forth.
• However, don’t drop your intensity below about 45-50% of current 1RM. Lower than that and you’ll see no benefits.
• Anything can be periodized, but it makes the most sense to periodize major compound lifts.
• Consider your workout plan as a whole. If you’re decreasing volume, make sure you don’t add volume somewhere else (again this rule is not carved in stone, but for a periodization beginner it’s a good guideline). Don’t run a marathon on the same day you take a new 1RM, or your body will be very pissed at you. And if momma ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.
• Make clear long-term and short-term goals. If you are just lifting for general strength improvements, and not planning to have a competitive season, the long-term goals need not be as specific as the short-term ones.
• Use outcome-based decision making. In other words, use past progress and experiences to help you judge program success and future changes or improvements. Don’t just change for the sake of change. Keeping a good workout log will help with this.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

me for periodization!

Of course now you want to make your own periodized routine, don’t you, you greedy thing!? Here are some ideas for getting started, and some E-Z periodization calculators! Remember that you don’t necessarily have to periodize the lifts they recommend. You could just as easily substitute other types of presses for bench press, frinstance.

Jackal’s Gym 8-week program calculator

The Texas Powerlifting Scene site has several periodization calculators based on Compensatory Acceleration Training (sounds fancy-cool, don’t it?).

ExRx has a basic powerlifting program based on squat, bench, and deadlift.

Tim Vermont’s periodization calculator

My readers are so smart! They make things!

For download (both files in Excel):

From reader Lisa, a 12 week periodization program generator. She writes: “All you have to
do is fill in your Exercises, reps and weights on the first page (tab) ONLY and it generates an entire 12 weeks worth of workouts, alternating from easy high volume to very hard low volume and difficulties and volumes in between. I’ve achieved really incredible results using periodization and I want to take the confusion out of periodization to help others. The only thing I haven’t been able to figure out is to get the numbers to round up or down to the nearest
5 lb increment. I created it only for a 3-day split since that’s probably the most common.

From reader Greg, an 8 week periodization program generator. He writes: “Just enter the 1 rep max and it displays all eight weeks’ weights. It even figures out things like the “pause squats” with 70% for that day’s weight.”

From reader Teresa, a revised 4-week program generator. She writes, “I’m only about 5
months into weight training after over 25 years of not ‘working out’ (I’m 48 and on
a weight loss regime). So a slow rotation was not enough of a work out for me. My muscles and the results were showing that I was undertraining. So I rearranged some stuff and customized it to the exercises I like best. There are also some things I can not do due to past injuries (lunges are definitely out). The attached schedule is what I came up with. It really helps me keep the workouts interesting and I definitely see gains each month. Maybe it will help other novices.”

But how do you go about designing a weight training program for your chosen activity? Clearly a skier is going to have different needs than a rock climber. One size doesn’t fit all when it comes to weight training. Here are some suggestions.

where to start

1. First, think about how you want your weight training to relate to your activity. Are you planning to use it for rehab, for offseason training, for training inseason, etc.? Consider the overall workload, intensity, volume, and exercise choice. If you are training for rehab, you’ll want to emphasize somewhat lower intensities, and probably particular problem areas (such as an injured knee). If you are training in the offseason, you will likely be able to handle much more overall volume than if you are training inseason. Perhaps four days a week of weight training would be appropriate in the offseason, while inseason it might be better to reduce weight training days to two. You’ll also likely want to reduce the duration and volume of your weight training if your other activities are demanding.

2. Second, what qualities of fitness are important in your chosen sport? Is it an endurance sport or a sport that requires short bursts of effort? Do you need explosiveness? Flexibility? Quickness? Cardiovascular endurance? Train for the general qualities that you need. Do, however, bear in mind that strength and force development (see sidebar) are important in most sports, in some way.

