I am continually shocked by the fact by the fact that so few people incorporate weight training into their exercise regimen. The best that I’ve been able to determine, this is because of a very common misunderstanding regarding the benefits of weight training. I say this because, if you ask someone why they don’t weight train, they tend to tell you that they don’t want to be a bodybuilder and/or they don’t want get “big and bulky.”

Now, the reality of the situation is that weight training is extremely beneficial for everyone, regardless of their ambitions in health or life. Also, consistent weight training doesn’t have to develop “big and bulky” muscles. The reasons that everyone should weight train are the same reasons why everyone should exercise.

The first and most obvious answer is staring you in the face every time you look in the mirror. Muscle is generally more attractive than fat. While it would be nice if everyone went to the gym and worked out because they truly wanted to be healthy, the fact is that many people simply want to look better. Toned muscle seems to be almost universally accepted as better looking on both men and women.

Regarding appearance, women tend to be the ones who object to getting too “big and bulky” with muscles and, therefore, avoid weight training. It’s actually much easier to weight train and not get large. By working with medium weights and more repetitions, you won’t bulk up; instead, you’ll tone your existing muscles and build them in a leaner way.

Having strong and toned muscles, regardless of their size, is important in preventing injuries. For instance, back injuries are extremely common and the main reason for this is weak back muscles. Research is also indicating that building and strengthening your muscles improves your immune system and will help keep you safe from illness and disease as well.

Increasing muscle mass is also one of the greatest possible ways to lose weight. Muscles require more calories than fat does for its survival. As I’m sure you are aware, the only way to lose weight is to burn more calories than you consume. You’re actually burning calories while you sit there, reading this because our bodies are constantly burning calories. Muscle is an extremely active part of our body and, on average, a pound of muscle burns 35 calories a day just by existing.

A pound of fat burns…no calories.

So even if your sole goal for exercising is to lose weight, you will still be better off incorporating weight training because the muscle you build will help you lose weight 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

If you’re not working to build and maintain your muscles, you run the risk of burning off muscle tissue while you burn off fat. This will reduce your ongoing ability to burn calories on a daily basis which will make you put on more weight in the future and…I think you see the cycle here. This is one of the reasons that crash diets don’t work and the dieter ends up bouncing back up to their original weight and, usually, higher. They decrease caloric intake, but don’t exercise properly, and therefore burn muscle. When they inevitably come off the diet, their metabolism is lower and they have less muscle to burn calories. And, snap, they bounce up.

The act of weight training isn’t going to turn you into the next Mr. or Ms. Universe (much to the displeasure of thousands who are trying to do just that). Proper weight training will simply make you a healthier, stronger, sexier calorie burning machine.

So, why aren’t you weight training again?

Weight training is exercising with the specific aim of developing strength and muscle tone. If you’re ready to make a commitment to seriously weight train, then it makes sense to make an equally serious commitment to doing it the right way, every time. Weight training is difficult enough when done the right way; do not make it any more difficult by doing it the wrong way!

The first step has to be developing an actual, definable and measurable goal. You need a destination before you can plot a course. Decide exactly what you want to achieve, why you want to achieve it and give yourself a realistic time frame for doing so.

People develop a weight training regimen, generally, for one of the following reasons:
To increase strength;
To increase endurance;
To increase and/or tone muscles; or
Some combination of the previous three goals.

Decide what it is you want to accomplish and then write it down. Writing it down is incredibly important. Writing it down makes it more real and makes you more likely to accomplish it. Refer to this regularly, to check your progress and make any adjustments that are necessary. You will probably find that your goals were too easy to achieve or too difficult. Either way, adjust your schedule accordingly.

Keep in mind that you are adjusting your schedule, not your goal. You can never have a goal that is too lofty though you can have a schedule that is unrealistic. Never lose sight of your goal and never compromise your goal, just allow yourself to be realistic.

The schedule of weight training is probably the biggest mistake people make. Far too often, people set out a schedule of weight training that is simply too intense. Weight training, when done properly, is going to be intense enough. If you push yourself too hard and too fast, too often you will give up and burn out or injure yourself.

Plan to set aside no less than 30 minutes for each session and no more than 60 minutes, which should be your absolute limit. The number of sessions a week depends, somewhat, on the intensity of each workout and the overall goal you have in mind. Just keep in mind that, if you’re going to be doing a fully maximized regimen, you should have a fully maximized recuperation regimen as well.

Just to define two important terms: a repetition is the act of lifting and lowering a weight one time utilizing proper form and a set consists of a given number of repetitions done repeatedly, with no break.

As you schedule out your weight training, you need to base your sets and reps on the overall goal of your regimen. The following guidelines are loosely defined suggestions for developing a schedule that will lead you to your goal.

If you want to focus purely on strength, do sets of one to five repetitions. This provides the greatest focus on strength with some muscle building benefit but nearly no endurance training.

If you want to focus on endurance, do sets of thirteen to twenty repetitions. Following this schedule will increase your endurance and provide some muscle building benefit but will have a minimal impact on strength.

If you want to focus on building muscle, do sets of ten to twelve repetitions at maximum weight loads. Following this schedule will increase your muscle mass, with some benefit on endurance and strength.

Finally, if you want a schedule for balanced training of strength, endurance and muscle size, do sets of six to twelve repetitions.

Regardless of your schedule, the determining factor of your success is going to be your consistency. Make this commitment to yourself, for your reasons and don’t let anything take you off of the path.