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Editor’s Note:  If you’re new to weight lifting, this is a must-read article. Jon provides a detailed and complete weight lifting routine to get you on your way to burning fat and building muscle!

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One of the most common questions I receive is, Jon, where do I begin when it comes to working out with weights? Thats a great question and believe it or not, the answer is really pretty simple. In fact, the entire concept of weight training can be made into utter simplicity for the beginner. From there, and in combination with the mental and dietary techniques covered in Fit Over 40, youll be well on your way to building shapely muscle at any age. First, why muscle and why weight training? Well, thats a newsletter unto itself, but the short story goes as follows. Muscle burns calories many more calories than body fat, and dynamically at that (meaning muscle burns even more calories when active than passive, and you cannot activate fat.)

Second, muscle is the only thing responsible for that curvy, toned look we all want no, really! A lot of people say, But Jon, I dont want to look like a bodybuilder. Well, you have nothing to worry about. We bodybuilders have to go through so much to gain our muscle. The odds of you walking into a gym waking up the next day looking like a buff bodybuilder are – well, theyre zero. Third, what youre after is the release of body fat and the increase of muscle mass. Again, really! Weight, unless youre 80 or more pounds overweight, should not be your focus. Fat should. You want to discard body fat that is your nemesis. You certainly do not want to lose muscle mass. Thats the only thing keeping your body metabolically super-charged and curvaceous.

In fact, you want to increase the muscle (even slightly) so you can eat more food. Thats right muscle requires calories to sustain itself. Thats why a bodybuilder who weighs, say, 190 pounds (male) can eat much more than a typical 190-pounder and not gain fat. The muscle requires more calories, the activity he engages in requires more calories, and theres a lot less fat on his body to produce and evoke nasty hormonal changes in the body that increase fat storage even further. If you were to discard 10 pounds of body fat and gain 10 pounds of muscle, you would look like a different person and trust me, youd be pleased with that different person! Still, you would weigh exactly the same. The only time physical weight is a concern is when there are medical issues involved that demand a physical drop in total mass.

Sometimes blood pressure, when extreme, is a valid reason not to train for muscle mass, at least until it is managed. Even that is rare. I trained for years with high blood pressure. Eventually my weight leveled out (of course I decreased my overall mass, as will most of you) and my blood pressure dropped drastically despite the increase in muscle. Heres a great weight lifting routine for a beginner, along with suggestions on how to learn the movements.

Weeks 1-2: Ease In

Theres no need to dive into a workout program only to burn yourself out. Give your mind and your body a break, but do so in the gym, not on the couch. First, get your doctors approval to begin weight training this is vital. You may have an underlying medical disorder that would put you at risk for any exercise or dietary change. Be sure to rule that out. The odds are against it, and most doctors will tell you that exercise is always a step in the right direction, but better safe than sorry. Begin your training without weights at all, or with weight so light you feel like youre not even working hard. Heres the catch: train slowly, deliberately, and with intense focus on the muscles. Seek to idealize your form (more on that in a moment.) Then, stretch a lot. Stretch the muscles being worked and get them ready for the coming weeks. You will use the workout given below for weeks 1-2, merely with lighter weights. Second, hire a trainer for just a few sessions. Most of you can even find a trainer to donate his or her time to your cause if you just ask. All you need is a few sessions about three or so to learn the movements. Take a video camera if you can so you can review and practice the movements. With just a bit of practice, theyll become second nature. The focus must be on the muscle involved not on lifting the weight. Youre not a weight lifter youre a bodybuilder or body sculptor! Big difference. The goal is to stimulate the muscle, not to lift the weight. You can do this with far less weight than you think. Finally, write down everything you do. Make this a life-long exploration into what youre capable of. The only way to know and excel is to journal your progress.

Weeks 3-4: Step It Up

Now its time to create a workout plan and use slightly heavier weights. You should begin to feel each workout ending with a bit of fatigue in the muscle, and soreness in the area trained for about 1-3 days afterwards. Thats your goal not pain, but soreness. Its a good sore, trust me. Heres an ideal beginners workout. In fact, I can say with 100% certainty that this workout would do it for most intermediate trainers, as almost everyone is overtrained rather than undertrained. Again, you must have your thinking, goals and nutrition plan set. This is where Fit Over 40 can really be a lifesaver figuratively and literally.

I had one client write me and say that just one suggestion from Fit Over 40 saved his life. He discovered a severely blocked artery thanks to a few tests I recommend, and the nutrition plan I personally follow allowed him to recover from the surgery and eventually progress well past his previous level of fitness. That story made my year!

Beginners Workout

Monday, or Day One:

Chest and Back

Begin with a 10-minute warmup on a cardio device just enough to get the blood flowing. Follow this by light stretching of the entire body.

