Weight Training for Beginners

Welcome to this amazing world of weight training. I can safely say that you are about to unlock a new level of your personal success. I hope you are not just weight training to lose weight. I mean, off course there are going to be many aesthetics wins along the way, but you can surely expect some mental gains, spiritual gains along with physical gains too.

Now that you’re in the world of weight training, learning new vocabulary is important. Off course you will pick that up along the way and as you increase your research. Here is one word I want you to start using right away – GAINS.

Weight training is all about gains, and if you missed the hint already I am about 3 dimensional gains. I will repeat

• Physical Gains
• Mental Gains
• Spiritual Gains

So go ahead and add this word into your lingo because it will be something you often repeat to others and yourself.

Before I jump into the how, let me explain the why.

Why you wanna get into strength training / weight lifting. 

If you havn’t already seen it then please read The Real Reason Why Women Should Build Muscle. Here I cover the ever so crucial aspect of mitochondrial improvement and explain why you need to focus on the mitochondria, the power of your cells aka the powerhouse of YOU. In short, data from research suggest that exercise improves function of the subsarcolemmal portion of mitochondria. Therefore, exercise seems to not only increase the number of organelles, but also to improve the function/efficiency of the mitochondrial pool/network. The resulting functional improvement in the mitochondrial network most likely results from increased rates of mitochondrial biogenesis and efficient removal of dysfunctional/damaged mitochondria.

If this doesn’t seem important to you then think of it this way. Do you wanna age quickly and weakly? Or do you want to slow down the aging process? By the way, anti-aging happens when each cell is renewed and old cells are removed. If you want to learn more about anti-aging then read this article to blow your mind.

How it works. 

Weight training works by focusing on large muscle groups and doing exercises that use those large group muscles. Essentially, when you lift a weight heavy for you, you are causing micro tears in the muscles and allowing it to repair so it grows back stronger and bigger. Wait! Women won’t get big bulky muscles, I will explain down below. These micro tears in the muscle require more calories (nutrients & fuel) to repair and grow. This is where your increased metabolism comes in from. Long after you have finished your weight training session, your body is still working hard to repair those muscles.

If you have already started weight training then you know you get soar. This soreness is a sign of the tears in your muscle.  This is nothing to get worried about, this is called DOMS – delayed onset of muscle soreness. It’s a normal phenomenon and an indication of your successful workout. While your body repairs, you have to focus on eating clean and providing the adequete amount of nutrients to get stronger and repair those micro tears. This is where you learn macros (macro nutrients, make sure to read this article because it’s a secret to fitness), and the basics of human nutrition. Expect alot of self research and homework. With all this knowledge you will slowly start to gain, you can expect a change in your average outlook of life and personal development. The change has begun.

PS – while you work on ripping your muscles, the last few reps will be the hardest- expect to make monkey faces!

Women don’t get bulky

It’s true, women will not get bulky and manly when lifting weights and weight training. This is a age old misconception that I am feverishly trying to destroy. Men tend to easily gain muscle mass due to their hormone testosterone which they have alot of. Us women on the other hand are oestrogen dominant and produce very little test. Thankfully, our oestrogen content doesn’t only make us bitchy, but keeps us nice and lean. So you can lift as much as weight as you like and your results will only be burning more calories and getting toned.

Speaking of buring calories, of all the types of exercises there are weight training is by far THE BEST FORM OF EXERCISE TO BURN CALORIES AND LOSE FAT.

In terms of calorie burn yes cardio burns alot of calories as long as you are doing that exercise. Go for a 3 mile run and you can burn 300 calories. After you done you wont be burning much and that is due to  Exercise Post Oxygen Consumption (EPOC) with cardio, which means you only burn calories when running; not much happens afterwards

Weight training however burns heck-of-a-lot of calories even when you are sleeping. Remember how we just talked about muscle breaking down…yeah that. Your metabolism is higher when muscles are repairing. Your overall calorie burn daily just increased. Not just burning calories, you have increased energy due to mitochondrial improvement too.

I must mention here, your results from weight training depend on what you eat. 80% of your results and health depends on clean eating. So workout right and eat clean and you are entering a new era of physical and mental GAINS.

How to Get Started

Since weight training focuses on working larger muscle groups, your workout routine will look something like this

• Arm day
• Back Day
• Legs
• Chest
• Shoulders

For an example of a workout routine see this awesome article of one of my previous personal routine.

Reps and Sets and Weight

An effective daily routine includes you working out for 45 minutes maximum and 20 minutes minimum. You will do 10 to 12 repetitions of each movement into sets of 3. So if you are doing bicep curl, you will do 12 reps followed by 60 seconds, and repeat 3 times.

Picking a weight is important. Too light weights and your muscles are not working. Too high weight and you may injure your muscle. So pick a weight which you can do 12 reps and the last 4 or 5 have to be reallyyyyy hard. Don’t cheat and go easy. I am watching you!!

You should definitely invest into a set of weights. This will benefit you for whole body exercises. If dumbbells are not on your budget right now, invest in resistance bands and a kettle bell. These two are super effective for strength training.

The Goal

The goal is GAINS. You have to get stronger. Getting strong means your muscle in improving and you are burning alot of calories. Getting stronger also means you are doing a good job at eating clean, drinking water and resting adequately. If you are going into powerlifting and heavy lifting then make sure to read this article about Top 3 Lifting Gear for Women. 

If you gain strength but not getting toned then you need to rework your meal plan. Eating too much carbs will make you stronger and also store some fat over your muscles. You may look bigger than before but that because you are eating more carbs and not being smart with food. If you strength train and really wanna tone down then speak with a proper nutritional therapist about working your macros. I am available for online coaching, and if you join my programmes then get ready to kick your own butt and see some amazing results.

Make Those Gains Girls!

I am dead serious about gains. It’s not just only about looks, but we have to get physically stronger too! Once you start weight training and see your own personal improvements then you will blow your own mind. It’s a journey. A journey of finding out what your body can do!