This post will conclude the Introduction to Strength Training series.
The driving factor which will determine your success with strength training has got to be self motivation. You're not going to go to the gym and bust your ass for an hour and a half if your heart's not in it. You need to find out what motivates you to drag your ass to the gym no matter what the weather is like outside be it rain, hail or shine. Your drive will make however you are feeling that day irrelevant. Countless times I and many others have gone to the gym feeling like total crap and still managed to set a Personal Record (PR).
A lot of people train with an incorrect outlook in my opinion. You don't train for the experience (having fun in the gym or whatever); you train for the results. If your training sessions are a breeze and very enjoyable, chances are you're not training correctly and you won't get results. If you are not getting the results you want you need to analyze what you have been doing in terms of training and recovery (eating and sleep). Your training sessions should be challenging (once the weight is heavy enough since at the start you focus on the technique when the weights are light) and require some level of mental preparation. One of the great things about strength training is that not only does it strengthen your body, but it also strengths your mind. Bring yourself to squat 140kg for 5 sets of 5 reps and suddenly day to day tasks don't seem all that bad.
When you go to the gym, you need to know exactly why you're doing what you're doing. Doing curls all day because it's fun is not good enough. Doing squats because it strengthens your posterior chain and because you will be able to handle heavy weights on the squat is a real reason. Doing the bench press (correctly) because it is the upper body exercise that allows you to handle the most weight is a real reason, not just because it makes your chest look nice.
What motivates me? I got tired of being seen as a skinny pretty boy, and I wanted to be more of a man. I could care less how my hair looks these days and I'm happier with my life than I've ever been. What motivates you can change over time, but how much it drives you to want to succeed shouldn't change, in fact it should drive you even more. Nowadays I'm motivated by wanting to get as strong as possible.
One last thing, be sure to set measurable goals. Are you motivated to get bigger and stronger? How do you know if you're getting bigger if you don't take measurements every month? If the weight on the bar is not increasing then you are not getting stronger. You should be motivated to work towards your goals, and achieving your goals should keep you motivated. It's like ying and yang.
Saturday, January 28, 2012
An Introduction to Strength Training Part III
Today's post will take a step backwards, and cover what muscles each compound lift trains, so you know exactly why you're doing them. This post will assume that the following lifts are performed with correct technique.
Squat
There are a few variations of the squat; the front squat, Olympic squat and the low bar squat as shown below.
Contrary to popular belief, the squat is more than just a 'leg exercise'. The squat also has some involvement of the posterior chain (hips, glutes, hamstring) depending on which squat variation is being used. The abs are also strongly involved in the squat as they must be braced during each breath. It is of utmost important that the abs be braced (by breathing into your diaphragm) for any of the squat variations being performed. The upper body is also involved as it supports the load isometrically. The position of the bar on your body will affect the mechanics of the lift, and thus the degree to which the muscles are involved.
The front squat has the least posterior chain (hips, glutes, hamstrings) involvement of the squat variations, and is a quad dominant movement. This variation is the most difficult to perform.
The Olympic squat has similar mechanics to the front squat, but the bar is placed on the back making it easier to perform than the front squat. This variation is also a quad dominant movement.
The low bar squat is a posterior chain dominant movement, with less quad involvement compared to the previous squat variations. However posterior chain development is important for beginners, and thus this variation should be used. The most weight can also be handled with this squatting style which aids in getting the trainee as strong as possible in the quickest amount of time. As the trainee advances (after a year or so of consistent training), they may wish to experiment with other squatting styles.
Bench Press
When performed correctly, the bench press is a full body exercise. The front delts, triceps and pecs get directly worked, whilst the biceps, lats, and legs work indirectly to stabilise the weight. Leg drive (pushing the legs as hard as possible into the ground) should be used with every rep to get more out of the bench press movement.
The front delts and pecs are involved in getting the bar off the chest whilst the triceps are more involved with the locking out of the weight.