Incline Dumbbell Presses, Palms In This is performed with your palms facing your head rather than turned out. This technique will go a long way to preventing rotator cuff (shoulder) injuries, especially in older trainees. I use it exclusively. Begin with the weights overhead, and lower slowly and controlled (again, please consult with a trainer for form and instructions, or look into a book called Keys To The Inner Universe by Bill Pearl). Lower the weight in about 4 seconds, and push it back up in 2. Start with a set of 12 repetitions, with the 12th rep being a little challenging. This is your warm-up. Do another set of 12 reps, but this time increase the weight a bit and make that last rep pretty hard. Do only ONE more set with more weight, and this time get 8 reps, with the 8th rep being very challenging, but not requiring assistance. Write the poundage down, then simply increase it the following week, or increase the number of reps. If you hit 15 reps for the first work set and 10 for the second, increase the weight for sure.

Seated Cable Rows Using a cable row, common in every gym, repeat the same set and rep structure as above. Again, you are only performing two hard sets of one exercise per body part. This is all you need! Keep your back straight, not bent, when doing cable rows. Picture something pulling your elbows backwards in your head as you contract and squeeze the back muscles. Really put your mind into it. Conclude your workout with 30-40 minutes of cardio. Work your way up to this, but eventually perform 40 minutes at 65-75% of your maximum heart rate, which is about 220 minus your age x .65 or .75. So, if youre 50, this would be 220-50 = 170 x .75 (if you use 75%) for a target heart rate of about 125-130 (no need to be super-specific here). This will really crank the fat-burning!Total Workout Time: Under 1 Hour

Wednesday, or Day Two:

Legs And Abs Begin with a 10-minute warmup on a cardio device just enough to get the blood flowing. Follow this by light stretching of the entire body.

Leg Presses While I recommend squats to anyone who will listen, for a beginner leg presses are usually the best bet. Leave squats for your third or fourth month. Using a leg press machine, you will do exactly the same as Monday rep and set-wise: a warm-up, followed by a hard set of 12 reps and a hard set of 8 reps. The key to the exercise again is to put your mind in your legs, not on lifting the weight.

Feel the muscle contracting. Make sure your knees come down to your chest and that you do not lock out at the top of the movement. Keep constant tension on the legs this makes a huge difference. Remember, two hard work sets thats it.

Leg Curls A leg curl machine can be found in any gym. Simply follow the same set/rep pattern, and focus on keeping your hips flat on the bench.

Swiss Ball Crunches You will do two sets of 10 reps on this or as many reps as you can do while not exceeding 10. If you can do more than 10 reps, youre not concentrating enough on your abs. Lying on a swiss ball (one of those big rubber balls you see in the gym) with your back curved over the ball, place your feet underneath a stable object.

An old trick is to use a heavy dumbbell or roll the ball over to something that has a gap to put your feet under. This keeps you stable on the ball. Then, raise up using your abs to pull not your legs. Think of squeezing your chest into your legs like an accordion that helps me when doing this exercise. Come up to about a normal sitting position and blow all your air out. Squeeze the muscles, then return back down very controlled. I cannot emphasize enough how much Clark Bartrams, Chisel Your Abs Success System, could help you here, as ab work needs to be done precisely for results and for safety. Conclude your workout with 30-40 minutes of cardio as on day 1.Total Workout Time: Under 1 Hour

Friday, or Day Three:

Shoulders And Arms Begin with a 10-minute warmup on a cardio device just enough to get the blood flowing. Follow this by light stretching of the entire body.

Machine Military Press Find a military press machine. Again, these are common in the gym. Well do something a bit different here well be doing only one work set after a few warm-ups, but it will be composed of several sets in one. These are called drop sets. This is usually an advanced technique, but well be taking it a bit easy. You will not be training to the point of failure just shy of it.

Start with a weight you can do 12 reps with fairly easily. Rest 10 seconds. Drop the weight down and get another set of 10-12. This will start to burn a bit, but thats okay. Rest another 10 seconds, and drop the weight one more time (usually a drop is about 10-20 pounds.) Just get as many reps as you can on the last set. Thats it youre done with shoulders in under 2 minutes.

Bicep Curls With Dumbbells Perform only two working sets of 10 reps each. Start with the dumbbells as your side and curl both weights upward at the same time. The key is to focus on the bicep squeezing, not on heaving the weight up.

Tricep Pushdowns Same method as biceps; just two hard sets of 10 reps. Be sure you start the pushdown at chest level, really flex the back of the arms (triceps) at the bottom, and return slowly (again, all movements are performed in a 4 second down, 2 second up tempo) to chest-level. Do not allow the pulley to go past your chest or your triceps will be disengaged. Conclude your workout with 30-40 minutes of cardio as on day 1.Total Workout Time: Under 1 Hour There you go a rather detailed and complete beginners workout. Log your progress and make sure you increase weight and reps, and youll be well on your way when you combine this with proper nutrition and realistic goals. For added fat-burning, walk for 45 minutes on your off-days. This ends the myth of not enough time as well your total workout time in the week is under six hours, and that includes walking. If you opt not to walk (not preferred), your time is under three hours. You simply cannot beat that!

If you dont have a copy of Fit Over 40 yet, get yours today. In less than a few minutes youll have the number 2 fitness e-book of all time right on your desktop 304 pages of inspiration, motivation and fitness strategy.

