When you start lifting, you want to make sure that you're doing an effective weight training program. If you're not, you're just going to be wasting your time and effort - and that's no fun at all.
So, here are the keys for a good weight training program. Whether you're doing weight loss and weight training, or trying to put on muscle, these essentials will serve you well and make sure that you're getting great results.
1. Commitment and Dedication
This is the most important part of an effective weight training program. While it's best if everything is perfect, even a crappy lifting plan can be an effective at building muscle if you stick with it long enough.
This doesn't mean that you should be content with a crappy program, if you find a better way to lift. But a crappy program applied with dedication and effort will trump a perfect program that you don't stick with, any day.
2. Keep Track of Your Workouts
I don't care if you look geeky carrying around a pen and paper in the weight room. Embrace your inner geek, track your progress, and you will actually start making much greater progress.
Without tracking, you have no idea how fast your progressing. Or if you're even progressing at all. So, keep track of what you're doing.
3. Mercilessly Pursue Progress
If you're not regularly adding weight to the bar, no matter how much you think you've got an effective weight training program, you don't. If you aren't getting the regular feedback that you're getting stronger, you're not putting on muscle. And that's the truth.
If you're going for weight loss and weight training, you'll probably want to focus on maintaining your strength and muscle rather than making progress. But even there, you should be losing fat.
Whatever your goal is, pursue it relentlessly. Or you won't get there.
4. For Muscle, Add Protein And Food
If you want to put on muscle, you need protein to build that muscle and energy to synthesize that protein into new muscle. Eat more, especial protein (meaning: dead animals and dairy).
First off, your muscles are built with protein. If you don't have the protein in your diet, you simply won't put on the muscle. I know this from painful experience - if you're eating fatty and sugary stuff (like just doughnuts, fruit, and nuts) you physically can't build new muscle. That's just how it is.
Second, you need energy to perform that protein synthesis. If you're trying to do weight loss and weight training, dieting down means that your body gets the signal that times are bad - and you shouldn't invest precious bodily energy in adding more muscle!
By staying active you can retain your muscle mass when you diet down, but it's almost impossible to add muscle while losing fat. And actually, building muscle is hard enough for your body as it is - don't make it even harder by not giving your body the energy to do it.
Yes, that does mean that when you're putting on muscle you'll probably gain some fat too. But that's just life. You can always diet down to reveal your new muscles in a couple of weeks.
So...
These are the 4 most important keys to an effective weight training program. Without them, you simply will look like most of the other people in the gym, who've been going for years but still look the same and lift the same.
If you want some tips on how to make your lifting even more effective, check out the links below. You'll find out how to start lifting with a great beginner's program, and lots more information for destroying fat and gaining strength!
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