BEGINNERS GUIDE TO WORKING OUT AT THE GYM
The most important part of this is the concepts section.
Now, a recommendation – if you want to be safe, when you start training don’t go at it too hard – just dedicate a few sessions to figuring out each exercise and how to perform it safely. Once you feel safe enough performing each exercise, increase the intensity. I really push high intensity as the main way to force progression and growth, however it is only a good method if you don’t get injured. Everything you learn about training is related to learning how to progress in weight or repetitions, as progress is the only way to grow muscle past a certain beginner level.
Make sure to rest and eat plenty if you want to seriously grow and recover from high intensity training. Now, more on training specifics.
This will serve as a beginners guide to working out at the gym for hypertrophy. This article will include most of the terminology you will need to start learning about training.
Details about lifting for size gains are inherently anecdotal. There is scientific evidence to support most claims someone would make about lifting; yet, experience means a lot more in this sphere than small sample size studies. This guide will have a bit of both to stay nuanced.
While the details are relatively subjective, the basics remain the same. They are proven to work by scientific studies as well as lifters. Those are the things that you will find in this guide.
For a beginner, the best way to start is to run a training split someone else has already done and then iterate. Basic, time proven exercises are usually the best. As you train for a longer amount of time you will be able to come up with your own variations that suit your body better.
- THE VERY BASICS
WRITE DOWN EVERYTHING. Incredibly important – you must track every exercise, weight, number of sets, and reps you do. By doing that you will be able to accurately track progress and choose loading that’s appropriate for your next workout. You can also see what rep number you must hit or surpass and that makes it easier to prepare mentally for each set. You don’t have to write down rest times since resting for as long as you need is essential to make each set count.
CONSISTENCY IS THE BASE OF EVERYTHING. Muscle growth will occur if you’re consistently going to the gym and training each muscle group at least once a week. If you don’t train each muscle at least once a week, you will notice much slower progress or even regression. Missing days will happen, it’s inevitable, but make sure to not skip training for no reason.
MEASURE PROGRESS. To figure out what is and isn’t working for you, there needs to be some way to measure progress. Circumference measurements for the arms, waist, and thighs are one metric of size gain or weight loss progress. Bodyweight and the weight you’re lifting are also important to accurately assess whether you’re growing or not. As your muscle grows, so will all these metrics, especially the weight you lift. Writing down what you’re lifting each session is very important as it’s a very easy way to tell if you’re growing.
- CONCEPTS OF TRAINING FOR MUSCLE GROWTH
Hypertrophy training – resistance training with moderate to heavy loads with the goal of increasing muscle size. This specific style of training requires a high level of proximity to failure and intensity as you progress in your lifting journey. Hypertrophy is achieved by lifting increasingly heavier weights over time. Basic terms to understand the following chapters:
TRAINING SPLIT – a way to organize your training in a unit of time. Usually based on a week, but 8-10 day splits also work. Examples of popular training splits – PUSH-PULL-LEGS, UPPER-LOWER, full body, and the infamous bro split. These are basic, most often used training splits. The way to get the best results is to test these and then make changes based on your needs. (TRAINING SPLITS EXPLAINED)
TRAINING PROGRAM – a training system that incorporates a training split with specifics on how to train on it. Exercises, sets, reps, progression scheme, everything is predetermined. As a beginner it’s a good idea to listen to the program and not change things unless its for a good reason. (TRAINING SPLITS EXPLAINED)
SETS – the amount of times you do a given rep range for an exercise. How long you rest is subjective or determined by the program. High intensity techniques don’t count as separate sets. A superset is 2 exercises done without rest for one set each, best done with 2 opposite muscle groups. For example triceps and biceps.
REPS – the amount of times you perform a specific exercise within a certain standard of range of motion and control, within a set. Sets and reps will usually be marked as “sets x reps”, as in 3×8, 4×10, 5×5. For muscle growth, anything in-between 3 and 30 reps is fine, as long as it’s done within enough intensity.
VOLUME – number of sets done within a workout or week of workouts. Calculated separately for each exercise and muscle group based on the goal. When it comes to compound lifts, not every muscle is worked equally. For example, squats will grow and fatigue the glutes as well as hamstrings, but the quads will grow more from it. So, a set of squats won’t necessarily count as a for hamstrings the same way it will for quads. In that case simply count it as a full set for quads and half a set for lower back, hamstrings and glutes. You do not have to write all of that down anywhere unless you’re obsessed with growing as best as you can.
FREQUENCY – how often you train a certain body part or exercise in a week or training split.
INTENSITY – proximity to failure in the context of hypertrophy. In strength training, it’s usually the load you’re lifting relative to your (1 rep) max. (INTENSITY)
HIGH INTENSITY TECHNIQUE – a way to maximize what you can get from a single set. Usually used in the context of a time constraint, to finish off the training session or last set of an exercise. Examples- drop sets, myo-reps. (INTENSITY)
CNS – central nervous system. Usually mentioned when talking about mental and neurological fatigue rather than muscular. (more info soon (recovery))
PROGRESSION METHODS – how you progress in a program. Linear progression, double progression and other methods. Different methods that all achieve the same goal. Progressive overload. (PROGRESSION)
PROGRESSIVE OVERLOAD – increasing the weight you’re lifting over time. (PROGRESSION)
COMPOUND MOVEMENT – a movement pattern/exercise that involves multiple muscle groups. Often done before isolation movements for the best results. (more info)
ISOLATION MOVEMENT – a movement pattern that focuses on training one muscle group. Less tiring, allows you to train a muscle more than you could with only compound lifts. (more info)
FAILURE – usually defined as form breaking down within a set. When trying to achieve the best muscle growth results it’s best to look for muscular failure. Form breaking down is technical failure. Muscular failure is when you can no longer lift the weight at all. You should only go for muscular failure on safe lifts, such as most isolation exercises. (INTENSITY)
Knowing what each muscle in your body does is also very useful when lifting. This knowledge can be used to prevent or work through injury, as well as feel the muscle more.
E.P.