Overhead Press (or Press)
The Press is better at strengthening the shoulders than the bench press, as it also involves the lateral and rear delts. The shoulders are involved in getting the bar off the chest whilst the triceps are also involved in locking out the weight. The lats should be strongly braced at the start of each rep to give a more stable base to press from, and the abs should be strongly braced as much as possible.
Deadlift
The quads, hamstrings, glutes and lower back are primarily involved in the movement. The triceps and forearms are also involved as your arms support the bar, the lats and traps are involved in keeping the bar close to your body, and help minimize unnecessary rounding of the back.
As you can see, when you perform all the above main compound lifts, no muscle group gets neglected. I suppose the neck and calves don't get directly trained, but if you are gaining weight those areas will increase in size too.
Nothing comes close to compound movements when building strength. Doing DB flyes and tricep kickbacks won't make you as strong as the bench press. Doing leg presses, leg curls and hyperextensions won't make you as strong as the squat.
Squat
There are a few variations of the squat; the front squat, Olympic squat and the low bar squat as shown below.
Contrary to popular belief, the squat is more than just a 'leg exercise'. The squat also has some involvement of the posterior chain (hips, glutes, hamstring) depending on which squat variation is being used. The abs are also strongly involved in the squat as they must be braced during each breath. It is of utmost important that the abs be braced (by breathing into your diaphragm) for any of the squat variations being performed. The upper body is also involved as it supports the load isometrically. The position of the bar on your body will affect the mechanics of the lift, and thus the degree to which the muscles are involved.
The front squat has the least posterior chain (hips, glutes, hamstrings) involvement of the squat variations, and is a quad dominant movement. This variation is the most difficult to perform.
The Olympic squat has similar mechanics to the front squat, but the bar is placed on the back making it easier to perform than the front squat. This variation is also a quad dominant movement.
The low bar squat is a posterior chain dominant movement, with less quad involvement compared to the previous squat variations. However posterior chain development is important for beginners, and thus this variation should be used. The most weight can also be handled with this squatting style which aids in getting the trainee as strong as possible in the quickest amount of time. As the trainee advances (after a year or so of consistent training), they may wish to experiment with other squatting styles.
Bench Press
When performed correctly, the bench press is a full body exercise. The front delts, triceps and pecs get directly worked, whilst the biceps, lats, and legs work indirectly to stabilise the weight. Leg drive (pushing the legs as hard as possible into the ground) should be used with every rep to get more out of the bench press movement.
The front delts and pecs are involved in getting the bar off the chest whilst the triceps are more involved with the locking out of the weight.
Overhead Press (or Press)
The Press is better at strengthening the shoulders than the bench press, as it also involves the lateral and rear delts. The shoulders are involved in getting the bar off the chest whilst the triceps are also involved in locking out the weight. The lats should be strongly braced at the start of each rep to give a more stable base to press from, and the abs should be strongly braced as much as possible.
Deadlift
The quads, hamstrings, glutes and lower back are primarily involved in the movement. The triceps and forearms are also involved as your arms support the bar, the lats and traps are involved in keeping the bar close to your body, and help minimize unnecessary rounding of the back.
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As you can see, when you perform all the above main compound lifts, no muscle group gets neglected. I suppose the neck and calves don't get directly trained, but if you are gaining weight those areas will increase in size too.
Nothing comes close to compound movements when building strength. Doing DB flyes and tricep kickbacks won't make you as strong as the bench press. Doing leg presses, leg curls and hyperextensions won't make you as strong as the squat.
