There are a large amount of people who would like to get
stronger through resistance strength training but they believe that they do not
have the time to do it. I know, because I use to be one of them. There are a
few questions that novice weight lifters need to consider and answer before beginning
any training regimen. First, what are my S.M.A.R.T goals? Second, how much time
can I commit out of my daily life to achieve my goals? Lastly, how do I create
or structure my workout to take advantage of the limited amount of time I have
to weight train? I have personally worked through these questions myself, and
this process has helped me achieve my goal by making sure I devote enough time
to reach them.
The first
question that a novice weight lifter has to ask him/herself are what their
S.M.A.R.T goals are. The acronym S.M.A.R.T stands for; smart, measurable,
attainable, relevant, and time-bound. That is exactly what a person’s goals
should be. When I began lifting weights in high school, my goal was specific in
that I wanted to be able to increase the weight I could bench press. My goal
was measurable in that I wanted to be able to bench press 225 pounds. It was
attainable because at the time, I weighed close to 225 pounds myself. My goal
was also relevant to my overall mission to become one of the strongest people
in any room. My goal was also time-bound because I set a date for its
completion.
The
second question that a novice strength training enthusiast has to ask him/herself
is how much time they can commit to achieve their goal. I was in high school
and I knew that I could commit an hour every weekday to reaching my goal, and
then two hours a day during the weekend. However, every person is different and
many people do not have a routine that they can exactly follow every week. What
is important is being able to devote the necessary time to reach your goal. For
example, you many have a rotating shift schedule, but you know that you will
have three hours a week to devote to lifting weights. So, you know that you
only have those three hours a week to devote to lifting and thus you make your
workout fit your schedule.
The last
question a new weight lifter has to ask him/herself is how do I structure my
workout to achieve my goals. Or simply, what exercises are essential to my
workout and the attainment of my goals? Due to the limited amount of responsibilities
that I had in high school, and the large amount of free time I had, I could
have a well-rounded and intense workout regimen. At that point, I did a three
day split twice a week and I had an entire day devoted to cardio and core
building. Each day I did 16 sets of lifts. One of the days I focused on chest
and shoulders. A second day would be devoted to back and biceps. A third day
was devoted solely to legs. I would then have a day of cardio and core
building, and then the preceding days I would restart my split. Because my goal
was to increase my bench to 225 pounds, I focused mainly on my chest during my
chest and shoulder days. My work out on those days included: four sets of
bench, three sets of incline bench, three sets of decline bench, three sets of
overhead press, and three sets of shrugs.
Although
my main goal was to increase my bench, I knew that I could not neglect the rest
of my body because of the dangers in creating an imbalance in muscle mass. What
is an imbalance? It is when you over train a certain part of your body and
neglect others. Having an imbalance is dangerous because it can lead to injury.
It is also not aesthetically pleasing when a person is clearly neglecting a
part of their body. We have all seen people who have a large upper body or “beach”
body and tiny twigs for legs. That is why my back and bicep workouts also had
16 sets. For back and bicep day I did: four sets of rows, four sets of pull-downs,
four sets of reverse fly, and four sets of various bicep lifts. My third day of
lifts were solely intended to build leg strength. I did four sets of squats,
four sets of calf raises, four sets of leg press, and four sets of lunges. As a
side note, squats are a great workout but it is important to do them in a
controlled manner with a full range of motion which means utilizing a lighter
weight. The reason I included leg press is so that I could work on power by
lifting a very heavy weight.
The
fourth day of my workout regimen was completely devoted to developing my core
strength and my endurance through cardio. On these days I did: four sets of
front planks, three sets of side planks for each side, three sets of one handed
farmers walk for each side, and thirty minutes of various cardio exercises such
as stairs. I know that some of you who are reading this are saying to themselves
“I don’t have time for all of that”, and the truth is that you are probably
correct. However, your goals are different from mine, and all that matters is
that you go through these three questions and make a plan that will be
effective for you. I also no longer have the time for such a time intensive workout
now that I am in college, and thus I have revisited these three questions
continuously throughout the years. For example, I now only lift four days a
week for no longer than 45 minutes per workout because that is all my schedule
will allow for. I now have a chest day, a back day, a leg day, and a shoulder
day. By only focusing on one group of muscles per workout, I can get my
workouts done completely within my 45 minute time-frame. This also allows me to
fully stress the muscle with 16 sets and achieve continued growth while only
working out on that muscle group once a week.
To read some tips on how to find time to workout, please visit: 10 Easy Ways to Sneak in a Workout
To read some tips on how to find time to workout, please visit: 10 Easy Ways to Sneak in a Workout
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