3. Third, think carefully about all the tasks you perform, and all the abilities required in your chosen activity. Is there running, jumping, lateral (side-to-side) movement, crouching down, torso rotation, punching/kicking, throwing, etc.? Train for the movements you will perform, as well as for the stability you will require to do it. Break down all your sport’s movements into parts if possible, to see where you could most effectively direct your attention. And don’t neglect parts that aren’t directly related. For example, running requires leg strength but also torso strength in order to prevent excessive rotation of the upper body as the body’s weight shifts.

4. Train general abilities with weight training, and specific technique using your chosen sport. So, use weight training to develop strength, endurance, power, etc., all of which are general qualities needed in different sports. Don’t use it to develop refined skills that closely match the movement you perform in the sport. So, if you play baseball, don’t weight train by throwing a heavier ball. If you play hockey, don’t weight train by using a heavier puck/stick. Because skill development depends on proper motor learning, training using different parameters (such as a heavier ball) can result in messing up your groove when trying to perform the real thing.

5. There is no single protocol that is right for everything, but here are some general guidelines, and ideas for their implementation in sidebars. Of course there is lots of crossover between these things. You’ll find instructions on the exercises elsewhere on the site, such as in the dork to diva section.

But first, some gym geekery.

rate of force development

To move an object, you have to generate enough force to displace the object. For example, to do a bench press, you have to push hard enough upwards so that you can move the bar against the force pushing the bar downwards (gravity). Rate of force development, or RFD for short, is a term used to refer to how quickly you can do this. The more quickly you can produce this force, the more explosive your movement is likely to be.

However, RFD doesn’t necessarily refer to how quickly you actually move the bar, but how well you can develop, coordinate and continue to produce the upwards force needed for the lift. Organizing your motor units is like herding. First, you’re herding cats. You feel weaker and uncoordinated on complex lifts. As you get better at sorting out the motor units and making them march in the same direction, you get stronger and faster. Eventually (you hope) you’re herding lemmings or sardines.

If you try to move the bar quickly, the same neurological effect will occur regardless of whether the bar moves fast or slow in reality. (It’s a metaphor for life: fake it till you make it.)

RFD can be a factor in determining performance in a given sport.To put this in practical terms, if you do a sport or activity that requires brief, maximal output of an action, such as hitting, kicking, or jumping, then training to improve your RFD might be worth your while. The faster you can get all those motor units acting at once, the stronger that kick, jump or punch will be.

A good way to train explosiveness is to use somewhat lighter weights, and attempt to powerfully accelerate a stationary weight (you can also train this with no weights, using things like squat jumps). An example of this, if we take our bench press, is to use a pause bench press. Powerlifters use pause benches to improve their explosive ability for the bench press. They use a light weight, and many shorter sets, such as 5 sets of 3 reps. They bring the bar down under control, pause it on the chest for a few seconds, then fire it upwards, trying to accelerate the bar as rapidly as possible.

Source: Mel Siff, Supertraining, 2000

endurance

Training for endurance usually means training with relatively lower intensities and higher rep ranges (no more than around 60% of maximum weight), although another option is to do more short sets with briefer rest intervals between sets.

Don’t assume that because you’re an endurance athlete that it’s better to train using slower movements. In many cyclic sports (sports where you repeat an action over and over), there is a definite advantage to be gained from putting a little extra oomph into every stride or stroke (uh huh huh, I said stroke).

Let’s say you’re a cyclist. Improving the ability of your legs to generate force quickly and powerfully would enable you to complete each pedalling circle with greater power. That means you’d go faster and be able to climb hills better. That translates to improved time, as well as an easier performance of the movement.

So, although you might think at first that training using rapid movements is not compatible with endurance training, a closer look shows us that in fact, an endurance sport can be made up of a lot of little kicks, jumps, etc., all of which could benefit from being more powerful. What does benefit from slower movement and sustained muscular contraction are things that depend on you getting into place and staying there. So, to take our cyclist example, while it’s useful to build extra power in the legs, the lower back and forearms must hold a particular position for a long period of time. Explosive leg training could be combined with torso stability exercises such as long duration yoga planks, and lower back exercises such as back hyperextensions, again done with lower weight and higher reps. Again, think carefully about what the movements in your sport actually involve.

endurance training ideas

Ideally these would be incorporated with longer sets or periods of performance, and shorter rest intervals. You can also use shorter sets combined with the short rest intervals, especially if you are just starting out. For example, jumping rope could be done for 30 seconds to several minutes, with anywhere from 10 to 60 seconds’ rest between “sets”. Pushups could be done in sets of 10 with 30 second rest intervals, or in longer sets (as many as desired). Many of these are fun to do with partners, with each person alternating rest and work sets. As soon as one person finishes their set, it’s time for you to begin again.

