Training Concepts

Key Weight Training

Weight training has its fair share of gobbledygook. You don’t need to be fluent in the language spoken at  bodybuilding competitions and physiology conferences; but to design an effective workout, you do need to know the basics to better understand your trainer or training materials. In this section, key strength training terminology and training principles are defined.

Strength:

Muscular strength is the maximum amount of weight that youcan lift one time — also called your one-rep max. For example, if you can squeeze out only one shoulder press with 45 pounds, that’s your one-rep max for that exercise.

Endurance:

Muscular endurance refers to how many times you can lift a sub-maximal weight over a period of time. Muscular strength and endurance are related, but aren’t the same. Muscular endurance is handy for everyday tasks like carrying a heavy box from your house to the car. Don’t confuse muscular endurance with cardiovascular endurance, which is the stamina of your heart and lungs. Muscular endurance affects only the muscle in question and lasts only a minute or two; you improve the staying power of one muscle rather than the stamina of your entire body.

Specificity:

Your muscles develop specifically in response to how you train them. For example, if you want to get stronger hips and legs, you should do squats, not push-ups. Similarly, if you want to become a better runner, ultimately you need to practice running. Weight training can complement your running program, but can’t replace the hours you

need to spend at the track.

Overload:

To increase your strength or endurance, you need to train by pushing your muscles to do more than what they’re used to. You can overload your muscles by lifting a challenging weight load, doing a lot of reps and sets, or increasing how many times per week that you train.

Repetition:

This term, often shortened to rep, refers to a single rendition of an exercise.

Recovery:

When your muscles reach failure at the end of a set, you needto recover or rest before you can challenge that muscle to work again. This is also referred to as the rest period. Similarly, after you’ve worked a muscle group in your workout, you need to allow it to recover for at least 48 hours before you train it again.

Routine:

This term encompasses virtually every aspect of what you do in one weight lifting session, including the type of equipment you use; the number of exercises, sets, and repetitions you perform; the order in which you do your exercises; and how much rest you take between sets. By varying the elements of your routine