Fit Over 40 isnt just for people over 40 its an invaluable training and motivational e-book that can save you years, even decades of frustration when it comes to learning what works for your body and seeing the results you want. One of the reasons I wrote the book was to save others the years of trial and error I went through as I went from obese to fit. With over 50 role models profiled, Fit Over 40 will stand the test of time for anyone interested in health, strength, fat loss, muscle, and motivation at any age.

Jon Benson

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Editor’s Note: This is part one of a five-part series brought to us by Chad Tackett from Global Health and Fitness. In this article he discusses the important of warming up, cooling down, and stretching as a part of your strength training routine.  

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Almost any form of exercise will stimulate some degree of strength and muscle development. Unfortunately, misconceptions, myths, and misunderstandings plague the fitness industry, especially in regard to strength training. There is a huge attrition rate among those starting a strength training program primarily because most people are not taught the principles essential for a safe and effective program. This article is part one of a five part series discussing the very important principles and guidelines of a safe and effective strength training program. Part one will explain the proper methods of warming-up, stretching, and cooling-down when strength training. Part two will discuss the importance of forcing blood to your muscles and proper lifting speed. The following exercise guidelines are extremely important for your safety and the effectiveness of your strength training program.Warming Up, Cooling Down and Stretching Warming-up promotes safety, prevents injury, and increases performance. You should warm up two ways with the purpose of creating blood flow throughout the body and thus preparing your muscles for the workout. First, before beginning your weightlifting session, do some form of cardiovascular exercise at a light, comfortable intensity for about five to ten minutes. Walking or riding a bicycle works well. When you’ve completed your warm-up, be sure to stretch the primary muscles you’ve been using. For example, if you warmed-up on the bicycle, stretch your quadriceps, hamstrings, calves, and hips. Then, for the first exercise of each muscle group, do a warm-up set with very light weight for 12-20 repetitions. For example, if your first chest exercise is the bench press, do a warm-up set of very light weight and then continue with your selected chest routine. When you have completed your chest workout and are ready to train the next muscle group, once again do a warm-up set; then continue training that muscle group, and so on.

Editor’s Note: It is very important that you lift light weights during the warm-up set as Chad recommends. A common mistake that many guys make is they use too much weight during the warm-up set. The result is they get tired too fast and don’t have the energy necessary to push their muscles during the remaining sets. You can only build muscle by pushing your muscles past the point they’re used to lifting. If you don’t have the energy to add sufficient weight to push your muscles, then you won’t see any gains in muscle. Stretching provides better physical performance, prevents debilitating injuries, and makes you look and feel better by improving your posture. This is because when muscles are stretched, their elasticity improves, increasing your range of motion and improving the quality of your movements. Never stretch a cold muscle–always make sure your muscles are warm before stretching. When a muscle is properly warmed-up it is better able to become elastic and relaxes more easily; warming up also circulates blood to nearby tissues and helps remove unwanted waste products from your system. In addition to stretching the muscles involved in the cardiovascular exercise, you should spend time stretching each specific muscle you have trained in your weightlifting program. This won’t take much more time and the benefits are many. You have to rest between your strength training sets anyway, so you might as well use this time more productively–for stretching. Think about it: what better time to stretch than right after you have targeted blood to a specific muscle? After you have properly warmed up each muscle group, stretch between sets. Each set requires a resting period–usually between 30 seconds and three minutes (depending on what you are trying to achieve). Use your resting time wisely and stretch the specific muscle being trained. Stretch only after the muscle has been properly warmed-up and about once every two to three sets per muscle group. By the time you have finished training each muscle of the body, you will have incorporated stretching into your program, and at the best possible time to stretch–right after exercise, when the muscle is warm. This stretching between exercises is a valuable technique and will make a tremendous difference in your health. The cool-down after strength training is also crucial. Whenever a vigorous exercise session is stopped abruptly, blood tends to accumulate in the lower body. With reduced blood return, cardiac output decreases and light-headedness may occur. Because muscle movement helps squeeze blood back to the heart, it is important to continue some muscle activity after the last exercise is completed. Easy cycling, walking, or any other cardiovascular exercise at low intensity is an appropriate cool-down activity, as is any other form of cardiovascular exercise. Cool down for about 5-10 minutes at light intensity, similar to your warm-up.

Remember to always include a warm-up, stretching, and a cool-down for maximum effectiveness and to prevent injury. Good luck, and enjoy all the wonderful benefits of strength training. Read Part Two, where I discuss the importance of forcing blood to your muscles, common mistakes that hinder the process, and proper lifting speed.

Read other articles by the Global Health and Fitness team

About Global Health and Fitness

Global Health and Fitness (GHF) is an online fitness resource that provides an entire team of professional trainers and nutritionists to their clients. To learn more about them and how they can help you achieve your weight loss and fitness goals, read our review of Global Health and Fitness.

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• Strength Training Principles and Guidelines: Part Five
• Strength Training Principles and Guidelines: Part Four

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Editor’s Note:  In Part II of this interview, Lyle talks about a variety of dieting issues including the difficulty of losing fat and gaining muscle at the same time. He also addresses supplements and much more! Be sure to check out Part I of the interview.

