My goal with this article is to give you the basics you have to know in order to design your own weightlifting program. By building your workout around the four tips I am going to give you now, you will be able to build a great workout yourself.
Tip 1: Stay In The 8-15 Rep Range
By staying in the 8-15 repetition range, you are going to maximize your muscle gains. You are not going to build so much strength or endurance but will instead focus on time under tension, which is going to build muscle.
You should choose a weight with which you can not do more than 15 repetitions on your first set and more than 8 repetitions on your last set. With other words stay in the rep range or else you are going to develop strength or endurance instead of muscle.
Tip 2: Short Rest Periods
Because the weight and intensity is low, you can rest for shorter periods of time and get away with it.
If you are training for strength you will have to rest for several minutes, because of the intensity, but if muscle is your primary goal - aim for short rest periods. In my opinion 60 seconds are ideal, so carry a watch and be precise about your rest intervals.
Tip 3: Speed
What I mean with speed is how fast you move the weight when performing a repetition. You should use 3 seconds on the concentric part of the movement, and spend 3 seconds on the eccentric part of the movement. If we take the bench press as an example, you would use 3 seconds up and 3 seconds down. By using this much time you will increase time under tension, which is a key factor if you want to build muscle through hypertrophy.
Tip 4: Frequency
In my opinion the ideal Frequency for training is hitting each body part two times each week. This can be done by working upper body on Monday, here you workout your whole upper body, but with emphasis on arms and chest. On Tuesday you will be working legs and then taking one rest day on Wednesday. On Thursday you work you upper body again, but this time you concentrate on your shoulders and back, before doing legs on Friday again. Your schedule should then look something like this:
Monday: Upper Body (with emphasis on arms and chest)
Tuesday: Legs
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: Upper Body (with emphasis on shoulders and back)
Friday: Legs
Saturday: Rest
Sunday: Rest
For those of you who want to get more info about frequency, just take a look at this video (Hodgetwins)
You can also watch this video by Elliott Hulse where he talks about what I have just discussed in this article.
By sticking to these four basics when designing your workout program you will have one of the best hypertrophy workouts out there. If you can not find the right program out there for you, or you are simply overwhelmed by all the information that is out there, look back at these four basics and design your own. Good Luck!
Sebastian
You should choose a weight with which you can not do more than 15 repetitions on your first set and more than 8 repetitions on your last set. With other words stay in the rep range or else you are going to develop strength or endurance instead of muscle.
Tip 2: Short Rest Periods
Because the weight and intensity is low, you can rest for shorter periods of time and get away with it.
If you are training for strength you will have to rest for several minutes, because of the intensity, but if muscle is your primary goal - aim for short rest periods. In my opinion 60 seconds are ideal, so carry a watch and be precise about your rest intervals.
Tip 3: Speed
What I mean with speed is how fast you move the weight when performing a repetition. You should use 3 seconds on the concentric part of the movement, and spend 3 seconds on the eccentric part of the movement. If we take the bench press as an example, you would use 3 seconds up and 3 seconds down. By using this much time you will increase time under tension, which is a key factor if you want to build muscle through hypertrophy.
Tip 4: Frequency
In my opinion the ideal Frequency for training is hitting each body part two times each week. This can be done by working upper body on Monday, here you workout your whole upper body, but with emphasis on arms and chest. On Tuesday you will be working legs and then taking one rest day on Wednesday. On Thursday you work you upper body again, but this time you concentrate on your shoulders and back, before doing legs on Friday again. Your schedule should then look something like this:
Monday: Upper Body (with emphasis on arms and chest)
Tuesday: Legs
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: Upper Body (with emphasis on shoulders and back)
Friday: Legs
Saturday: Rest
Sunday: Rest
For those of you who want to get more info about frequency, just take a look at this video (Hodgetwins)
You can also watch this video by Elliott Hulse where he talks about what I have just discussed in this article.
By sticking to these four basics when designing your workout program you will have one of the best hypertrophy workouts out there. If you can not find the right program out there for you, or you are simply overwhelmed by all the information that is out there, look back at these four basics and design your own. Good Luck!
Sebastian
