What is Strength Training?

Everyone’s total health and fitness depend on strength training. Resistance training, often known as strength training or weight training, involves applying resistance to a muscular contraction in order to increase skeletal muscle strength, anaerobic capacity, and growth. It can be done at home or at the gym, and typically involves body weight exercises like pushups, pullups, planks, lunges, and squats that can be performed with little to no equipment. Another technique is resistance tubing, which is a cheap and lightweight tube that offers resistance when stretched. Resistance tubes come in a wide variety of forms, and you can buy them online or at almost any sports goods retailer.

A great method is to use free weights. Dumbbells and barbells are common equipment for strength training. Soup cans can be used as weights if you don’t have any at home. Kettle bells and medicine balls are two additional alternatives. Additionally, there are weight machines. Most gyms have a variety of resistance devices. You can also spend money on home workout equipment. Another possibility to explore is cable suspension training. While performing body weight exercises like pushups or planks, you suspend a portion of your body, such as your legs, during cable suspension training.

Benefits of Strength Training

Let’s be clear about one thing right away: You won’t suddenly start to gain weight. While some people would love to believe that gaining weight will make you more muscular and ripped, others fear this outcome. The fact is that lifting weights will test your body and alter it for the better over time. A regular strength training routine has a tonne of advantages.

Here is a brief summary of recent research. If lifting weights is your thing, it might help you get a smaller waist. Additionally, it might increase your cardiovascular health and physical strength. You can develop strong bones thanks to it. Strength exercise can promote bone density and lower the risk of osteoporosis by placing stress on your bones. It also aids with weight management.

Strength training can aid in weight management or loss, and it helps speed your metabolism so that you can burn more calories. Your life’s quality is improved as a result. Strength training may increase your ability to do daily tasks and your quality of life. Additionally, strength training can shield your joints from harm. Gaining muscle can help improve balance and possibly lower your chance of falling. You’ll be able to age independently if you do this. Additionally, it is fantastic for managing chronic disorders. Numerous chronic illnesses, including arthritis, back pain, obesity, heart disease, depression, and diabetes, might have their signs and symptoms lessened by strength training.

Finally, it helps sharpen your thinking skills. According to some research, older individuals’ thinking and learning abilities may be enhanced by frequent strength training and aerobic activity. The exercises you perform, the number of repetitions you perform, and the way you lift bigger weights can all affect the outcomes. Before you start cranking out those reps, keep in mind the following important points.

How To Increase Weights?

One of the simplest methods to constantly challenging your muscles—which is necessary if you want to keep getting better—is to lift more weight. If you don’t alter your routine, your fitness level won’t increase and you’ll stagnate. Additionally, it feels fantastic to increase additional weight to a barbell or grab the larger kettlebell.

But how can you tell when it’s time to lift heavier weights? Injuries and pains can be avoided, and your results can be maximised, by carefully selecting the best time to add extra weight. There are a few things you should think about first before getting carried away with the exhilaration of lifting up those larger dumbbells or filling the bar with bigger plates.

Start Small

Many people find it difficult to even decide what weight to use for a resistance exercise. To develop a feel for the exercise and perform it with good form, it is recommended to start with a modest weight, maybe 50% less than what you believe you would use for that particular exercise. From there, progressively increase your rep count until you reach a weight that requires you to take your time and accomplish each rep with proper technique. Take note of that weight; that’s an excellent place to start when choosing the weight for that exercise. Use that weight for your first set until you reach a weight that feels difficult and requires you to slow down in order to finish your reps with proper form.

The type of exercise you’re performing—whether it’s something you’ve done before or is brand-new to you—determines the ideal weight for you. If this is your first time performing a workout, begin with a warm-up self-evaluation.

When to Add Weight

The dilemma of when and how to add additional weight arises if you are more skilled with dumbbells, kettlebells, or a barbell. So, if you’re ready to increase the weight, it is advised to start looking at (1) the pace of the lift, (2) your form, and (3) how you feel after your sets. If you should be going heavier, those are good indicators.

The speed of the workout and how you feel after finishing your recommended sets are two more reliable indicators. The appropriate weight is being used, if your last couple reps are sluggish and uber-strenuous, leaving you sweating and out of breath.You could definitely go heavier if you can do the final couple reps with ease at normal speed.

How Much Weight to Add?

How do you know how much weight to add to an exercise now that you’ve discovered you need to raise your resistance? When we suggest that it’s time to boost the numbers, we don’t mean significantly so. Take heart if you’re over here convinced you need to lift a bus’ worth of weight. It doesn’t really matter how much weight you’re lifting as long as you keep going until "failure" which is defined as complete muscle exhaustion), according to a 2019 study.

You can’t press the same weight week in and week out and expect not to plateau, though, if you want to see improvements and develop that lean yet powerful body.

Here, gradual increase is crucial. The progression is quite straightforward if you’re using free weights, like dumbbells. Simply increase the weight by 5 pounds, as is customary with dumbbell sets. Then increase the weight gradually, using your last few reps as a guide to see if you’ve found your new weight. Many machines will provide 2.5 weight increments. Most fitness experts will advise not gaining more than 10% of your weight at once. Therefore, when it comes time to raise the weight, if you are currently squatting with a barbell and lifting 100 pounds, add no more than 10 pounds.

Maintain a Record

Many weightlifters record their training in a journal. This might be a useful tool for tracking your fitness progress and determining how far you’ve come. Simply keep track of the weight you used for each exercise, rep, and set. Fitness logs can help you identify the areas you might need to focus on more. For instance, if your bench press hasn’t increased in a while, it may be time to introduce a new upper body exercise, like push-ups, to help you break through a plateau.

You can also make quick remarks after each session that will let you know whether you’re performing well or poorly, like “received eight hours of sleep last night”, and “today’s workout felt fantastic”; “skipped breakfast this morning” to keep track of your progress.

To sum up, there comes a point where losing weight can be a waste of time because of the body’s incredible capacity for adaptation. Accept the challenge, push yourself during the final few reps of each set, and observe how your performance and physique will improve as a result. Having your own personal training session can go a long way in going about strength training the scientific way! The know-how of strength training can be easier with someone to give you the right guidance. If you’re looking for professional assistance to help you on your fitness journey, Alchemy Personal Training is your trusted partner.