Friday, January 27, 2012
An Introduction To Strength Training Part II
Common Mistakes Made By Beginners on the Main Compound Lifts
Squat:
- Not squatting below parallel
- Failing to keep the chest up
- Not gripping the bar tightly
- Not shoving the knees out
- Not warming up the hips sufficiently
- Not breathing properly (you need to breathe into your diaphragm; you must also take a big breath at the start of each rep and hold that breath during the rep)
- Not sufficiently engaging the hips
- Not squeezing the glutes when ascending
Bench:
- Lying flat on the bench (you should have an arch in your back to protect your shoulders and also decrease the range of motion of the bar)
- Not gripping the bar tightly
- Benching with bent wrists (in your hand the bar should towards your wrists, not close to your fingers)
- Benching with flared elbows; a great way to ruin your shoulders
- Feet not planted firmly on the ground (your feet should not be dancing around during the set)
- Not rowing (you need to balance out the stresses placed on your shoulders)
- Not tucking your shoulder blades
- Allowing the shoulder blades to become untucked during the set
Press:
- Not arching the upper back
- Not engaging the lats at the start of each rep
- Using too much layback
- Pressing with bent wrists (see the bench press section)
- Not locking out at the top
- Bringing the bar too far behind your head at the lockout position
- Not bracing the abs as hard as possible (you must do this to protect your lower back)
Deadlift:
- Pulling using your back (you must use your legs to initiate the start of the lift; think about pushing your feet into the ground)
- Pulling with bent arms leaves you at risk of pulling a bicep (make sure your arms are dead straight)
- Overarching the lower back at lockout position (just stand naturally)
- Not gripping the bar tight enough
- Pulling with an excessive rounded back (think 'chest up' to fix this)
I will leave it up to the reader to research the proper technique for the main compound lifts. I highly recommend Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe, definitely worth the money.
How to Ensure the Best Progress Possible on Stronglifts 5x5 or Starting Strength
- Start off light and slowly build your way up. This will let your body adapt to the volume. Starting off light will also allow you to focus on working on your technique for the time being, without having to worry about heavy weights.
- Increase the weight by small increments. Increase the squat and deadlift by 2.5kg each time (e.g 100, 102.5, 105, 107.5, 110, etc) , and increase the bench press and press by 0.5kg each time; you will need to buy fractional plates (e.g 40, 41, 42.5, 43.5, 45, 46, 47.5, 48.5, 50), don't worry they're cheap. The smaller increases in the bench press and press is due to smaller muscle groups being involved in those lifts, so it is easier to stall. You can increase the weight by more at the start but this won't last for long. Don't get greedy, increasing the weight slowly will ensure better long term progress.
- Try not to miss a workout
- Don't add a million exercises to the routine. The main lifts will be plenty for your body as a beginner. After a while you can add in pull-ups/chin-ups, dips and some ab work but that's it. Your main priority is to get strong on the main movements, don't obsess too much about assistance work.
- When you stall at a weight for the third time, deload by 10% then work your way back up. Take advantage of the deloads to focus more on technique since the weight is lighter for now.
- Record your sets and analyse your technique. Try to pick up on any errors and deal with them accordingly.
- Don't let other people turn you off from what you are doing. Squatting is not going to ruin your back. Arching your back for the bench press is not going to hurt your back.
- Stick with the program. How do you know if it works or not if you keep changing to another program every 2 weeks?
- Don't listen to personal trainers. They don't really know what they are talking about, or what they're doing for that matter. I've seen many personal trainers teach people to squat with atrocious form, yet the personal trainers don't correct these errors.
- For those wanting to add muscle to their frame, eat more. Muscle cannot come from nowhere, you need to eat more to get bigger. Ever heard the saying 'you gotta eat big to get big'?
- You may or may not feel a pump in your muscles once you have finished all your sets. Don't worry about this. You are not training for a pump, you are training to get stronger so your priority is to make sure the weight on the bar keeps increasing. Strength training will give you a more dense look as a opposed to a pumped look that you get from bodybuilding. You are a beginner so focus on building a strong foundation for now. Do you think your chest will look better if you're benching 70kg or 120kg? What about 140kg? The sky's the limit. A lot of professional bodybuilders are quite strong also, just look at Franco Columbu (yes a lot of them juice but you get my point):
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
An Introduction To Strength Training
This post is aimed towards those who are uneducated about the compound lifts, as well as how to program them for a strength training routine.