• jumping rope
• pushups and pushup variations
• medicine ball throws
• squat jumps
• Hindu squats
• farmer’s walks
• fat guy hangs
• bridging exercises
• combination or hybrid exercises using lighter weight, such as a front squat to shoulder press (that’s one rep), or stiff-legged deadlift to bent-over row (again, that’s one rep)
• sandbag carry (go for distance/time rather than weight)

strength

Training for strength can be done in nearly infinite ways. It’s best done using compound movements (squats, deadlifts, presses, rows, pullups, Olympic lifts and their assistance lifts, etc.). Strength trainers tend to train in a particular range of intensity (for more on intensity, see the section on periodization), which is usually somewhere between 70% and 90% of their maximum. This is a very general guideline, however, since many strength trainers incorporate both lower and higher intensities into their workout. In any case, strength training is most commonly done with some kind of progressive increase in the amount of weight lifted, as opposed to something like trying to increase the number of repetitions performed with the same weight.

There are different types of strength. Strength-endurance might involve something like ability to hold a position with as much force as possible, for an extended amount of time. An example of this would be a grappling sport which depends on holding a partner in position for several seconds, or figure skating which uses overhead lifts and holds.

Speed-strength is used in either movements which require a fast execution of a relatively low intensity action (such as throwing a baseball or jumping with just bodyweight), or movements in which it is crucial to rapidly achieve a large muscular output to move a heavier resistance. (Supertraining 2000) Speed strength is quite complex, but in general terms it is important to focus on rapid acceleration of the load, rather than moving the load slowly. As I’ve mentioned, even if the load doesn’t actually move quickly (cause honey, sometimes that bar is just gonna take its sweet time to go against gravity), the attempt to move it rapidly is what matters.

strength training ideas

You’ll find strength training ideas pretty much all through this site, so I won’t go into too much detail here. Strength training can include a cyclic endurance component, included either at the beginning of a strength training cycle, or on one of the workout days. So, for example, a strength cycle might do a few weeks of endurance-type training, followed by a few weeks of higher intensities and lower volumes.

One useful way to strength train is to set goals based on a particular maximum. Often a one-rep maximum is used (that is the amount of weight you can do for one rep), but three-rep maxes, five-rep maxes, etc. can also be used. The goal of your strength training is to increase this max, even though you don’t train at maximal levels constantly. You just keep checking back periodically to see how that max is doing. For more on this, see the page on periodization.

Strength trainers go to failure only infrequently, often work submaximally (in other words, they perform less work than they’re capable of in any given workout), and are more likely to prefer completing a prescribed number of reps/sets in good form. They also tend to take longer rest intervals between sets, up to 5 minutes for difficult lifts. They may also use shorter, more frequent sets such as 5 sets of 3, even if they can do many more than 3 reps per set.

explosive strength ideas

In general, lighter weights are used in conjunction with short sets. The focus is on executing the movement as rapidly as possible, and/or accelerating the weight with maximum speed. Short, low-rep sets are used because fatigue sets in quickly, and technique degrades rapidly. Thus, a lifter might use something like 10 sets of 2 reps rather than 2 sets of 10 reps.

