Make Your Weight Training Count!

Face it, nobody wants to spend hours in gym without some results. Fact is, you can do short workouts and make it count if you want to maximize your workout program.

Here are some tips for you who might have trained for some time, but wants better results in shorter amount of time of workout.

1. Limit your workout duration. Some people think that to have maximum results is to linger around and lift weights for a long time. Fact is, after 30 to 40 minutes, the benefits of your workout is not the same as when you start your workout in that day. It's better if you do high-intensity workout in shorter amount of time.

2. Prioritize your 'quality' instead of your 'quantity'. Doing 8 reps the right way is better than doing it wrong for 20 reps.

3. Lift your weight slowly. Weight-lifting is not a 'fast' sport anyway. According to researchers in Wayne Westcott, to lift one weight normally it needs about 1 minute. Doing the reps correctly is an important part in weight-lifting. You won't get any results when you do it wrong.

4. Breathe. The right breathing techniques can make your workout more effective. Focus in breathing out when you lift the weight and breathe in when you lower the weight.

5. Maintain a good posture. This is important to make sure that you are training your muscles instead of injuring yourself. When you sit down, sit in an upright position. Make sure your abs contracts when you're training. Pull your abs upwards and into your spine to stabilize your body. Maintain this position so that your shoulder is pulled back and your chest is contracted forward, even if you're sitting down or standing up.

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6. Avoid working out continuously. Your muscles need some rest before another training. Make sure you have some day off in your training.

7. Train with your mind. When you lift some weight, make sure your mind doesn't wander off. You have to FOCUS to what you're doing because there's a close relation between your brain, your nerves, and your muscles. This means, no cellphones during your set. Just saying.

8. Do one set to failure, but that doesn't mean you have to failure your sets repeatedly. It's better if you do just 1 or 2 sets with heavier weight for maximum results.

9. Choose a cardio that you like. If you do workouts that you don't like, you won't enjoy it. Do some fun activities like running, walking, swimming, cycling, hiking, etc.

Many research indicates that when you can focus into your training, you'll get significant muscle enhancement. Therefore, don't read, talk, or text when you're in the middle of your workout and focus your mind to each set, so that every reps and sets will be more effective and you'll get your results faster.

Recovery Time after Each Training

There are a lot of questions that usually come from gym newbies that I have shared in the previous posts. For example, I've shared about how much weight you have to lift, resting time between each set, and now, I'm going to share about the suggested amount of recovery time after the workout.

People usually start to workout when they want to shape their body. The reasons are various, some want to lose weight, some want to build their muscles and get buff. However, in achieving our goal, we tend to want to get the fastest results. We thought that the harder we train, the faster we'll get to that goal.

Like many aspects of our lives, doing something excessively is not always good. It's the same with workouts. Training harder won't get the best results, only increase the accident risks.

When we train, we're stressing our muscles that it creates tiny rips in our muscles. When we rest, our body will repair those rips, making our muscles stronger. This process will be repeated over and over again until we reach the goal of our training. Therefore, enough rest and nutrition is as important as the workout itself.

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Always rest your muscles for at least 24 hours. But that doesn't mean that if we train our chest muscles today, we can't train our back the next day. What I mean is, the same muscle group should not be trained constantly, because it won't get the chance to recover. Therefore, if you do full body training in one workout, it should not be more than 3 times a week.

However, if you train one muscle group in one training, then you better arrange your training schedule. For example, if you train your chest on Monday, train your legs on Tuesday, shoulder and back on Wednesday, then train your chest on Friday. You can see in that example that that way, you're training your chest and giving it a couple days to rest.

This method is used by people who understands about recovery and trains very hard so that their body needs longer time to rest. Even professional bodybuilders rest their muscles for 5 days before starting another training. It doesn't mean that you train once in every 5 days, but with the above pattern, they give long enough rest so that their muscles are getting the maximum recovery.

There are still a lot of gym newbies that haven't understand the importance of recovery time. They thought that by training harder and more often, they'll get the results faster.

Remember, train smarter, not harder!

The Weight You Have to Lift

We see often in gyms, where gym enthusiasts, rats, or gym freak - whatever you may call it - lift ginormous weights. They usually large in size (but not ripped), and lift weight like crazy. When gym noobs (newbies) enter the gym, there should be feelings of inferiority that makes sure that they can't lift weights like those gym enthusiasts.

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"Well they've been training for years, and I just started."

This mindset is what make us lift weights that are "light enough" that don't necessarily embarrass us if, at some point, we can't lift it anymore. But are there any chance to know the ideal weight for our training?

Before we get to that, you have to remember that the first time you go to a gym, or just started going for a few times, you better get acquainted to all available equipment. The suggested reps is about 12 to 15 reps. Remember, this is so that you're accustomed to the equipment and know their functions.

After a few days of training and understanding the equipment, you will then know your strength. For example, in training your biceps, maybe 10 or 15 kg of weight is heavy enough for you, but in Bench Press you'll probably strong enough to lift 20 to 25 kg. Your understanding about your own ability is really important to monitor your training progress.

Now you know your strength, then what?

Next, you have to define your goal. I've said it before in my previous post about how long you have to rest between each set, that the weight you have to lift also depends on your goal. There are no rigid standards in defining your goal either, because it's more of an art than a science, since each body is different than the other.