A beginner (or novice) needs to only be concerned about three main movements:
Two very common and popular routines for beginners are:
A beginner (or novice) needs to only be concerned about three main movements:
- A squat (e.g back squats, front squats)
- A press (e.g bench press, overhead press, dips)
- A pull (e.g. barbell row, deadlift, chin-ups, pull-ups)
Two very common and popular routines for beginners are:
The main difference between these two programs is that Stronglifts 5x5 uses 5 sets of 5 reps (5x5) whilst Starting Strength uses 3x5 (3 sets of 5 reps). Another difference is that Stronglifts 5x5 uses barbell rows, whereas Starting Strength uses Power Cleans instead. Note that the 5x5 and 3x5 that these programs refer to do not include warmup sets, these are the work sets.
I will leave it up to you to learn the proper technique on the main compound lifts. I recommend getting Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe; it is a great resource for people who want to learn the proper technique on the main lifts. I must also emphasize that these are barbell lifts, no dumbbell variation is to be used on this program. The use of a barbell allows for small consistent increases in weight, and also allows for more weight to be used than is possible with dumbbells.
The next post will cover:
- common mistakes made by beginners on the main compound lifts
- how to ensure the best progress possible on Stronglifts 5x5 or Starting Strength
Monday, January 23, 2012
First Blog Post
When I first started lifting weights this was back in 2009. Little did I know back then. I was skinny, weighing about 53kg and I wanted to get bigger. If only the present me could time travel back to that very day where I decided I wanted to get bigger, and give the past me Mark Rippetoe's Starting Strength book, or at least show the past me some of Bill Starr's articles on training.
I wasted a year doing bodybuilder inspired routines, I had a chest/triceps day, a back/biceps day, a leg day and a shoulders day. If only I knew back then that I was so weak that I didn't need to train my muscle groups separately. I wasn't benching or squatting such phenomenal weights that those lifts only had to be trained once a week. While in that year I did get bigger (gaining about 10kg so I was weighing around 63kg or so), these gains were due to something known as the novice effect where anything you do (if you have no prior athletic background) will warrant an adaptation in your body. After a while my routine stopped working. I was benching, then incline benching, then doing DB flyes all in the same day. I was squatting then leg pressing then doing lunges all in the same day. I would always be sore after my workouts. I wasn't happy with how things were going.
I stumbled upon a website stronglifts.com which changed the way I trained drastically. The website preached about full body workouts, where you could squat, then bench press/overhead press, then row/deadlift in each session and you increase the weight every workout (by 2.5kg to ensure you don't stall too quickly). I was at first skeptical. Could my body be able to recover from doing 3 compound lifts in each session? The answer was yes. You see, the body functions as a single unit. When you walk, your quadriceps and hamstrings function together. When you push off something like when doing a pushup, your triceps as well as your pecs contract together. So it makes sense to train your body as a single unit. Isolating your muscle groups such as doing leg extensions (for the quads) and then leg curls (for the hamstrings) doesn't make sense because the muscles in your legs don't function separately. Wouldn't it be better to just to squats where you can train the quads and hamstrings at the same time?
Isolating muscle groups does have its place, in the bodybuilding world where single muscle groups need to be brought up so the body looks in proportion. But a beginner completely new to training doesn't need to worry about this. A beginner needs to bring up his or her entire body and the fastest and best way to do this is through compound movements. Not only do the compound movements train several muscle groups at once, but they also allow you to handle the most weight (you will be able to handle more weight on the weight squat more than the leg extension, you will be able to bench more weight than you can use on the DB flye). The heavier weight will not only benefit your muscles, but also your tendons and joints, and also your mind. You will develop a mental toughness from handling heavy weights.
