Getting strong doesn’t have to be difficult. With a couple of key moves and a little focus, you can get stronger and healthier.
Strength training will increase your muscles’ ability to do more work faster when you want to feel your body’s full potential. And stronger muscles can improve your performance not just in the gym but outside of it.
In short, strength training will make you more fit, boost your metabolism, and help you lose weight. And the best part? It’s easy to do in a gym near you.
Here are some basic steps to get stronger.
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The best 4
Squats, deadlifts, bench presses, and shoulder presses are the best strength-training exercises. Chinups and rows are great exercises too, but they shouldn’t be your focus. There should be assistance exercises to complement the bench press and shoulder press to have a well-balanced workout program. And if you have to choose just one, go with the classic chin up.
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Start with Barbells
Four exercises. One barbell. No gimmicks. That’s the simple formula for the most effective workouts at any age. This is our preferred strength-building routine for lifters of all levels and abilities—from elite competitors to newcomers who feel intimidated by a loaded squat cage. All you need is one barbell, just like you’ll find at any commercial gym and about 15 to 20 minutes for these four big lifts.
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Keep it Simple
All you need to count is reps during a set. Focusing on raising and lowering your weights in a controlled manner, pause for a one-second count at the top of the lift. This will force you to use more weight because it is impossible to be accurate with lighter weights, therefore forcing you to lift heavier weights.
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Maintain a record
Record all your sets, reps, and the fate of each workout. Setting goals and breaking records is simple with workout tracks.
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Don’t overstress your body.
Everybody is different. If you’re a professional athlete and your job depends on being strong, it might be best to stick with the three or four lifts per workout for the main lift. But if you just want to see improvements in your body, getting stronger, or find that lifting weights is a great stress reliever, stick with one or two lifts for the main lift and then specialty work or core at the end (abs exercises or some forearms or calves moves).
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Do reps of 5!
Of the many rep ranges that you can try, sets of 5 seem to offer the best of both worlds. You’ll be able to build muscle size and strength when doing three or four sets of five reps in your well-known exercises.
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Slowly, you can add more weight to your training.
The most important factor in improving strength is keeping your lifts under 80% of your one-rep max. This is a 20% reduction from the more common method most lifters use in which they add weight until they reach failure, then add more weight and do it again. This is okay until you’re lifting four or five times per week. If you’re lifting this often, you won’t be able to lift enough each session to progress anyway—a much better approach.
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Take to the hills.
If you want to be lean and healthy, you have to do cardio. But long-distance running or cycling causes your levels of catabolic hormones to rise, which breaks down your muscle tissues. If you want to get stronger and leaner, do cardio in short bursts. Go to a steep incline and sprint to the top, then walk back down. When you feel ready, sprint again. The first time you workout, only do half as many sprints as you think possible. In your next workout, make two more sprints than you did the first time.
Conclusion
Perhaps you’ve done some bodyweight exercises in the past. They’re easy to do, right? You might think so – but putting together a routine and sticking to it is a little more difficult.
If you aren’t sure of doing it yourself, you can get in touch with a fitness gym near you for guidance with strength training.