The Introductory Guide to Weight Training

Weight-training, more formally known as resistance training, is a form of exercise used to develop muscular strength and/or endurance. Essentially, progressive resistance training involves using the muscles to contract against a weight so that the targeted muscles can become stronger, more efficient and resist fatigue.

Muscle strength and endurance are two central components of fitness. They measure your ability to, respectively, exert a maximal force or sustain a contraction. Training your muscle strength and endurance affect your body`s posture and are major influences in your body weight and overall physique.

The Benefits of Weight-Training

  • Strengthen connective tissue
  • Develop muscular endurance, strength, and/or muscle size (hypertrophy)
  • Increase lean muscle mass to body fat ratio
  • Improve body posture and core stability
  • Improve agility, power and speed of muscle contractions
  • Physical results provide a source of achievement and self-confidence
  • Develop kinesthetic sense (better awareness of surroundings and motor control)

Terminology

Freeweights

Muscular Strength:This is represented by the maximal force that a single muscle contraction can produce.

Muscular Endurance:Eitherthe ability of a muscle to sustain a contraction or perform repeated contractions. Essentially, muscular endurance demonstrates your muscle`s resistance to fatigue.

Power:A mixture of speed and strength, this is the muscle`s capacity to produce an explosive force, as seen at the start of a sprint or in power lighting.

Muscle Tone:This term is often interchanged with buzz words such as `ripped` to describe visible muscle definition. For the scientifically minded, muscle tone is a reflection of the residual tension in muscle fibers.

Hypertrophy:Hypertrophy is a growth in muscle mass or muscle fiber size (cross-sectional area).

Atrophy:This is the opposite of hypertrophy and is a decrease in muscle fiber size. Atrophy is often the result of a sedentary lifestyle and inactive muscle use.

Progressive Resistance Exercise (P.R.E): A reference to the theory of progressive overload, P.R.E requires a gradual increase in exercise intensity over time in order to continue physical gains.

Repetition: A full execution of an exercise movement (ex. curling a dumbbell all the way up and gently lowering it to its start position as one complete repetition).

Set:A series of repetitions as part of a routine (ex. 12 dumbbell curl repetitions could be 1 complete set for a person and would be recorded as '1 set x 12 repetitions')

Repetition Maximum: The max weight that can be used to perform a specified number of repetitions. For instance, 1 RM would be the max weight that can be curled only once (ex. 40 lbs), while 10 RM would be the max weight that can be lifted ten times (ex. 25 lbs).

Rest Interval

Rest intervals are the momentary pauses allotted between each set to allow muscle recovery and preparation for the next exercise set. The duration would vary according to the training intensity and desired training effect (ex. endurance, strength, and hypertrophy).