The Right Kinds of Changes – 10 Strength Training Tips

1. List Your Goals and Plan to Achieve Them Over Time. A way to plan your your strength training program is to set goals for one year and goals to achieve every three months. Fitness assessment tests can help you determine these goals. If you have a variety of goals, you and your personal trainer will need to decide which to prioritize. 

2. Don’t Try Too Much Too Soon. Before you begin a strength training program, complete at least four to six of basic training. Use this training to develop general conditioning and practice proper form and technique. 

3. Change Your Exercises. Many fitness experts believe you should change your program at least every four to six weeks for maximum effectiveness. The muscle groups to be trained (based on your goals) should determine the type of exercises you perform. 

4. Change the Exercise Order. Plan the order in which you do your exercises as seriously as you plan the exercises themselves. Try alternating between muscle groups , doing biceps curls (arms) followed by leg extensions (legs)–or “stacking” all the exercises for one muscle group (i.e., performing them consecutively). A third possibility is to start with the exercises of greatest priority to you and follow them with exercises of lesser importance. 

5. Change the Number of Sets. Not all exercises require the same number of sets. Prioritizing your goals will help you determine which muscle groups or exercises need the most attention, and which need simply to be maintained.

6. Vary the Recovery Time. Your best strength gains are made during recovery, when your body makes the adaptations needed to support further physical development. The length of your rest periods should be based on your strength training goals. Short rest periods (less than a minute) are normally used when the goal is to build local muscular endurance; long rest periods (more than three minutes) are used when the primary goal is to increase strength and power. 

7. Change the Resistance Load. There is no set rule on what combination of reps and weights will yield the best strength training results. Most strength programs combinations include pyramid training (decreasing the number of reps per set as the weight increases, and then increasing the number of reps per set as the weight decreases); half-ascending pyramid training (just the first half of pyramid training); and half-descending pyramid training (just the second half of pyramid training). Note that your genetic makeup plays a large part in determining your ability to lift heavy weights. 

8. Evaluate Your Progress Every Four to Eight Weeks. Keep a record of your workouts,including exercises , number of reps and sets, amount of resistance and length of rest periods. Monitor your results. 

9. Be Flexible With Your Training. Remember, be prepared to change your strength training workouts to accommodate personal circumstances such as illness, injuries,food intake, soreness, etc. 

10. Give Purpose to Every Workout. The more focused you are with your weight training program, the more exciting result you will achieve with each session .