Understanding the types and principles
of Weight Training Workouts

INTRODUCTION

Although this page explains and provides links to Weight Training Workouts, you will have noted that this Site also contains a generic page entitled 'Workout Routines', which instead is a guide to making informed selections when considering the various types of exercises and workouts which comprise a workout routine or program.

A WORD OF CAUTION

“So, if you're keen to get your muscles toned or pumped, you simply engage in weight training workouts, right?” No! It's not that simple I'm afraid. Yes, you need to train with weights, no doubt, but your approach will have to be informed, selective and consistent – in other words, sensible. And you will need to take into account things like your present physical state, genetics, age, gender, wants, time available, and so on. You could then set about designing your weight training workouts, or consider consulting a qualified individual.

Yes, weight training does hold massive rewards for those who are regular and sensible in their approach, and who follow suitable eating plans and also participate in cardiovascular exercise. Whether you're a beginner or not, a consistent effort will afford you steady and appreciable gains from your workouts.

I’ve traveled that road and speak from experience. It is so easy to go wrong at the outset by being too eager or compulsive. Acting on a whim, you could risk making the wrong choices or decisions regarding your weight training, waste valuable time, lose interest and give up, or worse, injure yourself.

It’s also opportune to advise you NOT to be duped by the media at large where it concerns training principles, workouts, supplements etc., which they tend to oversimplify and over-glamorize. Read widely with a challenging mindset! There is a lot of good 'stuff’ out there, but not all is as simple as it seems in the world of health and fitness. More on that here.

Why am I telling you this?

Because this Site is about me giving straightforward and honest advice, and because I care. I offer no rip-offs or quick-fix scams – only the truth. I wouldn’t want others to make avoidable mistakes or pay out unnecessary sums of money.

WHAT IS WEIGHT TRAINING?

Before we tackle the various ‘types’ of weight training exercise, let's briefly get our bearings on what weight training is.

As a simple explanation, weight training comprises physical activity or exercise aimed at building strength and/or size in the skeletal muscles. Methods can involve the use and movement of own bodyweight, free weights (e.g. dumbbells) and/or specifically-designed machines with weight-stacks, etc., in opposing the force of gravity.

As you will see further on, depending on specific needs or aims, weight training workouts can be used as part of an exercise plan to improve anaerobic endurance, or simply to tone the muscles, something which might ideally suit the female exerciser. On the other hand, however, special weight training routines are used to build significant strength and/or muscular size, as in the case of Olympic-style weight-lifters, power-lifters or bodybuilders, who train intensely with weights, regularly increasing the poundage they lift (e.g. progressive-resistance training).

Note that both weight and strength training are interrelated. Whereas you would combine strength and weight training disciplines to tone or build muscle, the likes of weight-lifters, power-lifters and 'strongmen' will focus primarily on strength training because of their specific needs. We will touch on some of the various techniques further on.

MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE AND POSITION ON WEIGHT TRAINING

For years I have used weight training workouts as part of my overall health and fitness program. Since my late teens, I cannot recall any period longer than a couple of weeks where I forewent my weight training. I still to this day look forward to my workouts and continue to enjoy the results. All Components of Health Related Fitness contribute to overall wellbeing, but working out with weights is particularly important - so it definitely forms part of the sensible approach to health and fitness.

As already mentioned (and as you will see set out further below), weight training is not all created equal. You practically have a myriad of possibilities with the various weight training workouts from light toning to all-out herculean strength. I do a variety of different weight training workouts in my programs. You can read about my weight-training tendencies and preferences elsewhere on the Site. What I enjoy though, is the superb muscle density and tone which I get from weight training, the ever-present feeling of strength in my body, and the confidence in my overall state.

In a little more detail: the feeling of strength I refer to is the fact that I can pick my kids up, swing them about and sprint around with them without first having to think, "hang on, can I do this without hurting or spraining something?" Similarly, I can lift heavy objects when necessary or do manual labor. All this and more is possible because my muscles, joints and so on are continually primed from the ‘training-effect’ derived of my weight training workouts.

I hear you asking, "what about cardio? Surely that’s also important?" Of course, but I’ve taken that for granted on this page without expressly mentioning it because it’s a different component of health and fitness and discussed on the page dealing with cardiovascular worktouts.

So what about the sense confidence then? Yes, it’s amazing! And I am not talking about the destructive, vain sense-of-pride many bodybuilders exude because of their brimming muscles. I absolutely detest that! What I’m talking about is the sense-of-wellbeing from inner connectedness of the spiritual and emotional state with a healthy, resistant physical constitution, and knowing, because you’re in good shape, that you have the best armor you can have to tackle what life throws at you.

You’ll only really appreciate what I mean when you connect these dots.

Do I hear you saying "it’s all too much effort and I don’t know where to start?" For starters, please do yourself a favor and have a look at some of the benefits of exercise, covered in more detail here.

WHY ARE WEIGHT TRAINING WORKOUTS SO IMPORTANT?

