Strength Training: Getting Started

Strength Training: Getting Started

By: Bryan Milliard

Getting stronger, building more muscle, or improving the ability to perform daily activities more effectively and efficiently: these are a few reasons why someone would choose to start a strength-training program.  However, few people actually know how to go about getting started on a program.  An all too common startup story involves an ambitious amateur lifter looking up exercises on the internet, in a book, learning from a friend, etc., going to a local gym, attempting to perform those exercises with a weight that is usually too light or too heavy, and praying to the weight-lifting gods that their work pays off big and soon.  There are two crucial steps in the startup process that are often overlooked and end up causing a person’s strength training efforts to be cut short.

Step 1: Get a Personal Trainer

No, I don’t mean spend thousands of dollars a year on personal training.  Most exercisers often choose to go about it alone, especially in a difficult economy.  The first thing a person should do however, is find someone who is experienced and knowledgeable in the weight room.  One could spend money on a few exercise sessions with a personal trainer if they would like.  The money spent on those sessions will be far less expensive than the medical bills that are sure to come if a person is not lifting properly.  Personal trainers also help improve accountability, motivate a person to work hard and not take short cuts, and ultimately accelerate the results a person will see from training.

The key in this process is to learn proper lifting technique. I can’t remember a time when I entered a gym and didn’t see a person destroying their body by either performing a poor squat, squirming around on a bench during the bench press, or leaning back trying to get the last rep on a set of bicep curls.

Just like a teenager wouldn’t hop in a car and go out on the interstate in their first ever attempt to drive a car, a potential weightlifter shouldn’t go in a weight room alone and expect to know how to do things just because they ‘saw someone else do it, therefore they know what to do’.  A teenager first drives slowly around the block with an experienced driver in the passenger seat to make sure they are following proper driving protocol.  A first time weight lifter should also go to a gym and learn basic lifting techniques and form from a personal trainer or an experienced and knowledgeable lifter.  Knowing correct technique will not only allow a person to lift more and see results faster, but it will prevent serious injuries and chronic aches and pains from occurring.

Step 2: Start with the Basics

In a world where there are countless videos showing outrageous lifts with funky looking equipment, it’s important to stick to the basics of lifting.  A gym nowadays looks like a child’s play area.  I myself have often stood at a machine and tried to figure out what muscles it was supposed to work.  When getting started with a strength program, it’s crucial to start with a solid foundation.  The four basic movements that all amateur lifters should start with after learning proper technique are:  pick something up off of the ground (i.e. deadlift), lift something up over your head (i.e. shoulder press), push something (i.e. pushup), pull something (i.e. row).  These four movements will create a solid foundation to then eventually move on to more complicated lifts.  Just remember to KEEP IT SIMPLE.  Using the teenage driver analogy, learn to take left and right turns in the car before trying to Parallel Park.