• Olympic lifts and their assistance lifts
• various forms of “pause lifts” (such as pause benches and pause squats) which attempt to accelerate a stationary object
• sprints
• “rebound” types of exercises such as squat jumps where lifter squats down, jumps up explosively, then drops back down (under control) back into full squat before exploding up again; unlike a pause lift there is no pause at the bottom, rather the lifter tries to “rebound” from eccentric to concentric as quickly as she is able

Training for explosive strength and power is usually done using compound exercises, and rapid execution of movements. Ideally the lifter tries to control the eccentric (negative) portion of the rep, then execute the concentric (positive) portion of the rep as quickly and powerfully as possible. If you think this sounds suspiciously similar to what I said about speed-strength, you’re right. Things get pretty fuzzy along the strength continuum. The main thing about explosive strength is that if you want to move fast and develop power fast, then you train fast. If you want a quick rebound, it’s not going to help you to use movement tempos that are slow and plodding.

rehabilitation of sports injuries

Training for rehab often builds on specialized guidance of a rehab professional such as a physical therapist. It tends to begin with isolation movements, done slowly, and use a lower intensity. Usually the aim is movement control and possible motor “relearning”, and increasing the pain-free range of motion. Eventually it may move to more compound movements. I personally prefer to use compound movements wherever I can, but it’s not always possible.

In general terms, each sport creates areas of muscular strength and areas of weakness, tightness, and inhibition. Again, think about the kinds of movements involved your sport, and realize that you may also have to train the opposite in order to stay balanced and injury-free.

For instance, if your sport involves a lot of hip flexion — bringing the knees up (e.g. wrestling, sprinting) — then the hip flexors can become tight and overstrong relative to hip extensors such as glutes and hamstrings. It’s in your interest, then, to include both hip flexor stretches and hip extensor strengthening.

I don’t have any specific suggestions for rehab training because each exercise prescription is so individual, and really depends on the needs of each trainee and the extent of her injury/injuries. I have pages on patellofemoral syndrome and lower back injury rehab, and I hope to put up something eventually about shoulder rehab, all of which I’ve learned about through painful experience and my own klutziness (as well as some book lernin’). If any of you would like to see material on other types of injury rehab, let me know and I’ll try to have some new kind of accident. Hand injuries are probably best avoided, though, unless you want to wait three years for me to type out the page with that little stick stuck to my head.

putting it into practice

Here are two examples of sport-specific workouts. They aren’t meant as gospel, just as an example of how you might go about figuring out how to develop a weights workout for your chosen sport. Again, for pictures or explanations of the exercises, go to my form page for links or the Dork to Diva page.

example 1: cheerleader

The first one I did for my youngest sister when she was a cheerleader in high school. Cheerleaders do a lot of squatting, jumping, and overhead pressing. They need strong torso musculature, strong legs, flexible hips, and lots of stability. They also need to be able to hold a weight overhead (often using only one hand) for an extended period of several seconds. This workout was designed to be part of her in-season training schedule, so it’s a two-day per week workout. She trained three or four other days per week. The workout was begun with five minutes of light cardio as a warmup, and completed with whatever flexibility work or additional cardio she wanted to do.

day 1 heavy

full depth squat 3 sets x 8-10 reps
standing one-hand shoulder press (with a barbell if possible) 3 x 6-8
pullups (if possible; otherwise assisted pullups, negative pullups, or standing lat pulldowns) 3 sets
stiff-legged deadlift 2 x 15
calf raise 2 x 15
ab exercise of choice 2 x 8-10

day 2 light

overhead squat 3 x 6
push press (use about 75% of the weight used for a regular standing military press)
5 x 3
dumbbell row 2 x 10
close-grip pushups 2 x 10
back hyperextensions 2 x 12

example 2: runner

This second workout is for a recreational middle distance runner. She didn’t need any particular training for either extended endurance or sprinting. She just wanted to have more strength and overall stamina.

Runners need leg strength, obviously, but also torso stability to keep upper body erect and control torso rotation. Because she was running 3-4 days per week, I designed the workout to be done 2 days per week.

You’ll notice that while there might be similarities with the cheerleader workout, many of the exercises were included for different reasons. For example, the overhead squat was included in the runner’s workout for hip flexibility and torso strength, while it was included in the cheerleader’s workout primarily for overhead strength, torso strength, and balance in managing an overhead load. So, it’s important to notice that there are no set rules about which exercises to include or exclude. There are lots of fun, interesting, and useful variations on most of the major exercises.