What else did I learn from stronglifts.com? I needed to do less reps. 5 sets of 5 reps was what I needed to be doing, according to this website. So as you can imagine, it was a lot for me to take in, not only did I have to be doing 3 compound movements each session, I also had to be doing them for 5 x 5 each (except the deadlift, more on that later)? The reason for 5 reps instead of 8-12 was that 5 reps allowed you to handle more weight, so you would be getting stronger. Getting stronger is useful because say you wanted to focus on bodybuilding later on, once you have developed a strong foundation you will be able to handle heavier weights when bodybuilding and hence your results will be better. It makes sense doesn't it? You can handle more weight for 8-12 reps if you were squatting 150kg for 5 reps, compared to if you were only squatting 60kg for 5 reps. You can imagine how skeptical I was. But my bodybuilding routines weren't getting me anywhere, so I had nothing to lose. Also, the muscle you gain from strength training is more dense compared to the pumped look you get from bodybuilding, but getting stronger does still result in increased muscle size (although to a lower extent than bodybuilding).
Now at this stage I wish I had put more effort into learning the proper technique for the compound lifts (squat, bench press, overhead press, barbell row, deadlift) instead of jumping straight into the strength program (known as Stronglifts 5 x 5, another similar program is Starting Strength). Had I put more effort into learning the proper technique, I would've made better progress on Stronglifts 5 x 5. But the program delivered results, my squat went from 70kg for 5 x 5 to 110kg for 5 x 5. My bench press (with not that great technique) went from 50kg to 75kg. My deadlift went from 100kg to 140kg. My overhead press went from 27.5kg to 47.5kg. I would never have been able to make these improvements if I had stuck with 8-12 reps. My bodyweight went from 63kg to 70kg. And the best part was that I noticed an improvement in my body. My legs were bigger than they've ever been, yet I was doing less exercises for them, and the muscularity in my upper body was improving. Now I'm not saying that my physique was impressive, but it was definitely an improvement, and definitely a step in the right direction for me.
The best part about these novice routines (Stronglifts 5 x 5, Starting Strength) is that whatever your goals are, these routines will help guide you in the right direction. People who want to gain muscle will do so, provided that they get stronger as well as eat more to facilitate muscle growth. People who want to lose fat will do so, provided that they get stronger and watch how much they're eating. Building muscle is an effective way to lose fat because when you have more muscle, your metabolism will be faster. And for the 'toned' look girls want, guess what? Being more toned means you have more muscle! Girls shouldn't worry about getting bulky because they don't have as much testosterone in their bodies, and provided they don't take steroids, they won't get a bulky physique from strength training.
Since then, my squat is now at 167.5kg for 5 reps, my bench is 92.5kg for 5 reps, my overhead press is 63.5kg for 3 reps and my best deadlift is 205kg for 1 rep. These numbers are still improving too so expect them to be higher in a few months. My current bodyweight is 78kg (in the morning after a good dump). Of course the program I'm on now is much different to Stronglifts 5 x 5 but I'll leave it for another post.
I wasted a year doing bodybuilder inspired routines, I had a chest/triceps day, a back/biceps day, a leg day and a shoulders day. If only I knew back then that I was so weak that I didn't need to train my muscle groups separately. I wasn't benching or squatting such phenomenal weights that those lifts only had to be trained once a week. While in that year I did get bigger (gaining about 10kg so I was weighing around 63kg or so), these gains were due to something known as the novice effect where anything you do (if you have no prior athletic background) will warrant an adaptation in your body. After a while my routine stopped working. I was benching, then incline benching, then doing DB flyes all in the same day. I was squatting then leg pressing then doing lunges all in the same day. I would always be sore after my workouts. I wasn't happy with how things were going.
I stumbled upon a website stronglifts.com which changed the way I trained drastically. The website preached about full body workouts, where you could squat, then bench press/overhead press, then row/deadlift in each session and you increase the weight every workout (by 2.5kg to ensure you don't stall too quickly). I was at first skeptical. Could my body be able to recover from doing 3 compound lifts in each session? The answer was yes. You see, the body functions as a single unit. When you walk, your quadriceps and hamstrings function together. When you push off something like when doing a pushup, your triceps as well as your pecs contract together. So it makes sense to train your body as a single unit. Isolating your muscle groups such as doing leg extensions (for the quads) and then leg curls (for the hamstrings) doesn't make sense because the muscles in your legs don't function separately. Wouldn't it be better to just to squats where you can train the quads and hamstrings at the same time?
