Strength Training Systems and Methods

STRENGTH TRAINING System and Methods:

There are all types of strength training systems and methods. My clients will tell you all the different ways I train them – and they are all correct methods. How to choose the system or program that's right for you? The bottom line is "what works for you, works for you". The method you decide to chose might also depends on how many times a week you plan to train.

Your friend may be using a strength training system that he/she loves and highly recommends as "the way to train". He/She may be getting tremendous benefit from the program. That doesn't mean the same program will work for you in the same way. There are no strict rules about routines, sets, and reps. A system that is working for one person may not be as effective for another.

Also, at some point you may no longer get good results from a set of routines that had been producing good results. When your body gets used to a particular routine it's time to move on, time to change things around.

So, how do you determine what's a good routine for you? First, let's look at what you want to accomplish each week. In a week's worth of strength training, how many days will you train and you want to exercise each major muscle group at least once.

Personally, I train 5-6 times a week of which all are strength training and additionally cardio which varies between HIIT (high intensity interval training between 4 - 20 minutes each) or 20 minutes low intensity.

Here are the major muscle groups without getting too specific -

• Chest [pectorals]
• Back [latissimus major]
• Shoulders [deltoids]
• Arms
• Biceps
• Triceps
• Legs
• Quadriceps [front of the thigh]
• Hamstrings [back of the thigh]
• Gluteus [your buttocks]
• Calves [gastrocnemium/soleus]
• Abdominals

Some routines train every muscle group in the same session (full body movement). I personally do a split routine that breaks up the muscle groups by day. Depending what phase I am in, my split routines when bulking up (looking for increasing strength and muscle hypertrophy) looks as following (and it may changes over a period of time);

Saturday: Chest and Triceps – HIIT

Sunday: Legs (push – quads) and Calves – easy cardio 20 minutes

Monday: Back and Biceps – easy cardio 20 minutes

Tuesday: Shoulders and Traps - HIIT

Wednesday: Legs (pull – hamstrings)  – 20 minutes easy cardio

Thursday: abs - HIIT

Friday: rest

Basically I do 4 sets of each exercise (with proper warm up), and the amount of reps per set varies (more important than reps is to challenge your muscles to failure).

Sometimes a follow the pyramid principle, forced reps, “cheating” or strip-set to go past failure.

Also the rest period between sets I try to control, and won’t have rest periods more than 2 minutes (but try to keep it between 60-90 seconds between sets). Also each workout varies slightly from the previous week’s workout – so my body keeps guessing what it has to do! Furthermore, I try to keep my strength training up to an hour (if nobody distracts me with small talk :-)

Last but not least, I stretch at the end of each workout session.

When I am looking to get leaner (the goal is to drop body fat percentage and not necessary weight) my workout schedule might look as following (with most exercises performed as supersets – two to three exercises on top of each other without any rest which will elevate the heart rate).

Saturday; Chest, Shoulders and Triceps (push exercises) – HIIT running interval

Sunday; Back (width of the back) and biceps and HIIT (tabata running against treadmill belt resistance 20seconds – 10 seconds recovery X 8times)

Monday; legs (quads, gluteus and calves) and Abs – 20 minutes easy cardio

Tuesday; Chest, Shoulders and Triceps - HIIT running interval

Wednesday; Back (Thickness) and Biceps - HIIT (tabata running against treadmill belt resistance 20seconds – 10 seconds recovery X 8 times)

Thursday; Legs (hamstrings and calves) and abs - 20 minutes easy cardio

Friday; recovery day

There are many different split routines possible, and it all depends on your personal preference and frequency of training days. Strength training for your wellbeing is of huge importance and I encourage to strength train at least 3 times a week. Increasing muscle mass will increase your metabolism 24 hours a day!!! Furthermore, possibly cardio(respiratory) training a minimum of at least 3 times a week as well (preferably 5-6times). Cardio will gives your metabolism an immediate boost, but will decline rapidly after the exercise has finished. Therefore your focus should initially be on increasing your muscle mass, thus STRENGTH TRAINING!!

However, I wanted to finish this week’s “mervmail” emphasizing the overwhelming importance of a well balanced nutritional plan as well!