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In part II of this rare interview, controversial diet and exercise guru Lyle McDonald will share with you the knowledge he’s built up after years of long hours and late nights spent reviewing the latest scientific research on diet and exercise. Nothing in the interview has been removed or watered down. Instead, what you get is Lyle McDonald at his uncensored best, guiding you through the minefield of myths and confusion about weight loss and dieting.

Q. Most of the questions I get are from people who want to gain muscle and lose fat at the same time. Can you explain why it’s so difficult to lose fat and gain muscle simultaneously, if there are any exceptions to the rule, and what you recommend instead?

A. Well, it’s actually quite easy to gain muscle while losing fat if you are either – a fat beginner – coming back from a layoff and regaining lost muscle – willing to take the right drugs

Unfortunately, if you’re not in that group it tends to be very difficult to do both to any significant degree at once, claims in the muscle magazines not withstanding. The fundamental issue is that the requirements for optimal muscle growth (in terms of hormones, nutrient intake, and cellular metabolism) are diametrically opposed to what’s optimal for fat loss. Simplistically, muscle growth requires a caloric and nutrient surplus and a cellular metabolism oriented towards tissue building; fat loss requires at least a caloric deficit, a certain hormonal profile, and a cellular metabolism oriented towards breakdown. And, outside of one of the three situations mentioned above, you can’t do both. So the typical suggestion is to either focus on one or the other and alternate cycles. In general, I think this is good advice. Spend 6-8 weeks in a slight caloric surplus while training your brains out and gain some amount of muscle and fat. Now diet for 6-8 weeks and take the fat off while keeping the muscle. Do this in an alternating fashion over a year or two and you end up bigger and leaner. Of course, not everybody is happy with that, and nobody likes gaining fat. So what’s the solution? One of them is my Ultimate Diet 2.0. An update of the original Ultimate Diet by Dan Duchaine and Michael Zumpano over 20 years ago, it couples a short (3.5-4 day) diet phase with a short anabolic phase. By doing a lot of interesting things with diet and training, it allows you to lose fat during the diet phase and put those calories back into muscle during the overfeeding phase. I’ve had people use it to consistently lose 1-1.5 pounds of fat with zero muscle loss as well as to ‘clean bulk,’ which means gaining muscle gradually with almost no fat gain. It’s not the easiest system in the world, mind you, but it does work.

Q. Your UD 2.0 book sounds very interesting. Can you give us a basic outline of what the program contains?

A. As I mentioned above, it couples a short diet phase, where the goal is maximal fat loss, with an anabolic phase, where the goal is muscle building. So in the fat loss phase, you’re on low-calories and low-carbohydrate along with depletion workouts to deplete glycogen. This is all set up to maximize fat loss in terms of mobilization and burning. Then, around day 4, you start to make the shift back into anabolism. A small carbohydrate-based meal precedes a tension workout (sets of 6-8 repetitions) which leads you into carbohydrate-loading. On Saturday, fully carbed up and anabolic, you do a power workout (sets of 3-5 repetitions) to impose a growth stimulus on your primed muscles. You recover Saturday and Sunday and repeat it. Of course, there are many more details about what and how much to eat and the specifics of how to exercise than that but that’s an outline of it. Readers will also learn all about fat loss, muscle growth and calorie partitioning (what determines where the calories go or come from when you overeat or diet) even if they don’t actually use the system.

Q. Although you’re probably best known in the industry for your diet books, you also have a massive amount of knowledge and experience in other areas, particularly strength training. One subject I think readers might be interested in is the hormonal response to exercise. Many people are told to keep the length of their workouts down to 45 minutes or less on the basis that testosterone levels drop and cortisol levels rise after this point. Is this good advice or not?

A. This is going to be another one of those yes and no types of answers. On the one hand, the idea that testosterone drops after 45 minutes is one of those ideas that falls into the “If you repeat something enough times, it will become accepted dogma.” The idea supposedly came from Bulgarian Olympic lifting coach Ivan Abadjaev who claimed that androgen levels dropped after 30-40 minutes and who pioneered the idea of keeping his athletes in the gym all damn day by having them train for 30 minutes, rest 30 minutes, train again, etc. As time has passed, it’s come out that the main impetus behind his training schedule had more to do with controlling his athletes, simply exhausting them every day to keep them from partying and staying up late. Just keep them in the gym for 12 hours per day by breaking training up into lots of tiny segments (this probably also allowed them to train intensely at each session) and they go home and sleep when training is over. Bulgaria, under new coaching has moved to a much more traditional system of training with 2-hour workouts as the norm. As well, what I’ve seen of American research has never supported the idea of a drop in testosterone, and you can find plenty of successful athletes who spend far more time than that in the gym. Powerlifters, who are often taking very long rests between sets and having to muck with gear are often training 2-3 hours at a stretch. This isn’t to say that the idea of keeping your workouts high quality is a bad one. Certainly, I think that most bodybuilders spend too much unproductive time in the weight room doing too many sets of too many unnecessary exercises. For the natural athlete, quality should predominate over quantity for sure. But I think setting some arbitrary time limit like 45 or 60 minutes is missing the point. Basically, I think the idea may be useful as sort of a check to keep people from wasting energy and time doing endless sets of useless exercises in the gym, but I don’t think it’s an absolute. When I train people, I’d say 60-90 minutes is about average. Much more than that and quality falls off too much. Certainly, shorter workouts tend to be higher quality. By the end of a 2-hour workout, you’re unlikely to be putting much effort into things. There is also the issue of crashing blood glucose and a potential increase in cortisol because of it. That can readily be ameliorated by sipping a carbohydrate or carbohydrate plus protein drink during training. That will keep insulin higher and keep cortisol down during extended training sessions. It may also help to improve intensity.

