How many weight lifting routines have you read through, considered, and then dismissed in the last few months? When you pick up a magazine filled with professional bodybuilders sharing their favorite routines you read through the plan and then are overwhelmed. Their plans are intensive, long, and exhaustingThe problem with almost all weight lifting routines you find published is they are not designed to meet your goals. Before you can choose a routine you need to define your individual goals very carefully.
Take a careful look at your own body, think about how you want it to change in both appearance and strength, and then use this as the basis for designing your own routine.
Yes, that is right. You need to design your own weight lifting routines for the ultimate success. If you could ask any top bodybuilder or power athlete whose routine they are following they would get a puzzled look on their face and tell you “My own.” Even though they recognize the importance of knowing how Lee Haney did it, or how Arnold dominated the world, or how Zydrunas became the 2009 World’s Strongest Man, those routines do not fit their needs. They borrow from the routines. They learn from them, but they do not use them.
You must follow the same path of creating your own weight lifting routines for one very simple reason, your body is unique. You have strengths and weaknesses which are specific to your own body, and they must be trained properly to create the power and balance you want.
What you can learn from the pros is types of exercises needed to target specific body parts. You can learn the intensity required to excel. You can use their routines as a guide for determining the number of sets and reps you might wish to use.
There is one fact which is very consistent about almost every athletes, bodybuilder, or strength competitor’s routines. They all keep the basics in their routines, and hit them hard. The basic exercises like the bench press, barbell rows, squat, barbell curls, close grip bench, crunches, and others are seldom ignored by any athlete. These are the exercises which pack on the bulk, build the strength, and create the building blocks for all your other efforts.
Start building your own weight lifting routines by using only the basic exercises. Master the basics building your strength and mass. Then, and only then, you should start adding additional exercises to refine, cut, and sculpt your muscles in new ways.
For stubborn body parts do not add more exercises, add more intensity and weight. You may see a professional doing 6 different bicep exercises, you do not need it. Start with the simple curls, build mass and strength, and then you can slowly add more bicep exercises to your weight lifting routines to refine the muscle to your idea of perfection. Trust your instincts and the way your muscles feel during your workout. You will do great, better than with another person’s idea of the perfect plan.
The Most Effective Weight Lifting Routines
Have come from the bodybuilding community. But don’t think you have to be a bodybuilder in order to benefit from their findings. However, if you want your body to change in the easiest and most dramatic way you have to use their methods.
Yes, there are other ways to work out — Pilates, Tae Bo, Spinning, etc — but none will be as effective as the methods bodybuilders use. Why is this? Because bodybuilders are constantly striving for new and better ways to lose more fat and gain more muscle.
ABC’s of Designing Weight Lifting Routines
One
The weight lifting routines you design must be periodized. A correctly formulated weight lifting routine regularly and systematically changes the structure of your weight lifting routines.
Two
The types of changes your weight lifting routines can be based on are:
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Intensity
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Weight
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Repetitions
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Tempo
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Rest Period Between Sets
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Rest Period Between Workout Days
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Achieving Pre-Set Goals
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Your State of Recuperation
This list is not necessarily all-encompassing. However, they are some of the most important factors to consider when putting together your weight lifting routines.
Understand also that there are thousands of combinations of the above changes you can put together when designing your weight lifting routines.
Three
You must have a way to measure the progress you’re achieving with your weight lifting routines. For this reason a training log is a must have.
