Strength Training Guidelines

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Strength Training Guidelines

If your training goal is general fitness and health, the results you get if you do both strength and fitness training are better than if you train only for strength or only for fitness.

You should train all your muscles, as well as your circulatory systems, to achieve the most benefits to your health and general well-being.

Remember, a chain is only as strong as it's weakest link. It doesn't help to have strong muscles but your heart gives out on you, and it doesn't help to have a strong heart but a weak back.

Be regular in your Training.

To be successful in our training we have to train regularly, and although there are many other factors that are also important, regularity is a pre-requisite.

Without regularity in training their is no chance of achieving any worthwhile success.

Enjoy your Training.

Training is hard work, and to be able to train regularly, you must enjoy it, at least to some extent. Training just because you know you should, because it is good for your health, because you want to get fit, is not really enough motivation in the long run. Something more is required, some drive or ambition. But even with drive and ambition, if you don't enjoy it, you will find it difficult to keep going. If you dislike doing something, you won't do it unless you have to, and if you have to do it, it requires some use of your willpower, and you more or less force yourself to do it. On the other hand, if you enjoy doing something it gets done easily, and the only time force and willpower may be required is to stop doing it.

If you enjoy training, you will train!

To enjoy your training, you need to get your mind interested and motivated, and you need to keep it that way. This is accomplished by setting yourself interim and long term goals and then achieving positive results in the pursuit of them.

Achieve positive results.

To achieve positive results, you have to train correctly, you have to train regularly, and you have to train hard enough.

Train correctly.

To train correctly you either have to acquire enough knowledge of your sport, or you must get a personal trainer or coach to train you. If you opt for the latter you presumably would, over a period of time, build up a base of knowledge. If you decide to go it alone, you will have to put in the effort and build up your knowledge by reading books and articles, talking (and listening) to other trainers, and so on. You don't have to become an expert, but a good basic knowledge is important. You can also use the programs generated by Always Gaining Software to make sure that you train progressively, get results, and achieve your goals.

Use the best methods and techniques applicable to the type of training you do.

Train hard enough.

I often come across articles in magazines stating that 10, 15 or 20 minutes of light training two or three times a week is all you need. Sure it helps. Any training is better than no training. If you have just started training, a light 10 or 20 minute run may be hard enough, but as soon as you have developed the leg strength and endurance necessary for it, development stops.

To keep on developing and building, gradual progression in the intensity and/or volume of your training is required.

Successful Training.

Successful training can be a worthwhile and rewarding experience. As you progress on the road to your goals and start feeling and looking fitter and stronger, a feeling of achievement, well-being and quiet satisfaction develops.