Walking lunges and sumo squats were done as “active stretches” and warmup to loosen hips, which often get quite tight in runners.

day 1 heavy

walking lunge (unweighted) 1 set x 10 steps each side
squat 3 x 12
pullups or pulldowns 3 x 12, or as many as possible
pushups 3 sets of as many as possible
ballistic calf raises 2 x 15
lower back exercise of choice 3 x 12

day 2 light

sumo stance squat (unweighted) 1 x 15
front squat to shoulder press combo 3 x 5 with light weight
stiff-legged deadlift to bent-over row combo 3 x 6 with light weight
ab exercise of choice 3 x 10-12
toe raises 2 x 15

sites to get you started

Here are a few sites that have strength training ideas for various sports.

NSCA’s Performance Training journal covers a different sport every issue.

Peak Performance Online – covers a wide range of sports from badminton to volleyball.

Sportspecific.com

BodyResults – aimed at outdoor sports such as climbing, hiking, and skiing

Ross Boxing – resistance and conditioning for boxers

As I’ve mentioned elsewhere on the site, it’s counterproductive to try to lose fat at the same time you try to gain mass. It’s like trying to build a house while someone keeps taking the bricks away. Pick one goal and eat and train accordingly.

Here I’ll cover training for mass gain. See also my article on eating for mass gain.

training for mass gain

There’s been quite a lot written about training for mass gain so I won’t go into excessive detail. But here are the basic principles, and my recommendations.

Focus primarily on multi-joint, compound exercises: squats, deadlifts, pulling movements such as rows and pulldowns, and pushing movements such as presses. If possible also incorporate the more difficult compound lifts such as cleans. You can also stick two or more exercises together into a hybrid (for example, a front squat plus a press = 1 rep). Don’t waste too much time with isolation exercises such as curls unless you have a specific need for them.

Train frequently enough to stimulate growth, at an intensity that is not maximal. Split routines, popular with bodybuilders in the 80s and 90s, are falling out of favour as research suggests that more full-body type workouts are more effective. For most folks, a full body (or approximately fully body) routine done 3-4 times a week is about right. This can be very basic, perhaps a few sets of squats, a few sets each of one well chosen pushing and pulling exercise, and that’s it. You don’t have to kill yourself at every workout — in fact it’s much better if you don’t. It’s better to be able to train more often, submaximally, than less often at your gut-busting max.

One of the classic mass gain routines is Bill Starr’s 5×5.  It’s a Monday-Wednesday-Friday program that’s organized around a squat-push-pull concept. Each day contains 5 sets of 5 reps for each of the three major exercises, but at different intensities. You start lighter with the first set, and work up to the fifth set being the heaviest. Monday’s 5 is about 80-90% max. Wednesday’s 5 reps is done about 60-70% of max. Friday is the day you add weight and let it rip for all you’ve got. Basic, brutal, and very effective.

Keep endurance cardio moderate, perhaps a few sessions a week of 15-20 min at most if that. Endurance training is generally not terribly compatible with mass gaining. Pick one goal or the other and train accordingly. A better choice for cardio conditioning is interval training or something like long sets of ballistic lifts such as dumbbell swings.

You can build mass with heavy, lower-rep sets. But a great stimulus for mass gain comes from higher-rep sets with short rest periods. Let’s be clear: this is not “swing a little pink dumbbell for 20 triceps kickbacks”. This is “grind out 20 reps of squats, snorting like a water buffalo by rep 15″.

Recommended programs for mass gain include Hypertrophy-Specific Training (HST) and the 20-rep squat program (articles here and here); you can also buy the book Super Squats from Ironmind. But essentially, any intelligently designed program that prioritizes compound lifts and progressive resistance (increasing weight gradually over time) will do as long as you’re stuffing your face every 2-3 hours with good quality calories.

Why are you still reading this? Go and get something to eat!