Weight training

Why weight training?

To lose weight? Muscle building? Prevention for diseases of old age? Or simply to promote health? To all these desires we can only answer with “weight training! No matter how old you are or what gender you are, weight training is always the right decision. Through targeted training, you will always experience progress as a beginner. Be it an increase in training or a purely external change. Weight training will push you to your limits and give you true moments of success. In addition, weight training, unlike endurance sports – whether with cardio equipment at home or via outdoor running – is a real paradise of variety. There are numerous weight training exercises with or without the use of equipment, which, unlike endurance sports, do not stress the joints and, in addition, you burn a lot of calories during weight training. However, there are unfortunately far too many myths in the field of weight training and therefore we now enlighten you and introduce you to the wonderful world of weight training.

Myths of weight training

“As a woman, I’m afraid that weight training will make me look too masculine”

Unfortunately a statement I have heard too many times from other women. The image of women that many have in their minds when they associate weight training and women usually has nothing to do with reality. And this is simply due to the male sex hormone testosterone. Since women only possess the sex hormone testosterone in small amounts, it is not given by nature that women appear masculine through weight training. Women in particular can tone their bodies tremendously through weight training and also train a beautiful buttocks and waist. And this brings us directly to the next myth:

“Women should only train legs and abdomen”

Plain and simple nonsense. We want to tone and define our whole body. Why should we only train our legs? As already mentioned, many think that if they train like men, they will get the same arm muscles as men. You should have put that out of your mind by now at the latest. If you train your arms as a woman, I can promise you that they will only look beautifully toned and defined and in no way fat and masculine. Also, feel free to go for the weights and do free weight exercises. Even with really heavy weights, you won’t get Popeye arms.

“Targeted abdominal training will give me a flatter stomach”

Anyone who has ever taken a closer look at fat loss in the human body knows that it is not possible to specifically lose fat. Whether or not your abs will show after a certain amount of time is simply a matter of body fat percentage and genetics. From a body fat percentage of around 15-16%, the abdominal muscles will be visible in most women. For men this value is around 9-15%. That’s why remember that you can’t lose weight specifically, you should only train specifically.

“Women should train differently than men”

This statement can be answered with a good conscience with the comment “humbug”. The only difference, as mentioned before, is in hormone levels. Men manage to build muscles faster and also achieve a visual difference faster. When it comes to weight gain and reps, women should not do anything differently. Nevertheless, it should be said that women have a different muscle fiber type than men and especially in the upper body training should make sure that especially the muscle fiber type 2 is stressed. This means the focus should be on strength, so definitely use heavy weights and train for strength.

“The more I train, the stronger the results”

Some may assume this, because at first glance it also sounds logical – however, it is the case that especially the training-free periods (regeneration phases) shape the muscle build-up. If we load the muscles too often and don’t give it any recovery time, then the muscle can only grow very poorly. The muscle does not grow during training but during regeneration. So, depending on the workout, plan enough rest for the particular muscle. If you do a full body workout then plan 2-3 days of rest. However, if you do an upper body/lower body split, the rest phases for the individual muscles usually arise automatically. More about this in a moment.

How do I train effectively as a beginner?

Write yourself a training plan – “Do it Yourself”

Especially as a beginner, you should create a precise plan of when you want to train each of the specific muscle groups. Depending on the time you have available, you can then split your training sessions. At the beginning I would recommend a two-part split with 4 training units each. So, what does that mean? It’s very simple. You train your upper body twice and your lower body twice. These are then divided into chest and triceps day and biceps and back day for the upper body. The legs, your lower body, you then train two times a week. The whole thing can then look like this: Monday chest and triceps day; Tuesday: legs; Wednesday: rest day; Thursday: biceps and back day; Friday: legs.

Ideally: training partners with experience

The ultimate would be, of course, if you already know someone who can show you the basic exercises and help you improve. Especially with the leg exercises “deadlift” or “squats” there are one or two things you should pay attention to. In addition, your partner can help you with heavy exercises such as bench press or squats and thus provide you with more security and strength. However, if you don’t have a partner who already has experience in weight training, then just get a buddy and you start together in the sport. This way you can motivate each other and give each other tips over time. But it should not fail because of a missing partner. So: if you haven’t found a gym partner, there are still numerous weight training youtubers who can teach you the best exercises.

Eat, eat and eat again

It’s so simple and yet many neglect it. If you train really hard and also have a full-time job, then it is essential that you feed your body enough food. Especially if you are looking to build muscle, your body needs enough energy to build muscle. You can train super hard, but if your energy needs are not met at the end of the day, you will not progress. But…big but… naturally balanced diet and a high protein intake. Eating pizza and burgers every day to get to your energy needs unfortunately doesn’t work my friends. That’s why increase your protein intake, go for more complex carbs and healthy fats. If all this doesn’t mean anything to you, you can read again our article about balanced diet and protein rich foods.

Execution and technique please before your ego

You see it too often, unfortunately. Many people use too much weight for dumbbell exercises and the execution often suffers. More weight does not always mean more muscle building. If the exercise is not performed correctly, then the muscle is often not completely addressed or, in the worst case, injuries occur. Typical case: When doing the bench press, many people use too much weight, so that they don’t go down enough with the bar and don’t use the muscle properly at all. Therefore, only increase the weight when you can easily do your repetitions with the old weight. Because nothing is more annoying than an unnecessary injury with which you can ultimately also no longer do sports. Learn to evaluate yourself and increase with smaller weights like 2.5 or 5 kg and not immediately by 10-15 kg.

Muscle failure – When to use more weight?

As I have already explained above, many simply take too much weight and thus can not perform the exercise properly. Now you are surely wondering how you can tell when you should increase your weight. And the answer is: until muscle failure. For example, if you can easily perform 15 reps with the weight without your muscle failing, then your weight is too low and you should increase your weight. However, now aim for fewer reps initially. For example, 8-10 reps. However, if you can’t even do 6 properly performed reps, then your weight is too high and you should reduce it. As you can see, with this principle you can easily adjust your own pace and be sure that your weight is now super adjusted.

Variations against the memory of the muscles

If you train the same thing over and over again, with the same exercises, the same equipment, the same sequences, then your body will eventually adapt to it. This is stupid, because then your targeted muscles are used less and this in turn leads to the fact that you get less and less return for the same effort. That’s why it’s worth changing things on a regular basis. Be it the training routine or the training equipment. For example, if you mainly use dumbbells, then try a rowing machine for the upper body or an ergometer or cross trainer for the legs.

Continuity is the key to success

Regular training is the key to success in weight training. Your muscles need regular training and new stimuli. If you think you can just lari fari and mess up your training, you are very wrong. Steady increases and permanent discipline are required of you. Many fail because they have lost motivation or don’t really follow through with the training plan, thinking to themselves on Tuesday: “Oh, I can skip the workout today” and then thinking on Thursday: “Oh, I didn’t go on Tuesday either, then I’d better go all the way again on Monday”. But once you get into a routine, weight training gives you so much more than a great body. You’ll become more confident, learn to evaluate yourself better, and see steady successes from week to week. On top of that, you’ll boost your health immensely with weight training. Are you already active in weight training or do you want to start now? Write your experiences or your motivation in the comments. We would be happy!