Q. What about supplements? Which ones do you think are the ‘essentials’ that most people should be using?

A. The single most essential supplement in my book would have to be preformed fish oils (EPA/DHA, the two key long-chain omega-3 fatty acids). It’s not an over-exaggeration to say that they do everything and are almost totally insufficient in our modern diet. Six 1-gram capsules per day (and I prefer this to flax oil) should be mandatory. Honestly, this should be considered a food anyhow. After that, I’d probably say a good basic multi-vitamin/mineral. Doesn’t even have to be an expensive one, I use the supermarket generic and just take two per day, one morning and evening with food. I don’t consider protein powder essential but it can be convenient when used around workouts. Beyond that, I don’t think there is much that is essential. Women should probably worry about calcium and iron status, especially if they don’t eat dairy or red meat respectively. Most of the sports supplements are bogus in my opinion and you can get big or lean without any of them. For dieting, although not essential, the ephedrine/caffeine stack is still probably the single best product out there. Two decades of data, it works, and it’s safe unless you take it like a moron.

Q. Are there any tricks you have for women who want to lose the last bit of ‘stubborn’ fat? Do they need to do things significantly differently to men?

A. Women’s hip and thigh fat has been a perennial problem as it tends to be the most stubborn of all bodyfat to lose. Men’s abdominal fat, although many men will disagree with me here, is relatively easy: men mainly need to be more patient and the abdominal fat will come off. In contrast, hip and thigh fat is very difficult to mobilize and burn off. This is why you get women with absolutely ripped upper bodies who are still carrying significant fat in their lower bodies. The reason is clearly evolutionary, women’s hip and thigh fat exists to support pregnancy and milk production. Quite in fact, during lactation, women’s hip and thigh fat becomes the easiest to mobilize but I haven’t figured out a good way to take advantage of this…yet. There are a number of reasons for the stubbornness of women’s body fat, not the least of which is poor blood flow. If a woman feels her hip and thigh fat, she’ll tend to notice that it’s colder than other parts of her body; this is due to poor blood flow. It turns out that aerobic activity can overcome this limitation; women tend to need more cardio than men to come in ripped (many men can get ripped on nothing but lifting and calorie restriction). But even regular cardio doesn’t solve the problem. Other reasons include the type of fat that is stored there and the fact that stubborn body fat is more resistant to fat mobilizing stimuli. Dan Duchaine was probably the first to come up with a solution and that was oral yohimbe. Falsely touted as a testosterone booster, yohimbe blocks the receptor on fat cells (called an alpha-adrenoreceptor) that makes fat mobilization so difficult. Regular use of oral yohimbe with caffeine prior to morning fasted cardio can have a noticeable effect on women’s fat loss. As I discuss in the Ultimate Diet 2.0, it turns out that low-carbohydrate diets (20% or less calories from carbohydrate for 3-4 days) tends to automatically inhibit those same alpha-adrenoreceptors. The third and fourth day of the UD2 are good for mobilizing and burning off stubborn body fat.

Q. Thanks for the interview Lyle!

A. Thanks for having me Christian.

Read Part I of this Exclusive Interview.

Read other articles by Christian Finn

About the Author

Christian Finn is a Certified Personal Trainer and holds a masters degree with distinction in exercise science. He’s lectured at a number of universities and private training organizations around the United Kingdom on fitness training, weight loss and the effective use of nutritional supplements. He writes extensively on the subject and his articles have been published in numerous magazines, leading industry journals and websites worldwide, including Men’s Health, Men’s Health Muscle, Fit Pro (April/May 2001), CAM magazine (February 2003), Image (January 1997), Zest (March 2004), and Body Life magazine (March/April 1997). He was also featured in the July 2004 issue of Muscle & Fitness (UK edition). His website, TheFactsAboutFitness.com, is dedicated to providing its members up-to-date, unbiased information and research on the world of fitness.

