Training principles for best success in strength training

Nature has arranged it that way. As a result, our bodies are subject to specific rules we should obey. This is especially true for those who do strength training regularly. Without adhering to the most crucial training principles, you not only waste a lot of time but may also damage your health.

For beginners and fitness professionals

If you are starting with strength training, I have excellent news: your growth potential is the greatest. If you follow the training principles below, you can expect a continuous feeling of success. This also applies to those who have been training for a long time and are stagnating. A new focus can work wonders here. So here are the most essential training principles for beginners and fitness professionals:

Concentrate on the essential things

What else, some might think. But here’s the problem. Many fitness enthusiasts do not do this, as studies show again and again. Many different factors influence each other during training. If you do everything right, the desired adaptation symptoms will occur. Due to the many new findings of sports science in recent decades, it is now possible to clearly structure training. Here is a list of things that can help very well.

• Regularity. Of all training principles, the most critical point. Without regular training, you cannot see any success. There is no point in training harder to catch up on missed training days.

• Volume, intensity, and frequency. Your training program must correspond to your individual abilities. Performance diagnostic tests, such as determining the one-repetition maximum, can help you do this. Regarding intensity and frequency, it depends on your goals. For example, if you train more for health reasons, you will want to acquire a more athletic figure or build muscle mass. Here is how you should proceed in each case.

• Progression. You could also say progress. If you train regularly and according to your individual abilities, it comes to performance improvements. Of course, you must consider this when you do your workout and adjust the weights, the number of repetitions, break times, and training programs.

• Selection of exercises. Also, here it depends on your goals. The ideal is a total body workout that uses many muscles and muscle groups. But if you attach importance to a great biceps or a strong core, you can also set priorities. However, ensure not to train too one-sidedly. Otherwise, muscular imbalances will quickly occur. If you do strength training to improve in a specific sport, you should train specifically in that sport. What this is all about can be found here.

• Regeneration. The muscle only grows during the breaks. This is not an empty phrase but one of the most essential training principles in strength training. After sufficiently intensive strength training, it can take 48 hours or more before you should set the next stimulus for the previously trained muscles. You can find everything about the vital topic of taking breaks during strength training here.

• Movement speed. The term “time under tension” is often used in strength training. The speed of movement naturally influences the muscle and the success of the training. One can say that beginners should start at a moderate speed. Advanced users can also vary the pace. Provided that they have really mastered the respective exercises correctly. This is especially true for fast movements to improve your speed.

The correct execution during the exercises

Unfortunately not just a phrase but severe advice. Whether with your body weight, free weights, or on machines: you must pay attention to the correct execution of your movements. Otherwise, you can harm yourself too quickly. Beginners should first train under professional supervision. And even those who work with heavyweights should have someone who has a trained eye on them.

The right choice of exercises

If you are not a bodybuilder or place particular emphasis on a lot of muscle mass, you should do exercises that use large and multiple muscle groups. And these exercises should vary again and again. For example, you can do squats with correct movement on an unstable surface. Or you work unilaterally, or you do alternative exercises. For example, you can change the grip width when doing chest press or working in different positions. Here is the matching article.

Special tip: 5 x 5 repetitions

When it comes to the sets and repetition numbers, it is usually 3 x 8 to 12 when it comes to hypertrophy and 1 to 5 repetitions for more power. A still entirely new trend from the USA advises 5 x 5 repetitions. There are still no studies but first success reports. Especially with higher weights, the 5 x 5 rule probably makes sense. Because you get the appropriate number of repetitions, and maybe you can even work with higher weights. The pauses between the sets should then last 30 to 60 seconds.

Muscle growth or increase in strength?

This is a question that many who do strength training ask themselves. But basically, the difference is that big. As a beginner, you will first of all gain strength. This has to do with the nervous system, which learns movement and how to use the necessary muscles. Then, once you have mastered the exercise, it’s about increasing strength.

• If your primary goal is to build mass, the only way to do this is to increase the volume and intensity of your training.

• With the increase in strength, you can put even more weight on your muscles, create even more tension, and make them even more extensive.

• If you do professional strength training, you also have to work on the so-called neuronal abilities to become better. In other words, you always have to set new and complicated stimuli.

The three keys to success

In addition to regular training and a progressive increase in load, three other keys are essential for the success of your efforts:

• A good and balanced diet with an increase in protein. What you have to pay attention to is written here.

• Good and sufficient sleep. Here is the necessary information.

• Little stress. A stressed body is less powerful and much more prone to injury.