For you who trains just for health reasons (or just to get fit), choose a weight, and lift it in 10 to 12 reps. Make sure you reach the failure in the 10th or 12th rep. If you can do more than 12 reps, it means your weight choice is not heavy enough. Choose the right weight for you using this guide.

Using the same guide, if you want to burn some fat, the suggested reps is about 8 to 10 reps per set, with the 8th or 10th rep as the failure point. Of course, at this point, the weight you have to lift is heavier than when you just want to get fit, right? The same thing also put into effect when you want to build your body and gain some weight. The suggested reps is about 6 to 8 per set.

The last category is for those who want to increase their muscle strength. For example, when you usually can  Bench Press with 25 kg in 10 reps, and want to lift more than 25 kg, then train with the heaviest weight you can lift with only 3 to 4 reps per set. With the heaviest weight possible, you can rest longer before starting another set.

Once again, this guide is the most basic guide, and every individual can adapt in their own way. For example, I usually choose the 8 to 10 reps to burn some fat, because I usually do some other training in one workout. Keep in mind that trained muscles help you burn some more fat :)

Resting Time between Each Set

In training in gyms, we usually don't mind in how long we have to rest in each set of the training. The usual answer to this is "enough so that we're not cooling down". But actually, is there any standards or criteria on how long we rest in each set?

There's no certain way in counting how long you have to rest, but there is a guide that you can use, depending on your training. I've said it before that before you start to lift some weight, you have to know the exact goal of your training. Maybe you want to burn some fat, tone your body, increase your stamina, or anything specific. This is important, because it will determine your resting time between each set.

If you want to increase your stamina, usually the resting time between each set is as short as possible, about 30 seconds before starting another set. If you want to tone your body, increasing the muscle mass, the suggested resting time is between 30 to 90 seconds with a medium weight. However, if you want to train your strength and increase your one RM, the resting time is usually longer, about 2 to 5 minutes because the weight you lift is definitely heavier.

Gym "Slangs" for Dummies

After knowing the right way to lose some weight, there are a lot of people that starts to consider coming to the gym to lift some weight. The common first difficulty is understanding the gym terms or slangs that are usually unfamiliar for people who enters the gym for the first time.

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Let's say the instructor told you to bench press for 4 sets, with full range of motion. Or some people ask you, what is your one RM. For "gym rats", those terms are not new. But for those who just started to workout, where even going to the gym is a big thing, those terms are making them more uncomfortable to start. From this background, this article will help you know the basic terms that are commonly used in gyms.

- Strength, refers to your muscle power where your strength is measured with how many weights you can lift.
- 1 RM or One Rep-Max is the heaviest weight you can lift perfectly for once. If you can lift some more, that's not one RM.
- Endurance, refers to your muscle endurance in lifting some weight. For example, you can lift dumbbells to train your arms for 12 reps or 15 reps. In the mean time, there are others who can only lift it for 6 reps. That means their endurance is lower than you.
- Specificity, which is the commonly used term for weight-training. It means that when you want to strengthen up your arms, then you have to lift weight with your arm-muscles, and not our legs. If you want to build your shoulders, that means you have to train your shoulder muscles. That's the principal of specificity. This term is commonly mixed up with the myth that to burn the fat in your stomach you have to do some sit-ups.
- Overload. To train your muscles, increase the strength and endurance, you have to force your muscles to train more than its capacity. Increasing the intensity can be done with a few way, such as increasing the weight, adding more reps, reducing the interval from each set, and many more. If you don't understand this principle, you won't get any progress from your workout.
- Repetition or rep, is one full motion. For example when you lift the dumbbell from the shoulder, moving to the top of the head, and back to the shoulder. That one full motion is 1 repetition or 1 rep.
- Range of Motion, is full range of motion when you lift weight. If you lift the weight from your shoulder, moving up to the top of your head, and stops halfway, back to the original position, then it's only half range of motion. Some call it half rep.
- Failure, is the condition in which we can't get anymore rep. The right training is when you achieve your failure point. For example, when you have to do 10 reps, it means the failure is when you do the 10th rep. Most people think they have to stop at 10 when they can still do some more reps. What they should do is find a weight that is heavy enough, until you achieve failure or can't do more reps, right when they're at the 10th rep.
- Recovery. There are two kinds of recovery. The first is when after we lift a weight for 10 reps and need a break for few seconds or minutes before starting another set. This break is called recovery time. There's also the recovery time when we're done training 1 group of muscles. For example, after you train your chest, it needs 48 hours of recovery before you can start training again.
- Set is a set  of reps. When you lift weight for 10 to 12 reps and put down your dumbbell, that's 1 set. After 1 set, we need a break for a few seconds or minutes before starting another set which consists of 10 to 12 reps.
- Routine, is a term usually used to represent a pattern or sequence of exercise that we use. How many set, which equipment(s), how many reps, how long, how many times a week, it's called a routine for our training. It's better if you change your routine after a few weeks. Some do it after a few months. This is so that your body does not saturate, and you're not bored of doing something over and over again.

That's the basic terms that people usually use in gyms. By now, you should understand the "language", and not feel inferior to ask around and start training. Remember your diet after the training to get the maximum results :)