5 Tips For Getting You Started With Strength Training!

Here Are My 5 Tips For Starting Strength Training:

1. Learn the body weight movements first. Before you attempt to add weight to a movement you should be able to do the following body weight movements with good form: the squat to depth, a full press up, a pull up (start with assisted pull up if required) and the hip hinge. Each one of these movements will carry over to the main 4 barbell compounds.

2. Now you can transfer the body weight movements to the barbell. Here we need to learn to be able to squat to depth with the bar on our back, bench press the barbell with good form, overhead press the barbell with good form and to hip hinge with the barbell maintain back tension and correct hip movement. Once we have established good movement patterns with the barbell with can then start to add weight.

3. To get stronger we need to utilise progressive overload in our training. Progressive overload continuously forces the body to adapt to new stimulus which in turn makes us stronger. We can implement progressive overload in various ways. These are: adding more weight, adding more reps or sets, changing the tempo of the lift or changing the range of motion of the lift like the deficit deadlift.

4. Optimise your recovery! When we are resting our body is recovering and repairing the muscle groups we have worked. If we do not have consideration for recovery, progress will not be as optimal, our following sessions may struggle and at worst case we could put ourselves at risk of injury. 4 ways to help recovery will be to get adequate sleep (7-8 hours a night) - prime time for our body to recover, drink 2-3 litres of water day, eat a good amount of protein (around 2 x body weight in kilos gives us the grams of protein we should be aiming for per day) and on rest days actively recover and stretch. Go for a walk and push fresh blood around the body and keep mobile!!

5. Do not be pressured by those around you to lift weights beyond your capability and risk injury. There is a time and place for pushing your top end on your lift and it is not when your peers egg you on when you are not ready. Strength training is marathon not a sprint. Enjoy it, be patient and grow strong!!

​Sean