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Vince DelMonte is the author of No Nonsense Muscle Building, the number one rated bodybuilding program on the Internet (as per Clickbank.com). I am also the author of the best-selling ab and fat loss program, Your Six Pack Quest and the top bodybuilding audio program, Ultimate Muscle Advantage. For the past few years Ive been considered the worlds top Skinny Guy Expert and have more than 20,000 customers in over 100 different countries. I have an Honours Kinesiology degree from the University of Western Ontario, I’m one of the most sought out fitness professionals in my area, a regular contributor to Mens Fitness Magazine, and I’m on the Advisory Team for Maximum Fitness Magazine. Im also a regular contributor to dozens of online and offline magazines. In 2005, I ventured into the fitness modeling world and won the Canadian Fitness Model Championships. My own Skinny Vinny transformation has been featured on Bodybuilding.com and in Maximum Fitness Magazine. I’ve written the following articles to share with my friends here at Men’s Total Fitness:

6 Pack Abs – The Secret to Getting Six Pack Abs

The Best Ab Exercises

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Tom Venuto is an NSCA-certified personal trainer, lifetime natural bodybuilder, certified strength & conditioning specialist (CSCS), and author of the #1 best selling diet e-book, “Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle.” Tom has written hundreds of articles and has been featured in IRONMAN, Natural Bodybuilding, Muscular Development, Exercise for Men and Men’s Exercise. To contact Tom or get information on his e-book, visit www.BurnTheFat.com

Here are some of his latest articles:

Burn Fat and Curb Your Appetite With This Metabolism-Boosting Food

The Truth About How Much Exercise You Really Need

Organic Food and Grass Fed Beef – Worth It or Not?

Workout Timing – When to Train?

Elastic Bands for Resistance Training – Any Good?

Cardio: How Much Cardio Should I Do to Lose Body Fat as Quickly as Possible?

Calorie Calculators

Gaining Weight: I Can’t Gain Weight! What Should I Do?

Cheat Days: Is it O.K. to Pig Out and Have a Cheat Day Once a Week?

Fat Loss For Beginners – 8 Tips For Getting Started

Glutamine: Can You Give Me Any Practical Advice?

How Much Sleep Do You REALLY Need for Health, Fitness and Gaining Muscle?

Beer: Does Drinking Beer on the Weekends Slow Down Your Progress?

N02 (Nitric Oxide) – The Latest Wiz Bang Supplement?

The Top 10 Bonehead Workout Mistakes to Avoid and The Top 10 Kick-Butt Training Tips

How To Lose 20 Pounds REALLY, REALLY Fast

Cortisol, Stress & Body Fat: Straight Answers To The Top 20 Questions About The “Stress Hormone”

Is it o.k. to Lose More than 2 Pounds per Week?

Obesity: Why are We so Fat?

The Truth about Counting Calories

What’s Best for Fat Loss – High Intensity or Low Intensity Workouts?

Banking Calories: Eat Less Now to Pig Out Later?

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Editor’s Note: This is the last part of the five-part series, but a very important one. Chad provides useful suggestions on how to avoid overtraining once your strength training program is under way. Overtraining can prevent you from making improvements in muscle gains and in a worst case scenario, can keep you out of the gym for weeks so it’s imperative that you avoid these common mistakes that lead to overtraining.

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Almost any form of exercise will stimulate some degree of strength and muscle development. Unfortunately, misconceptions, myths, and misunderstandings plague the fitness industry, especially in regard to strength training. There is a huge attrition rate among those starting a strength training program primarily because most people are not taught the principles essential for a safe and effective program.

This article is part five of a five part series discussing the very important principles and guidelines of a safe and effective strength training program. This article discusses exactly how to avoid the common mistake of overtraining. The previous article, Part Four of this five part series, discussed the importance of using the right amount of weight and number of repetitions for each set, so you can achieve the results you desire. The following exercise guidelines are extremely important for your safety and the effectiveness of your strength training program.

