A B E G I N N E R ' S G U I D E T O... W E I G H T T R A I N I N G B Y M A R C K N I G H T. Noctua PERSONAL TRAINING

Transcription

1 A B E G I N N E R ' S G U I D E T O... W E I G H T T R A I N I N G B Y M A R C K N I G H T Noctua PERSONAL TRAINING

2 The Beginner's Guide to Weight Training Welcome to The Beginner s Guide to Weight Training. This ebook will talk you through some of the basic parts of Weight Training, helping you to achieve your goals. This ebook has been created with both men and women in mind, with the focus on strength and fat loss. What s included: How to train each muscle group How often you should train How to warm-up safely and effectively Different types of training and how they can benefit you and your goals Advice on nutrition Food suggestions Stretching and mobilisation Instagram: noctua_pt Facebook: Noctua Personal Training noctua.pt@gmail.com

3 Keywords (Pt 1.) Hypertrophy - the "increase in the volume of an organ or tissue". So, in our case, muscle growth caused by resistance training Anabolic and Catabolic - Your body will be in either of these two states. Being in an anabolic state can cause an increase in muscle mass, whereas being in a catabolic state may cause muscle loss Metabolic - the whole range of biochemical processes that occur within our body Conditioning - training your body in a way that it will adapt to the stress of physical activity Circuit - A series of different exercises that are performed back-to-back (with little or no rest) H.I.I.T. - High-intensity interval training. A type of interval training that alternates periods of short, intense exercise with less-intense exercise (a recovery period) DOMs - Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness is the pain and/or stiffness you will feel the day or two after training Meal Prepping - To stay on track, I suggest that you put aside a couple of times a week where you batch cook your meals for the next couple of days. Not only does this save you time, but it also helps you stay away from cheating.

4 Keywords (Pt 2.) Concentric contraction - This is the part of a movement where the muscle will shorten. During this, you will be exhaling. An example of this is when you pull yourself up during a pull-up. Eccentric contraction - This is the part of a movement where the muscle will lengthen. During this, you will be inhaling. An example of this is when you lower yourself down during a pull-up. Time Under Tension - This refers to the total amount of time a muscle is under resistance during a set. Volume - Volume is determined by the weight, sets and reps that you perform during one workout. Compound exercises - Multi-joint exercises that require more than one joint or muscle to perform e.g. The Bench Press Isolation exercises - single joint exercises that only require one joint or muscle to perform e.g. The Bicep Curl Tempo - the speed at which a rep is performed. For example, a 1 second contraction, and a 2-3 second negative.

5 TRAINING

6 Warming Up and Cooling Down Before you perform any sort of training, I recommend you carry out a warm-up. This can involve some sort of light aerobic activity for roughly 5-10 minutes, and you may perform this on your cardio machine of choice. This will prepare your body for the rest of the workout. After you have completed your workout, you should perform a cool down to keep the blood in your body circulating correctly and to bring your heart rate back down. Again, this will only take you 5-10 minutes. Focus on a light bit of cardio, followed by some stretching of the muscles that you have worked. Reps and Sets You will come across the terms Reps and Sets a lot in training plans.these are used to indicate how many times you will perform each exercise. A repetition (rep) is the number of times you lift and lower a weight in a row. Once you have lifted the weight for that amount of times and you finish, then that is the completion of what is known as a set. So, for example, if you are told to complete an exercise for 3 sets of 10 reps, you will lift the weight up 10 times, stop to have a rest (we will go into more detail on this in a minute), and then complete this again, two more times.

