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How to choose your first training program
Pick a program that trains every muscle at least twice a week on days you can make. Full body and splits gave about the same results when weekly sets matched.
by Gymbers
Fitness tips, workout guides, and training insights.
Pick a program that trains every muscle at least twice a week on days you can make. Full body and splits gave about the same results when weekly sets matched.
Do a few lighter sets of your first lift, climbing toward your working weight. Cardio is optional. Keep stretches short: long holds can cost strength.
Learn each lift with a weight you can control, end the set before your form changes, and use video to check yourself. Lifting is low-risk for healthy adults.
Ask a little more of your muscles over time. Add reps until you hit the top of a rep range, then add a little weight. Here's what the trials show.
You don't need to train to failure. End most sets about 2–3 reps short. What RIR means, what the studies show, and how to judge it better.
For muscle, heavy and light weights both work if the sets are hard. For a bigger max, lift heavier. What the studies show, and how to pick your reps.
More hard sets per muscle each week build more muscle, with smaller gains from each extra set. Beginners grow on about 4. Ten or more is linked to more growth.
For muscle growth, once a week or more gave about the same results when weekly sets matched. For strength, evidence is mixed; a second session may help most.
For most beginners, 1 to 2 minutes between sets is enough. Muscle grew at every rest length studied. For strength, the studies disagree.
Use the full range you can control. Half reps in the stretched part of a lift also count. Mix compound and isolation exercises, and keep them for weeks.
Yes. Adding cardio to the same lifting program built about the same muscle in the studies. The small cost showed up in explosive power.
Most muscle studies run for a few months. In about 10 weeks, young men added about 1.5 kg of lean mass on average.