Isolating muscle groups does have its place, in the bodybuilding world where single muscle groups need to be brought up so the body looks in proportion. But a beginner completely new to training doesn't need to worry about this. A beginner needs to bring up his or her entire body and the fastest and best way to do this is through compound movements. Not only do the compound movements train several muscle groups at once, but they also allow you to handle the most weight (you will be able to handle more weight on the weight squat more than the leg extension, you will be able to bench more weight than you can use on the DB flye). The heavier weight will not only benefit your muscles, but also your tendons and joints, and also your mind. You will develop a mental toughness from handling heavy weights.
What else did I learn from stronglifts.com? I needed to do less reps. 5 sets of 5 reps was what I needed to be doing, according to this website. So as you can imagine, it was a lot for me to take in, not only did I have to be doing 3 compound movements each session, I also had to be doing them for 5 x 5 each (except the deadlift, more on that later)? The reason for 5 reps instead of 8-12 was that 5 reps allowed you to handle more weight, so you would be getting stronger. Getting stronger is useful because say you wanted to focus on bodybuilding later on, once you have developed a strong foundation you will be able to handle heavier weights when bodybuilding and hence your results will be better. It makes sense doesn't it? You can handle more weight for 8-12 reps if you were squatting 150kg for 5 reps, compared to if you were only squatting 60kg for 5 reps. You can imagine how skeptical I was. But my bodybuilding routines weren't getting me anywhere, so I had nothing to lose. Also, the muscle you gain from strength training is more dense compared to the pumped look you get from bodybuilding, but getting stronger does still result in increased muscle size (although to a lower extent than bodybuilding).
Now at this stage I wish I had put more effort into learning the proper technique for the compound lifts (squat, bench press, overhead press, barbell row, deadlift) instead of jumping straight into the strength program (known as Stronglifts 5 x 5, another similar program is Starting Strength). Had I put more effort into learning the proper technique, I would've made better progress on Stronglifts 5 x 5. But the program delivered results, my squat went from 70kg for 5 x 5 to 110kg for 5 x 5. My bench press (with not that great technique) went from 50kg to 75kg. My deadlift went from 100kg to 140kg. My overhead press went from 27.5kg to 47.5kg. I would never have been able to make these improvements if I had stuck with 8-12 reps. My bodyweight went from 63kg to 70kg. And the best part was that I noticed an improvement in my body. My legs were bigger than they've ever been, yet I was doing less exercises for them, and the muscularity in my upper body was improving. Now I'm not saying that my physique was impressive, but it was definitely an improvement, and definitely a step in the right direction for me.
The best part about these novice routines (Stronglifts 5 x 5, Starting Strength) is that whatever your goals are, these routines will help guide you in the right direction. People who want to gain muscle will do so, provided that they get stronger as well as eat more to facilitate muscle growth. People who want to lose fat will do so, provided that they get stronger and watch how much they're eating. Building muscle is an effective way to lose fat because when you have more muscle, your metabolism will be faster. And for the 'toned' look girls want, guess what? Being more toned means you have more muscle! Girls shouldn't worry about getting bulky because they don't have as much testosterone in their bodies, and provided they don't take steroids, they won't get a bulky physique from strength training.
Since then, my squat is now at 167.5kg for 5 reps, my bench is 92.5kg for 5 reps, my overhead press is 63.5kg for 3 reps and my best deadlift is 205kg for 1 rep. These numbers are still improving too so expect them to be higher in a few months. My current bodyweight is 78kg (in the morning after a good dump). Of course the program I'm on now is much different to Stronglifts 5 x 5 but I'll leave it for another post.
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