7 Training Splits There are many different types of training splits, with the following being the most common: Full Body - You will be training the whole of your body in one session! Because of this, the intensity will be higher than usual but there will be a lot less volume. Upper/Lower - One day you will be training the whole of your upper body (Chest, Back, Shoulders, Triceps and Biceps), and the other day you will be training your lower body (Quadriceps, Hamstrings, and Calves). Push/Pull/Legs - This is where you split each workout into three separate categories: push, pull and legs. To put it simple, the push workout will involve the chest, triceps and shoulders. The pull workout will involve the back and biceps. The legs workout will involve everything below the belt. Training Systems Training systems can be a great way of increasing the intensity during your workouts. There are many types, for example: Drop set - carrying out an exercise at a certain weight, then decreasing the weight and performing the same exercise again until failure (until the muscle fatigues and can no longer perform any more repetitions). Superset - performing two different exercises back-toback (no rest between them). Triple set - three exercises that are performed back-toback, all targeting the same muscle group. Giant set - four (or more) different exercises, performed back-to-back, that target the same muscle group.

8 Rest Periods Between each exercise that you perform (or what we call a set ), you will need to take a rest period. Depending on how intense the set was, or the type of training you are doing, you will rest anywhere between 30 seconds and 2 minutes. For example, if you perform a set of Bench Press that is roughly 15 repetitions, this will only require a rest period of about 60 seconds. If you were to perform the same exercise at a heavier weight, therefore only performing roughly 5 repetitions, you will need to increase your rest period to about 2 minutes. Finding the Correct Weight Using the correct weight is very important when it comes to, not only progressing, but also making sure you are safe. It is a lot better to start off with a weight that is comfortable than going straight for a weight you think you can lift. Take a couple of sessions to work yourself up to the correct weight so that your form is not hindered. When I first started weight training, I was very aware of how weak I was and went too heavy, too quickly. As hard as it can be, picking a weight that is probably too light for you is better than starting with a weight that is too heavy. An example of this would be trying to find the correct weight for an exercise that you will be performing 3 sets of 8-12 reps. If you think you can do this with great form with a 20kg dumbbell, start with a 15kg one. Really focus on the eccentric phase, adding an extra second or two to this part of the movement. Not only will this make sure you don t injure yourself, it can also help benefit towards muscle growth - see Time Under Tension in the Keywords section.

9 Recovery and Rest Days Recovery is just as important as your training days. If you feel the need to do something on your rest days, there are a few things that I recommend doing to help you recover that extra bit faster. Core work - Training your core/abs on their own for a session a week isn t going to affect your recovery a great deal. An ab circuit 1 day a week could benefit you and your workouts. Be sure to add some exercises that target the glutes as well (glute bridges, kettlebell swings etc.). Cardio - If your primary goal is to build muscle and strength, sometimes adding too much cardio can negatively affect this. However, with the right amount of calories and making sure you don t over-do it, cardio can POSITIVELY affect your goal. As cardio is a tool for improving your cardiovascular health, the benefits of it can carry over to weight training, especially when you re training in the higher rep range. Stretching/Yoga - As strength training can tighten up your muscles over time, adding some (extra) stretching to your routine can help keep the tightness at bay. Foam Rolling - Foam rolling has a number of different benefits when it comes to weight training: Aids in recovery Prevents injury Removes lactic acid Improves mobility and flexibility Increase in circulation Reduces DOMs

10 NUTRITION

11 Meal Timing and Frequency Meal timing can be very important when it comes to training. If you do not fuel your body with the right amount of food, your performance in the gym will suffer. It is recommended that you have a meal that consists of some form of carbohydrates and protein before (roughly 1.5 hours) and after (30-60 minutes) you train However, having said this, there is not yet any concrete evidence or research that suggests the total amount of meals you consume in the day will make a difference to your fat loss goals. It all comes down to making sure you get the right amount of calories, macronutrients, micronutrients and fibre in by the end of the day. On the other hand, if muscle gain is your number one goal, making sure you get a decent amount of protein in with each meal (3-6 portions per day) is important. This will help max out muscle protein synthesis throughout the day. Macronutrients Macronutrients are the three types of nutrients that provide the body with energy. They are called carbohydrates, proteins and fats. For your body to perform optimally, and for you to decrease or increase body fat or lean muscle, you need to know how many grams of each of these you need to be eating every day.

