7 Guidelines to create a Strength Training Routine

People differ in many ways and that is why; building a strength routine could be tricky. If you would ask more than one trainer then you should not expect the same recommendation for fitness training. Most of them got their own belief when it comes to strength training. And since you know more of your body better than anyone, it would be better if you would build your own strength training routines, but you need some guidelines in doing that. Below are seven guideline when creating a strength training routine.

1. Our body is not a machine. We can’t expect it to function properly if we aren’t giving it enough time to recuperate. Lifting on consecutive days could lead to a lot of problems like over training, muscle fatigue, and injury. We should allow 24 to 36 hours for our body to recover from its previous training routine.
2. There is no such thing as spot reduce. It means that crunches won’t help us to lose those flab in the belly if we aren’t going to do some diet. To reduce the fat around the stomach, we need reduce the fat overall. This can only be achieved through eating properly, regular exercise and enough rest.
3. We can spot tone. If we want our leg muscles to grow then we should concentrate on that part of the body, also known as hypertrophy. We should focus on one group of muscle to grow a particular part of the muscle. Researches claim that spot toning is better done in machines than free weights.
4. We must be consistent with our training, so we can see some results. We gain weight through the years, so we can’t expect to lose it in just a little time. The best way to be consistent with strength training program is through lifestyle change.
5. We should change our training every 4 – 6 weeks, so we won’t be bored. This prevent our body from hitting a plateau (no more improvements). We can do this by changing the method of exercise, or adding intensity level. We need to challenge our body, so things would be interesting for us.
6. We should know our fitness goal and we should build our training according to that. Each goal is different and therefore requires specific approach for optimal results. Not knowing our fitness goal won’t help us to achieve the result we want.
7. We should work all the major muscle groups of the body at least 1 – 3 times within a week. Leaving out one muscle group creates an imbalance and this usually seen in that particular part of the body that is not exercise. That part of the body would look funny since it is not well develop like the other parts.