Strength Training

Updated on November 24, 2007

What is Strength Training?

Strength training is anaerobic exercise. Anaerobic exercise doesn't use oxygen. These are the exercise that help to build muscles and bones. The more muscle you build, the more muscle cells you have. The more muscle cells you have the more energy your muscles use. The more energy your muscles use, the more fat you'll burn when you exercise and when you sleep. Plus, you'll quickly see improvements in your strength (move your furniture with ease, open that jar without help). Let's not forget that firm healthy look muscle tone give you. Strength training also helps reduce the possibility of bone fractures and bone loss. It may even help reduce various diseases and improve your overall health.

Who Needs Strength Training?

Everyone needs strength training, from infants to the elderly. The training routine may vary from person to person, age to age, but the goal is the same, build up strength.

Many women worry about building up too much muscle and looking like a bodybuilder. However, this is extremely difficult. Men are able to develop that bodybuilder physique because they have high testosterone levels. For a woman to develop the same muscle mass, she would have to work out all day, every day. Some women would also have to take hormones to get such an effect. With normal amounts of strength training, most women will simply tone up and build definition, and this is the look many women want anyhow.

How Often Should You Strength Train?

Strength training should be done at least twice per week. That is an absolute minimum. Ideally, you should do it every day (but not the same muscle group every day).

For moderate workouts, you should have at least one day of rest for the muscle groups you worked in between workouts. This means that if you wanted to workout every day, you would work your upper body on Monday, your lower body on Tuesday, your upper body again on Wednesday, your lower body again on Thursday, and so on.

For more intense workouts, allow at least two days of rest between workouts. Legs on Monday. Chest and back on Tuesday. Abs on Wednesday. Arms on Thursday. (You get the idea.)

This is because the real development of muscle tissue doesn't occur during exercise, it occurs during rest after exercise.

When you exercise, you actually break apart microscopic pieces of your muscle. Your body wants to repair them, so it fills in the breaks with new muscle. Thus, you now have more muscle than you had before. However, this rebuilding process only occurs during periods of rest. This is why you should always take at least one day off in between workouts for a specific muscle group and get plenty of sleep.

Ouch! It Hurts.

Often when you engage in strength training, you will, at some point, experience a burning sensation. This is caused by the buildup of lactic acid. Lactic acid is a chemical produced when your muscle doesn't have enough oxygen to complete the metabolism of glucose. If a lot of lactic acid has built up, you will actually continue to feel sore the next day. This is one of the most common reasons people don't like doing strength training, but it can be avoided by not overdoing it (start small) and include some gentle aerobic exercise (like walking or swimming) after your strength training exercises to help burn up some of that lactic acid.

Reps and Sets

A rep is a repetition. One repetition is one full movement in the exercise, such as one sit-up.

A set is a group of repetitions that you do together without stopping. You usually rest between sets. For example, if I do 3 sets of sit-ups, 10 reps per set, I would do 10 sit-ups and rest, another 10 and rest, and a final 10 then rest.

When you do work out, the number of reps per set you do depends on the effect you are trying to achieve. No matter how many reps you do, the goal is to use just enough weight to make the last few reps in the set difficult. Once it starts getting easy to do those last few reps, it's time to move up to more resistance (i.e. use a heavier weight) or increase the number of reps or sets.

How Many Reps and Sets Should I Do?

It really depends on your goals.

If you want to get bulky muscles, do just 3 - 5 reps using as much weight as you can do. Usually, you'll just do just 1 or 2 sets.

If you want to tone up your muscles, but you aren't interested in the bulky look, do more reps (around 10 should do), using as much weight as you can but not so much that you can't get through most of your last set. I would recommend doing about 3 sets to start off with, then adjust it according to your needs, more sets for endurance, fewer sets for bulking up.

If you want to build up endurance, you have two choices. Do as many reps until you just can't do them anymore (it's just one big set), or doing sets with rests between them. Doing one big continuous set is great for teaching your body to do the same movement over and over again continuously for a very long time. This is great for training for marathons and such. If you are more focused on burning calories, then start with about 3 sets of about 15 reps per set, then adjust it according to your needs, more reps for continuous endurance, or more sets for more calorie burning.

What Should I Do During a Rest?

Some people like to rest during their rests. It gives their body time to recharge their muscle cells before the next set.

Some people like to work a different muscle group. For example, if you are working your biceps and triceps, you would alternate by doing one set of biceps, one set of triceps, one set of biceps, one set of triceps, and so forth. This is a great way to reduce the time working out and keeps your calorie burning up because you're always moving. This is the idea behind circuit training with strength training.

If you want to really add some calories burning to your workout, do some light cardio training between your sets. Just make sure that your cardio training don't use the muscles you are strength training because they need to rest. This is a more intense version of circuit training with strength training.

How Much Weight / Resistance Should I Use?

Start with something that feels easy. This will ensure that you don't hurt yourself by doing too much too fast. It will also prepare your body for the next workout, reducing that I just worked out yesterday pain.

Try a few different levels of resistance. Pick one that feels like you could do it without straining but would still be a bit of a challenge, and go a step down. If you pick up 10 lb. weight and decide that you could do a few sets with it and not start popping veins in your face to get it done, then start with the next level below that, such as an 8 lb. weight. If you are using resistance bands, start with the easiest one available. If you find that even the smallest weights or easiest resistance is still a challenge for you, just go through the movements without any weight or resistance at all.

If your first workout at this easy level went smoothly, and you didn't feel any pain the next day, then move up to the next level.

Moving Up: Reps, Sets, or Resistance?

So you've gotten to the point that you are feeling like your strength training workout is getting easy, and you want to move up to the next level. Which thing should you bump up, the number of reps per set, the number of sets, or the resistance you are using?

It depends on what you want to do. If you want to show off your muscles or get stronger, increase your weight. If you want to be able to use that muscle longer (i.e. increase your endurance), you'll want to either increase your reps or your sets. That brings up the next question, to increase reps or sets?

If you are focused on endurance, increase your number of reps or sets. Increasing reps is better for increasing continuous endurance while increasing sets is better for increasing your metabolism.