Avoid Overtraining

If you feel burnt out, weak, and/or sore, you are probably overtraining. Not providing your muscles with enough rest will often prevent you from making improvements. Training the wrong muscle groups on consecutive days will also counteract your good results. Doing too many sets and exercises per muscle group will also cause overtraining. Remember that weight lifting, especially in an intense program, produces tissue microtrauma, those tiny tears in the muscles that temporarily decrease strength and cause varying degrees of muscle soreness. It is absolutely necessary to provide ample rest time between successive training sessions. Muscles generally require about 48 hours for the resting and rebuilding process before you work them again. You should never train the same muscle groups on two or more days in a row (abdominals are the exception). Hypothetically then, you would do your chest, shoulders, triceps, and abdominals on Monday; on Tuesday you would train your legs, back, biceps, and abdominals; you would take Wednesday off to give all your muscle groups extra rest; on Thursday you’d do chest, shoulders, triceps, and abdominals again; and on Friday you’d do legs, back, biceps, and abdominals again. This would allow two days (48 hours) of rest for each muscle between training days. Those of you who train very intensely, would benefit greatly by taking even more rest time between sessions. A week does not have to be limited to only seven days – you can expand it to eight, nine, or even ten days. Think about it: why not? Day one could consist of chest, shoulders, triceps, (pushing muscles) and abdominals on Monday. Take Tuesday off. On day two, Wednesday, the routine could consist of legs, back, biceps, (pulling muscles) and abdominals. Take Thursday off. On Friday you do chest, shoulders, triceps, and abdominals again – and so on. This is especially important when mixing pushing and pulling muscles for different sessions. For example, if you train your chest on Monday and then triceps the next day, your triceps never really get a complete rest because they are indirectly trained with your chest on Monday and directly trained on Tuesday. But if you split up chest/shoulders/triceps or back/biceps, working them on different days, you can implement this eight day program for maximum muscle resting time. Remember: always allow your muscles a chance to grow, especially when you are feeling overtrained. If needed, give yourself an extra day off to grow. Never feel guilty about skipping a workout. That extra rest could be exactly what your body needs. Many people make the mistake of doing too many sets per exercise, and/or doing too many exercises per muscle group. It’s very common for people who want great muscle size and strength gains to simply do too much for each muscle group and overtrain to the point where they do more harm than good. A common weight lifting recommendation is to do at least four sets for each exercise and at least four exercises for each muscle group. This idea that “more is better” is a big misconception in the strength training industry and is recommended in many “muscle magazines” and other sources. But when you see Mr. or Ms. Olympia in muscle magazines describing their workouts of four to five sets per exercise and four to five exercises per muscle group, do not be fooled into thinking that if you want their results you have to do what they do. These are professional body builders, quite likely to be on steroids; they can get away with these very intense long programs because their muscles are able to rebuild very quickly. If you are not on steroids – and for the sake of your health I hope you are not – your muscles will not be able to rebuild themselves quickly enough to make gains. For each of the large muscle groups in the body such as back, chest, shoulders, quadriceps, and hamstrings, two to four exercises for each muscle is enough. For the smaller muscle groups such as biceps, calves, trapezius, etc. one to three exercises are enough. Because your back, for example, has specific muscles that need to be isolated, it is important that of the three exercises you perform, you do one that primarily targets each of the three areas: upper-middle back, lats., and lower back. When you’re doing two to four exercises for each muscle group, make sure you don’t duplicate movements of specific muscle groups. For example, it makes no sense to do three sets of Bench Press using a barbell and then do three sets of bench press using dumbbells or Push-ups. Each of these exercises requires exactly the same movement and works the same specific muscle. Instead, it would make much more sense to do bench press for overall middle chest (either barbell, dumbbell, or machine); do incline bench press for upper chest; and do dips for lower-outer chest. One point – maybe the most important of all for ongoing strength training programs – that is absolutely imperative to understand and implement into your training regimen is the need to overcome training plateaus. Ideally, you want to always be going through a momentum phase in which you try something new and “shock” your muscles, forcing them to make gains. Eventually however, you will come to a point in your training where you either get bored or stop seeing results. When this happens it is absolutely crucial that you change what you are doing; this is when you need to get creative by incorporating something new into your program. You can make effective changes in your program in many ways: try new or alternate exercises, change the order that you train your muscles or the order of the exercises, and so forth. I hope you have found the information in these five part series of articles helpful. You now have the knowledge to achieve the results you desire and the benefits your body deserves. Your greatest challenge, however, is not learning new exercises or the proper technique; it’s not learning how many sets or reps to do or how much weight to use. Nor is it deciding when or how to change your routine. The greatest challenge facing you at this moment is deciding whether you are willing to take action and make strength training a priority. When you begin achieving great results, the excitement and fun you experience will make the change well worth the effort. Action creates motivation! Good luck: I hope you enjoy all the wonderful benefits of an effective strength training program.

Strength Training Principles and Guidelines: Part One

Strength Training Principles and Guidelines: Part Two

Strength Training Principles and Guidelines: Part Three

Strength Training Principles and Guidelines: Part Four

Read other articles by the Global Health and Fitness team

About Global Health and Fitness

Global Health and Fitness (GHF) is an online fitness resource that provides an entire team of professional trainers and nutritionists to their clients. To learn more about them and how they can help you achieve your weight loss and fitness goals, read our review of Global Health and Fitness.

Related Posts:

• Strength Training Principles and Guidelines: Part One
• Strength Training Principles and Guidelines: Part Four

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Muscle Man Fitness is dedicated to putting together the most accurate information and proven techniques to help men lose weight and build muscle naturally.

I lost over 40 pounds in my mid-twenties and kept it off for several years following the techniques on this site!

Now in my early thirties I noticed the weight creeping up on me again and I knew I had to do something before it got out of control. I revisited the techniques found here and once again I was able to achieve my goals…

I lost 17 pounds in less than three months! I look and feel better today than I did ten years ago!

Controlling your diet, regular exercise and choosing the right supplements are the fundamental steps to permanently lose weight and build lean muscle mass. No matter what age you are, you can benefit by following these fundamental steps. Even men in their seventies can experience huge improvements in their health – its never too late!

There are absolutely no gimmicks here…just real stuff that works to help men look and feel their best!

If you’re just getting started on a weight loss and muscle building journey, start with body fat basics and body weight physics. From there, the “Big 4″ weight loss tips are jammed-packed with specific steps on how to permanently lose weight and build lean muscle mass.

For those of you already along the way in your journey, bodybuilding supplements provides useful information on how to achieve greater gains in building lean muscle mass and shedding even more unwanted body fat! Feel free to browse around regardless of where you are on your journey there is something here for every man that needs to make improvements to their bodies and overall health!

