Weight training for men 101

Weight training for men is a vital component to any fitness regimen. If you are just getting started or returning to exercise again after a long break it's easy to get comfortable with your daily exercise routine. If you find your efforts are not leading to weight loss or muscle gain, it's time to try weight training. Whether you want to work out at home or head to the gym it's time to mix things up. Although it might be intimidating at first if you stick to your plan you will achieve your goals.

Best Weight Training for Men Guide

Use your bodyweight

The first step of weight training for men is learning to use your own bodyweight to create resistance. This will be the first building block in order to build and strengthen your muscles. When you think about creating resistance we often think about gym equipment. But there are many ways where you can create resistance without the use of hardcore machines. You can go for simple equipment like resistance bands, TRX bands, or slider disks to create resistance. The other alternative is not to use equipment at all and just do bodyweight exercises like pull-ups, dips, squats, calf raises and pushups that just use gravity and your own weight.

Start with two days

Mapping out your time is an important step in creating a workable strength training routine. When you are starting your weight training sessions you need to ease your body and your time into so seven days will not be sustainable. Start by doing weight training for two days a week for three to four weeks. Once your body is comfortable with this schedule, move up to three to four times a week. Firstly, start off with 20-minute sessions in the initial weeks, and then keep adding ten minutes every week if your body is ready. Remember you should not skip your cardio schedule for your weight training, as it is as important as the rest of your schedule. So make sure you allot your time wisely to increase activity but not take up too much time.

Prepare your body beforehand

You need to prepare your body to get used to the extra activity. Always start with a proper warm-up session before plunging into weight training. You can begin with a foam roller to warm up your muscles or try dynamic stretching. This will loosen the tight muscles to ensure a better workout. This entire process will open up your joints and expand your range of motion, which will help you lift more weight and recover faster.

Have a go-to workout

Start with some set of comfortable exercises or a set of workouts that your body is comfortable with, for instance, doing squats and push-ups, or walking lunges and lat pulldowns. Secondly, try to divide days for each of your body parts, for instance, have a biceps day or a legs day. The best way to go about this is by pairing up your exercises in body part splits. This way, while the upper body is working out, the lower body gets to rest, and when the lower body is working, the upper part gets to rest. This helps the body to recover gain muscle mass.

Know your weights

Know and understand the difference between the weight that you should be lifting to create resistance and the amount of weight that is too heavy and can cause injury. If you feel fatigued by the end of the 15th rep, you are right on target, but, if you feel fatigued on your 8th, you should lower the weight. On the other hand, if you can breeze through all 15 reps with good form, then you can increase your weight on the next set.

15 Reps with 3 sets

When you are just starting off, keeping the workouts simple is the best thing to do. Try to go for 15 reps with performing in sets of 3 each, which is an ideal way to start off. For legs day you can start with 3 sets of 15 squats and move on to sets of 15 leg press, and so forth for the remaining exercises. This is a model weight training for beginners, take this model and customize it for your fitness level and goals.

Stick to the same regime

Try to stick to the same set of workouts so that your body can master them and transition, as you improve. Once the exercise becomes easy, you will know that its time to take it to the next level. As soon as you start getting stronger increase the weight gradually, this is a key rule for weight training for men in particular. If you want to increase your muscle mass it's important to keep track of your workouts and monitor your progress. Always remember that there can be no preset model type for a single person, and what works for one person may not for you and vice versa.

Principles of weight training for men

Progress to Overloading

Once your strength level has improved it is important to create a habit for your body to start taking more than it is used to. It is very important to test your body's capacity and not get stuck lifting the same weight over and over. It is important to know the difference between the adequate weight that you should lift to create resistance and lift the weight that can cause injury.

Create a lifting plan

Train for your goal, this means that need to have one to start with. Be specific in your goals, so instead of setting a goal for strength building or weight loss. Make your goal to gain 10 pounds of muscle while reducing your body fat by 10%, or to lose 30 lbs of body fat. To better choose your goals do some simple tests before like recording your weight, picking a start date, calculate your body fat percentage and calculate your daily calories burned per workout. This will help you tailor your workout to focus on more weights or cardio depending on what the end game is. From there you can create a workout plan so you don't go into your workout session just winging it.

Avoid Straining

Every single weight training for men program will tell you not to strain yourself too hard. Overtraining can lead to injury that can take you out of your workout plan while you recover from the injury. You can add more weights as you gain strength, but make sure never to hurt yourself as the recovery time is going to disrupt your entire schedule and hinder your progress.

Eat Clean

We can never emphasize enough on how eating clean helps you with your health goals. Even when you are weight training or just trying to lose weight, paying attention to what you eat has never been more important. Eating takes place while the body is at rest, so the fuel you put in your body should be easy to process and convert into muscle. Stay away from processed foods, or extra salts and sugars. Also, don't rely on starvation diets that deprive you of eating your favorite food. As long as you are putting enough effort to burn off all those extra calories, eating a healthy diet with foods that you like is one thing that you simply cannot afford not to do.

Weight training helps to improve muscular endurance, strengthen joints and bones, to prevent injury and helps you with every aspect of your day. Weight training should be a part of your life no matter what age you are to stay fit and improve your quality of life. Whatever you decide to stick to for your fitness and health, weight training is simply going to help you achieve your goals and enhance your future.