You get multiple payouts when you correctly perform exercises with weights. Here are merely a few benefits derived from regular weight training:

• It strengthens not only muscle and connective-tissue, but also the bones, thereby preventing bone-loss and osteoporosis.
• The physical effort involved during weight training elevates your breathing and blood circulation, which in turn speeds up your consistency and therefore burns additional calories.
• The longer term training-effect derived from regular weight training routines enhances lean body mass, which in turn boosts the metabolism and causes a consistently higher amount of calories to be burned than otherwise would have been the case in an unexercised state.
• Not only will you look good at any age, but regular weight training will stand you in good stead as you grow older. Improved muscular strength in older adults also means avoiding common back-related trauma due to better posture and balance, and the resultant ability to better resist unnecessary falls and injuries.

Who needs to partake in weight training workouts?

Whoever you are and whatever your fitness needs, weight training presents an invaluable part of your exercise routine or program, whether you aim to lose weight, transform your body, or out-and-out build hardcore muscle.

Now that we have an overall idea of what weight training is, let’s see what factors are usually considered when developing a training program.

FACTORS TO CONSIDER IN WEIGHT TRAINING EXERCISE SELECTION, PROGRAM DESIGN AND EXECUTION

Developing muscle strength, tone and/or size depends on the appropriate selection of exercises in creating a weight training routine, forming part of your overall fitness program.

Laws and Principles of Fitness Training

Take heed of the various philosophies and principles of fitness training. There are at least 7 universally accepted laws used by the health and fitness industry such as the ‘principle of individual differences’, the ‘overload principle’, the ‘use/disuse principle’, and so on. The common intent among these laws is getting the most out of your exercise program while improving overall health and fitness. As I did, you may find that a hybrid is the best choice, because it best suits you.

Where does one start? Well, you really have to ask yourself what your objectives are. At the same time, you need to know what your options are. The only real sensible way is by carefully informing yourself through research or consulting resources/experts. If you are already actively performing exercises with weights, you probably already have an idea of your unique tendencies along with the training effect you have acquired.

I personally found the principle of individual differences the most applicable as it made perfect sense to me in setting out realistic goals and being satisfied – because I achieved them. As stated by David Q. Thomas, Pd.D., “We all have similar responses and adaptations to the stimulus of exercise, but the rate and magnitude of these changes will be limited by our differing genetics.” I highlight the topic of genetic predisposition in detail on the page dealing with Somatotypes. I consider myself an Endo-Ectomorph due to my own personal response and adaptation to exercise, which may vastly differ from the next individual.

This is again why I place so much importance on the fact there is no one-size-fits all training program in the health and fitness industry. In short, you need to start somewhere, be consistent and gauge/correct your progress as you evolve. See the page on Workout Routines, specifically the key points on selecting workout routines for more on this and this article on planning and tracking your fitness program.

Types of Weight Training

As mentioned in the second paragraph of this page, one can’t simply just dive in and start lifting weights - expecting the ‘right’ results. The ‘types’ of weight training disciplines are so varied that, depending on your focus, you could potentially achieve a number of differing outcomes in strength, muscle conditioning, size and so on.

You may not fully realize it, but workout length, the amount of repetitions executed in your exercises, their intensity, poundage and the form used, all influence your results. You could be training for any one or a combination of power, speed, strength, hypertrophy (increase in muscle cell size) or purely for flexibility.

Before discussing Weight Training Principles, let's take a look at the table below, which provides an idea as to how the number of sets and repetitions (reps) performed can affect the results of one's weight training workouts:

Training Focus					Repetition Range					Sets
Endurance training					>12					2-3
Muscle hypertrophy					6-12					3-5
Strength					6 or less					2-6
Power					1-2					3-5

Nevertheless, professional athletes will tend to 'prefer' one sport-specific weight training type over others most of the time, in order to suitably condition their bodies.

The following 4 images (color-coded to correspond with the above table) show just how one's training-focus influences the physical aspects and appearance of one's exterior, most notably the musculature (regardless of what these athletes display on the surface, each of them has an optimally tuned fitness-level geared towards their individual sporting activities):

By now you should be clearer on the fact that program objectives pretty much ‘drive’ program design, which together influence one’s weight training principles. Let’s take a look at some of the major ones:

• Numbers of sets and Reps

Generally speaking, training in the low rep-range (1-5) produces explosive power, absolute strength and speed strength, while low to medium reps (6-12) afford muscle-size gains. Medium to high reps (10-20) develop anaerobic strength endurance and high reps (20+) provide aerobic strength endurance.

While serious or professional bodybuilders wishing to add bulk will focus their training on gaining muscle, they might also do several sets with varying poundage at different speeds and/or rep-range to spark as many muscular adaptations as possible, thereby optimizing muscle size (hypertrophy).

So, which of the athletes shown above is the strongest?

Surely the bodybuilder, right - he has the most pronounced musculature? Not true. Keep in mind that even with the accumulation of significant muscular size, bodybuilders will not possess the explosive power or absolute strength as individuals who specialize their training purely for these gains, e.g. power-lifters or Olympic-style weight-lifters.

Now that we have an idea of what rep-range to use for what gains, how many sets of reps does one need to perform?

