1. Works the major muscle groups
It's very likely that you started exercising to increase your chest and arm dimensions, or to increase the strength of a particular movement.
However, if you can consciously work all of the major muscle groups—chest, back, shoulders, legs, arms—it can make your physique more coordinated.
This full-body workout also prevents muscle imbalances (which occur when you tend to work certain parts of your body. Imbalances aren't a trivial thing: they can cause serious damage.
2. Build the right action pattern
Beginners should not blindly pursue weight, understand and practice basic movements is what you should do, because the quality of movements is more important than weight.
When many people first start exercising, some of the movements they do feel uncoordinated or uncomfortable.
Don't worry, just practice this movement pattern repeatedly, and soon your body will become accustomed to this movement pattern, and your muscles and strength will begin to grow.
3. Multi-joint movements are better than single-joint movements
Our training can be roughly divided into two categories: multi-joint movements and single-joint movements.
the difference:
Multi-joint movements require the participation of two (or more) joints to complete the movement; in single-joint training, only one group of joints participates.
For example, when you do the bench press, both the elbow and shoulder are involved, while the barbell bicep curl only requires the elbow to be involved.
Multi-joint movements require more muscle involvement, and you can use heavier weights, which is more conducive to laying the foundation of muscle and strength.
4. Do multiple sets of training
Scientific research on resistance training in recent decades has generally indicated that 3-4 sets of each movement are best for beginners. But in general, before attempting a heavy set of a certain movement, you should do one or two warm-ups of that movement.
5. Weight choice: too heavy or too light is not good
How to choose your own weight? Warm-up sets are usually light and you won't burn out anyway, because the purpose of warm-up sets is to coordinate the work of the target muscles.
For example, choose a weight that can do 15 reps per set and do 8-10 reps as a warm-up set. Always pay attention to keep your movement form in a good and stable state, make your muscles moderately congested, and prepare for heavy weight sets.
In the formal set, you should use heavier weights, which is judged as "you will feel exhausted when you complete 8-12 reps in a standard movement form". If you can do more reps, the weight is too light. If you're training purely for strength, choose heavier weights, usually one that you can perform up to 6 reps.
Remember, never sacrifice proper form to lift more weight.
6. Control your breathing
Here's what you should do with each movement: Inhale as the weight goes down. Briefly hold the breath and switch direction smoothly (without bouncing up and down) when the weight reaches the desired position, then exhale as you lift the weight.
7. Rest between sets
Your muscles get tired after a set. They take time to clear the lactic acid and pH changes in the surrounding connective tissue. This process usually takes 90-120 seconds, larger body parts, like the legs and back, may take longer, and smaller muscle groups, such as the arms and calves, may take less time.
You can follow this guideline: When you feel comfortable breathing, you can move on to the next set.
8. Retrain the same muscle group at least 48 hours apart
Your training at the gym is actually a stimulus that triggers a series of destruction and recovery mechanisms: making the muscles repair themselves and you'll be stronger the next time you hit the gym.
This requires adequate time, adequate nutrition and rest. Obviously, you can't train too often and neglect a good diet and rest, which can backfire on your muscle growth. In terms of training frequency, after training a muscle group, give it at least 48 hours of recovery time. As your training becomes more advanced and your volume increases, you'll also naturally crave longer rest periods.
9. Do as much as you can in each workout
If you're training to build muscle, you can't use the same weight all the time. You also can't repeat the same workout over and over again.
Suggestion: You can increase the volume of your training: try to do more sets, or try to do more reps.
Gradually add weights regularly - a beginner's progressive approach should be as easy as that.
Calculating complex weight percent percentages and cycle weight gain and loss are only things considered by intermediate and advanced trainers.
10. Stick to a plan for at least 8 weeks
As a beginner, your strength usually improves significantly in the first two months. But when you stick to a particular program for a long time, strength growth starts to stall. This is when your training needs to make some big changes.
After the novice stage, you can change the way you train by rearranging your target muscle groups, training frequency, and reps per set.
Resetting these variables can keep your workouts fresh and bring back rapid gains in muscle and strength. The novice stage is unforgettable for any trainer. Because throughout your training career, it is very difficult to experience a continuous and substantial increase in strength beyond the novice stage.
