So you want to get stronger. But how do you build a training program that won’t ruin your life, waste your time, or hurt your whole body?
Furthermore, how many reps and sets should I do? What are the braces in the gym for? And why is this person snarling like that (should you *sound* like you’re trying to pull a sword out of a stone?)
Anyone who has started weightlifting understands that you don’t know where to start.
That’s why we reached out to Ideen Chelengar, an NSCA-certified strength and conditioning specialist, creator of Vices Fitness, and TikTok’s trusted fit influencer. He supports your back (and triceps, biceps, quads, hams, etc.).
He also introduced an algorithm to improve your strength training experience.
How to Make a Strength Training Plan
Whether you haven’t been to the gym in a while or are trying the weight room for the first time, it can be hard to know what to expect when you walk in. You may have learned a great workout from a personal trainer you had a few years ago, but now that you are on your own, you may not know how to build your first workout without someone telling you what to do.
The good news is that as long as you know your goals and the basics of strength training, you can start training at the gym, whether it is a commercial gym or your own personal gym. This guide will help you set training goals, choose workout divisions, decide which exercises to do, how many reps and sets to do, learn how to take your gym training to the next level, and understand how to put it all together into a sustainable and effective training program It will help you. In addition, you will be provided with a 4-week training program template that you can modify to meet your own goals.
How to Make a Strength Training Plan
What are your goals?
First, you have to set goals. When you are trying to accomplish something, whether in the world or in the gym, you have to have a dream to make it happen.
“The first thing I would definitely ask someone before writing a bodybuilding program is to ask themselves what their goals are,” says the trainer
The most common goals are
- improving body composition
- Increase power
- build muscle
- lose weight
- become more toned
- improve in a specific task (e.g., powerlifting).
- Depending on this goal, Cherenger creates an individualized program for his clients.
If you just want to get fit, you don’t necessarily need to do very heavy-weight training. But if you want to build a lot of muscle, you always need to add volume (volume = weight x reps x sets) to your training.
If you want to lose weight, you need to keep your calorie burn high. This may involve adding cardio to your routine or doing circuits to get your heart rate up.
If you want to build a toned body, you need to increase the intensity of your workouts over time (either by increasing the speed of reps, the complexity of movements, or volume) while maintaining a high-calorie burn rate.
If you want to keep progressing in strength
Instead of adjusting your exercise program, the first thing Cherenger recommends is adding a fourth day. At that point, you can begin to build workout splits based on muscle groups.
“For example,” he explains, “do lower push-ups and upper pull-ups on Monday and vice versa on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday.
If you really want to build muscle.
you need to keep increasing the intensity over time.
“After a while, if you start to plateau from four days a week, you’ll have to start doing it five or six days a week.” He says.
When you get into the five- or six-day-a-week category, the programming has to be pretty specialized, whether it’s heavier days, lighter days, or adjusting muscle groups per day…”. There needs to be a little more subtlety there.”
And whatever your goal, remember to take breaks. You deserve it, and you need it to allow your muscles to recover. Changer recommends resting the muscles you work out for 48 to 72 hours before working them again (i.e., if you dedicate a day to your back and biceps, give them at least that much recovery time before focusing your training on your back and biceps on another day).
Assembling a workout: order of exercises
So you’ve calculated how many times a week you need to train. But how should you train?
First, focus on compound exercises, i.e., heavy movements that work for multiple muscle groups at once (squats, dumbbells, bench presses, etc.). Challenger recommends starting with these exercises when you are mentally and physically at your freshest.
He explains, “A fairly heavy compound exercise like goblet squats if done correctly, is usually the hardest exercise of the day.” So you need to do them when you’re not tired.”
Next, we move on to isolation movements (movements that target one muscle group) and accessory or auxiliary movements (movements that essentially support everything else).
“If you’re doing biceps and triceps later,” he says, “but on a full-body day, there’s no reason to do them at the beginning of the workout.” It should be one of the last things you do because it’s a super easy movement, it’s not hard on your joints, and it’s light.”
How much weight should I lift?
Are you new to strength training? Congratulations on your honeymoon phase! According to Challenger, “If you do (strength training) between 6 and 12 weeks, you’ll be strong and healthy at almost any weight.” Sounds good, doesn’t it?
The ultimate goal is to make the last rep feel more than a 6 out of 10 in terms of difficulty.” Otherwise, no matter how beginner or advanced you are, you won’t get any response at all.”
This is called rate of perceived exertion (RPE) and is a widely accepted method of monitoring exercise intensity.
The biggest difference between beginner, intermediate, and advanced is the threshold that must be reached on the last repetition to get a response. Challenger classifies the following according to experience level
- Elementary. The difficulty level should be 6 or 7 out of 10.
- Intermediate. Each set should be 8 or 9 out of 10 points.
- Advanced: 9 out of 10 points, can be pushed up to 10 points.
How to incorporate circuits and supersets into your routine
Circuits.
In general, Cherenger recommends two to four exercises per circuit, depending on the amount of equipment available in the gym and how crowded it is. And based on these sets, here are some exercises he might suggest
- If you do two exercises in a circuit, do one lower body exercise plus one upper body exercise.
- If you are doing three exercises in the circuit, try lower body + upper body + core.
- If doing four exercises in a circuit, do lower body + upper body + core exercises + mobility exercises.
- trainer has also published a detailed article on his blog about circuit configurations.
Supersets.