Excellent question, and the best placed person to answer that is, or will be, you. As a beginner, you would first need to see how your body adapts in order to know what works best for you. Remember the law of individual differences, and what I said about health and fitness being a thinking person’s activity? If you’re just starting out, it won’t be too long before experiencing signs of the adaptation process – you’ll begin to feel and see the training effect. You can then effectively vary and optimize your weight training workouts, or overall training program.

Nevertheless, as a guide, go back and look at the table above for suggested numbers of reps/sets to be performed for the respective training focus, depending on your goals. You could also have a look at the page on workout routines where other weight training workouts are available. These are constantly being added to.

A warning regarding numbers of reps and sets:

You’ll note from this Site that I often warn readers about being ‘duped.’ As I also recommend to exercisers whom I coach and advise, don’t do an exercise program just because it’s well-marketed or punted by a model in great shape. Male or female, beware of claims out there that anyone (i.e. you) can achieve a ‘great body’ by doing a minimal number of reps and/or sets (as in High-Intensity Training), or on the other hand, by following the ‘bomb-blitz’ mega sets philosophy.

No exercise professional would refute these claims outright, but all would advise you to be sensible about your approach in order to make informed decisions.

• Intensity:

In the previous point, we looked at how the number of reps and sets are considered for different desired outcomes. But what about ‘intensity’, or the level of effort involved when executing the respective exercises?

Most authorities will tell you that intensity is a vital ingredient. But you can be sure that they will differ when it comes to ‘how much’ of it ‘when’ and ‘how.’ Differing philosophies like high-intensity training (HIT) and other theories support high-volume training (HVT) are typical examples (more on that in the near future).

Now you may say that doing 15 reps of a particular exercise may require a greater effort to complete than doing 6, and so automatically constitutes a higher-intensity set. This would mean more reps/sets = more effort, right? Not quite. Intensity and rep-range are not mutually inclusive. Different levels of intensity can apply across the various rep-ranges.

Again, it comes down to your needs and therefore how you will train.

An important point to bear in mind here is that, the level of intensity while lifting a weight, has a direct bearing on the muscle-fiber recruitment in the body parts affected by the particular exercise.

In short: Muscle fibers together form ‘motor units.’ Each of these units contain several hundred fibers (fast and slow twitch) and motor neurons, which trigger the biochemical reactions for muscles to contract. (Since the focus of this page is weight training workouts, see more detail on the page dealing with fast twitch muscle fibers.)

But with what intensity do muscles need to contract?

Lower intensity exercise does not activate the fast twitch muscle fibers, and hence these will not be stimulated during related exercise activities, and no adaptation will occur. Ever heard the phrase “use it or lose it”? That’s exactly true here. If we’re training to develop strength, power, and/or muscle size, we need to primarily target our fast twitch muscle fibers, by lifting heavier weights – the poundage of which restricts us to a ‘medium’ (6-12) number of reps.

So, MORE EFFORT=MORE MUSCLE FIBERS RECRUITED=HIGHER STRENGTH/MUSCLE-GAINS?

Yes. For the most part, we would use a load so that performing the desired reps of an exercise taxes the involved muscle/s enough that completion of the set is difficult, but not impossible. On occasion, it would be advisable to train to ‘failure’ on certain sets. This means using a weight that does not allow you to complete the intended number of reps.

This technique (as you will see further on) is useful for spurring the muscles on to handling more and more poundage and so afford better gains in strength and size. As already indicated, continually increasing poundage in successive workouts of a training cycle is known as ‘progressive-resistance training.’

My rule of thumb regarding intensity?

I use a variety of weight training workouts in my health and fitness regimen but, 90% of the time, I vary intensity in weekly cycles (more on training cycles below). I alternate between maximum and moderate intensity levels week on week to ensure that my muscles get the stimulus they need, and some respite for repair and growth. During ‘heavy weeks’, I go all out to failure on most sets while on moderate weeks, I ensure that all sets are completed using smooth form.

• High-Intensity Training (HIT) methodology
• High-Volume Training
• Workout Duration
• Training Cycles
• Periodization

Weight Training Exercise Techniques

Careful and deliberate planning and tracking of your progress by means of a log, not to mention the manner in which you execute each actual workout of your routines, can make that additional difference and ensure you achieve your program goals. Here, we will briefly look at:

• Form
• Breathing
• Rest periods
• Range of Motion

Advanced Training Techniques

• Isolation
• Forced Reps
• Cheating
• Pre-Exhaust
• Negative Pre-Exhaust
• Rest-Pause
• Ascending Sets
• Descending Sets

IN CLOSING

As you will appreciate, I cannot be exhaustive regarding weight training simply because of the sheer magnitude of the topic, related principles, methodologies and approaches. There are literally tons of resources abound, but beware of getting bogged down in this plethora of information. If you intend researching available media on weight training, I would recommend reliable factual sources like the International Sports Sciences Association (ISSA), Wikipedia, and to an extent, Bodybuilding.com. You could also pose questions to me via this Site.

Most importantly, when in doubt, rather than chance making errors, challenge, qualify or ask.

Please come back soon - there will be a lot more information and advice, along with links and pictures.

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