12 What I recommend to begin with: Fats - avocados, seeds (sesame, sunflower, pumpkin and flax), nuts (almonds, cashews, pistachios, walnuts, pecans, macadamias), fatty meat (salmon, beef), butter, coconut oil, extra virgin olive oil, nut butters (peanut, cashew, almond), dark chocolate (85% and over) Proteins - lean meat/fish (chicken, turkey, white fish, prawns), egg whites, tinned tuna, beef jerky, cottage cheese, Carbohydrates - fruit and vegetables, rice, oats, white potato, sweet potato, couscous, rice cakes, quinoa, You will also find that some foods fall under more than one macronutrient group. Some examples of these that I recommend are: Greek yoghurt - fat, protein and carbohydrate Milk - fat, protein and carbohydrate Nut butters (peanut, cashew, almond) - fat, protein and carbohydrate Quinoa - protein and carbohydrate Beans, pulses and peas - protein and carbohydrate Cheese - protein and fat Whole eggs - protein and fat Salmon and Mackerel - protein and fat

13 Micronutrients What are micronutrients? They are essential the vitamins and minerals of our diet. Making sure the majority of your diet includes nutrient-rich foods will make sure that you get your daily micronutrients. They will include fruits and vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds, as well as lean meats and fish. Dairy products are also nutrient-rich but if you focus on these then it will be very easy for you to go over your daily calories. A good way of making sure you get enough micronutrients in your diet is by adding a serving of vegetables to every one of your meals. Minimum suggested servings depending on amount of calories consumed per day: 1,000-2,000 calories - at least 180g of fruit and vegetables 2,000-3,000 calories - at least 240g of fruit and vegetables 3,000-4,000 calories - at least 320g of fruit and vegetables Fibre Fibre is a very important part of your diet. Not only does it keep you feeling satiated (full up) for longer, but it also lowers blood sugar levels and reduces the risk of colon cancer. As this is the case, we suggest that our female clients get at least 20g a day and our male clients get at least 25g.

14 Water Intake The amount of water that you need to drink every day increases if you are someone that does a lot of physical activity. Not only does water help keep you hydrated, it also helps keep you satiated (great if you are trying to lose weight), aids with digestion of foods, lubricates your joints, and also helps with recovery of strength training. Depending on your height, weight and activity level, we recommend that females drink between 2 and 3 litres of water a day, and males drink 3 to 4 litres. A great way of working out roughly how much water you should consume is by using the following equation: (Body weight in lbs x 0.6) divided by 34 = X litres ( X being the amount). Supplements Once you have everything else figured out, only then should you consider adding in certain supplements that will benefit your general health and performance. It is recommended that individuals who are trying to lose weight look into taking some supplements as they are at a greater risk of being deficient in certain micronutrients.

15 Vitamin D (Supports the health of the immune system, brain and nervous system) Fish Oil (Reduces inflammation, improves joint pain and heart health) Glutamine (Is said to have the ability of repairing your gut, as it can aid in maintaining the structural integrity of the bowels) Magnesium (Plays a key role in regulating blood pressure) Zinc (Can aid in controlling and regulating the immune system) Casein (Typically used before bed as it stays in the bloodstream longer, providing a slow and steady release of amino acids) Spirulina (There are many benefits to supplementing with spirulina. They include an improvement in cholesterol and triglyceride levels. A reduction of blood pressure levels. Improvement of blood sugar control. An improvement in allergy symptoms and insulin sensitivity, as well as a reduction in systemic inflammation) BCAAs (Consists of the three amino acids; L-Leucine, L- Isoleucine and L-Valine. Supplementing with BCAAs can have an anabolic effect as they can increase protein synthesis Leucine (stimulates skeletal muscle protein synthesis) Holy Basil (Can aid in the relief of respiratory disorders, as well as being having said to naturally lower anxiety and cortisol levels)