When trying supersets, start by combining two exercises that work different muscles, such as bench presses and rows. This type of exercise allows you to work for one muscle group while resting the other. (Combining two exercises that work different muscles is technically called a “compound set,” but the term is often used interchangeably.)
More advanced exercisers can take it to another level by combining exercises for the same muscle group. (This is truly a superset).
Tips for Beginners Starting Strength Training
Start with light weights and high reps.
Okay, but how much weight should a beginner lift?
Walker recommends using lighter weights and doing more reps (the number of times you perform the movement) in the beginning.
What constitutes “light” depends on your current fitness level and the movement you are performing. Some exercises may require different weights to be performed effectively, depending on the muscles targeted and the number of repetitions performed.
When choosing the appropriate weight level, you want to challenge yourself without sacrificing form. If the weight is too heavy for your spine to align and support your back, you risk injury.
Warm up properly.
It is important to warm up properly before you begin exercising. A simple warm-up is necessary to make your muscles and joints flexible and less prone to injury in preparation for the exercise you are about to perform.
Warming up also increases blood flow to the working muscles and gradually raises body temperature, allowing for more intense exercise.
There are many different ways to warm up before training.
Stretching.
A series of dynamic stretches will loosen up your limbs, improve blood flow and activate your muscles for optimal performance, and prepare your body to take on the weights.
Light Exercises Exercises such as weighted squats can be used as a warm-up before adding weights.
Light aerobic exercise A few minutes of cycling, walking, or rowing can prepare the body for weight lifting.
Foam Roller Add a foam roller to your stretching routine. Regular use of a foam roller can help reduce muscle soreness and increase flexibility and range of motion.
Use a massage gun. Of course, massage guns are great for relieving sore muscles, but studies have shown that they are also effective in preparing muscles before exercise.
Rest between sets
After completing a set, it is important to rest your muscles.
If you are new to weightlifting, include at least one minute of rest between sets (groups of repetitions). This will allow the muscles to recover and avoid overuse and fatigue.
This short rest period is also a chance to take a sip of water and check your body’s condition (Are there any sore spots? Stiffness? Any discomfort? Use this time to take notes).
Training should last no longer than 45 minutes.
All good things must come to an end, including intense sweating.
Limiting exercise to 45 minutes will help prevent overdoing it. Excessive training can leave you tired, sore, and cranky. It also increases the risk of injury because the muscles cannot properly recover.
Furthermore, there is no evidence that longer workouts produce better results. How you use your time is more important than how long you spend lifting weights. Use your minutes wisely and reap the benefits. And again, rest between sessions!
Gradually increase the weight.
As you progress in your strength training, you will find that the resistance of the weights will decrease over time. This means your muscles are getting stronger! Good for you!
It also means that you can begin to increase the weight you lift. However, it is important to introduce the weight gradually, rather than increasing a large amount of weight at once.
Gradually increase the weight by 5-10% and perfect each movement (with good form!). Once done, increase the weight level again.
Relaxing after training
According to a 2012 study, lightly stretching and calming down after a workout can help relieve muscle tension and improve flexibility and range of motion.
Research evidence on this is inconclusive and mixed, but it is possible that stretching may also help prevent injury.
Stretching also feels good after exercise. It also helps to relax with cardio, massage, and foam rolling. And don’t forget to hydrate and fuel up!
Setting up a Training Program
Setting a schedule helps keep your routine consistent. Decide when and how to target specific muscle groups, and plan the right amount of rest and recovery for optimal performance.
How to Make a Strength Training Plan | Video Explanation
FAQs
What Is The 15-15-15 Training Program?
The 15-15-15 plan involves 15 minutes of spinning on a stationary bicycle, and 15 minutes on an elliptical machine, followed by 15 minutes of jogging or running. The combination of these exercises is an effective aerobic program.
What Is A Good Strength Training Program?
If you train 5 days a week and work on both strength and cardio, try 3 days of strength training, 2 days of cardio, and 2 days of active rest. If you train 4 days a week, consider your goals, such as cutting one day of cardio if you want to build muscle.
How Do I Create A Strength Training Plan?
Here are five steps to creating a strength training program that you can actually stick with
Set realistic expectations. The most effective strength training programs have quantified goals that can be
- clearly measured…
- Write them down …
- Play with tempo …
- Fill your stomach …
- Recover, recover, recover.
How To Make Your Own Strength Training Program?
- Set goals.
- Select a training subdivision.
- Select exercises.
- Select sets and repetitions.
- Learn progressions.
- Summarize.
Why Should You Do Strength Training?
Strength training helps with weight management and weight loss, increases metabolism, and burns more calories. Improves quality of life. Strength training improves the quality of life and the ability to perform activities of daily living. Strength training also helps protect joints from injury.
Will Strength Training Make Me Bigger?
The answer is simple: many people (especially women) fear that weightlifting will make them bigger (more muscle mass) and inevitably change their physique into something less desirable. Weight training very definitely does one thing: it makes you stronger.
Conclusion
We hope this guide is helpful and assists you in developing an optimal strength training plan. Thank you for your positive feedback.
Have a great day!
Hi, I am Matt Storace and I am a former personal trainer and founder of Beast Biceps. We had to find ways to train at home. When I started looking for the equipment I needed, I quickly realized that there were no good resources online. So I created Beast Biceps. It is a treasure trove of information developed from my experience and research. Read More Here