Whether you’re a professional bodybuilder or a beginner weight lifter, simplifying your training can help you intensify the benefits of training. Weight training can help increase strength, muscle tone, improve bone density, and help reduce fat. These five rules can help you simplify and intensify your training by cutting out all of the fads and noise in the industry.
The Movements
Instead of focusing on isolation training for each muscle, train the major movement patterns. They include the hinge, the lunge, the push, the pull, the squat, and the carry. For hinges, incorporate deadlifts, good mornings, kettlebell swings, and even snatch and cleans. For lunges, vary your lunges from traditional, split squats, step-backs, and Bulgarian split squats. For pushes, bench presses, pushes ups, overhead presses, jerks, and one arm presses are all good options. For pulls, switch between pull ups, bent over rows, seated rows, and one-armed rows. For squats, add in front squats, goblet squats, and back squats.
The Quality
Don’t get too caught up in the number of reps you do for each exercise. The focus should be on the quality of each rep, especially in your form and technical mastery. This is essential to remember in competition training when you can get too focused on tracking and adding weight. When it comes to reps, your down is just as important as your up, so be sure to be controlled in your release.
The Weight
Don’t be that guy. The guy who loads up with way too many weights on cold muscles. Use a proper warm up program that helps get blood moving to your muscles. Then, use an appropriate amount of weight. A starting weight should be one that you can rep about 12-15 times. Different programs may have different weights, but if you’re uncomfortable or trying a higher weight, don’t be afraid to ask for a spotter.
The Consistency
Consistency means you need to be consistent, and you need to pick a program that you can actually stick to over a long period of time. If you pick a program that needs five consistent days of work, you really need to be able to stick to it. If you miss a day, you’ll miss body splits for multiple days that will throw off your whole program. Total body workouts allow you to miss a day and still workout the whole body properly throughout the week.
The Focus
You should go to the gym with a purpose. If you’re trying to go to the gym while being on your phone and swapping social stories, you’re going to have a harder time seeing progress. Putting aside the outside world and focusing solely on your fitness plan will help you improve your intensity in your workout. Maximize your workout hour!
Derrick Glass
