Weight Training the Right Way

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.