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Welcome to Muscle Man Fitness! Here is a short byline in small font. You can format it as you like. Here is a short byline in small font. You can format it as you like. Here is a short byline in small font. You can format it as you like.

Muscle Man Fitness is dedicated to putting together the most accurate information and proven techniques to help men lose weight and build muscle naturally.

I lost over 40 pounds in my mid-twenties and kept it off for several years following the techniques on this site!

Now in my early thirties I noticed the weight creeping up on me again and I knew I had to do something before it got out of control. I revisited the techniques found here and once again I was able to achieve my goals…

I lost 17 pounds in less than three months! I look and feel better today than I did ten years ago!

Controlling your diet, regular exercise and choosing the right supplements are the fundamental steps to permanently lose weight and build lean muscle mass. No matter what age you are, you can benefit by following these fundamental steps. Even men in their seventies can experience huge improvements in their health – its never too late!

There are absolutely no gimmicks here…just real stuff that works to help men look and feel their best!

If you’re just getting started on a weight loss and muscle building journey, start with body fat basics and body weight physics. From there, the “Big 4″ weight loss tips are jammed-packed with specific steps on how to permanently lose weight and build lean muscle mass.

For those of you already along the way in your journey, bodybuilding supplements provides useful information on how to achieve greater gains in building lean muscle mass and shedding even more unwanted body fat! Feel free to browse around regardless of where you are on your journey there is something here for every man that needs to make improvements to their bodies and overall health!

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Editor’s Note: In case you haven’t been convinced yet about the importance of strength training, hopefully after reading this article you will be! If you’re not making time for the weights, you’re not reaching you’re full fitness potential!

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Strength training is critical for achieving your fitness goals and this article discusses the many benefits of a strength training program. In addition to this helpful article, be sure to take our FREE Fitness Analysis! Once you’ve completed the brief questionnaire, you’ll receive specific recommendations based on your responses, including a sample strength training workout with exercise instructions! As a special thank you, you’ll also receive the Tom Venuto‘s e-book, Big Fat Lies, absolutely FREE of charge. Why do some men and women, in the effort to improve their fitness, still resist strength training? Here are some motivating ideas for building strength training confidence and helping you understand why this method of exercise is so very important to your success

1. Strength train to lose fat: One of the biggest mistakes people make when starting an exercise program is not including strength training with their cardiovascular exercise and low-fat eating regimen. This is unfortunate because when we cut calories without exercise, we can lose muscle as well as fat. And when you lose muscle, your body becomes a lot less efficient at burning fat. However, when you gain muscle through strength training , you can actually condition your body to burn fat more efficiently – 24 hours a day!

2. You feel strong and fit: It’s a great feeling when you look in the mirror during your strength training workout and see your back muscles, biceps, shoulders, and legs flexing. If you’re unsure about proper lifting technique, hire a personal trainer for a few sessions. The money you invest is well worth it, as is the time and energy you put towards an effective program. And strength training can definitely increases your confidence. It’s a wonderful feeling to feel strong, especially after a workout. You look forward to looking in the mirror, and actually like what you see.

3. You have more energy: Even if you’re just starting out with a few basic strength training exercises, very quickly you won’t believe how fantastic you’ll feel. Instead of making an excuse to skip your strength training workout, you’ll make excuses to do just one more set. Plus, with the excess fat you’re going to lose, there will be less of you to lug around and therefore less fatigue.

4. You’ll finally see the results: Knowing what to do makes all the difference. Many people go to the gym for months even years and wonder why they’re not getting any results. Well, it’s because they’re doing the same darn strength training workout every time. This is a critical point: you can either quit out of frustration, or you can become a sponge for knowledge and get some help. Get your hands on fitness magazines, books, the trainers at the gym, ask other successful exercisers, or hire a coach. Learn what you need to do to make your strength training program successful. Acquiring the knowledge and getting help is all you need to get hooked. At first you may question what you’re doing: are you going to get too big, are you wasting your time, how do you know this will work? But then you see other men and women who have been strength training for years and they look terrific. Here’s the telltale sign that your strength training program is working: you start to see definition and feel firmness in muscles you never thought you had.

5. You won’t get bored: I suspect many people don’t strength train because they think it will be boring. Just remember to change your strength training routine every 3-4 weeks to keep things fresh and your body responding to your strength training. Change the reps, the sets, the weight, the rest period, the exercise order, etc. Strength training only gets boring if you allow it to.

6. You have everyday, functional strength: Strength training does wonders to help you with activities of daily living: Housework, yard work, moving furniture, and carrying bags of groceries without gasping for air and pooping out within minutes. If you have a medical condition such as arthritis or multiple sclerosis, lifting weights can be a godsend. You can rely on weightlifting to keep you strong where once all your strength was gone.

7. You have a stronger back: Juggling a 30-pound toddler and a few bags of groceries while pulling out the stroller can put your back in a compromising position. When you lift strength train, you strengthen your upper and lower body, which reduces strain on your back when you’re forced to lift heavy loads. Plus, don’t you think it would feel really good to walk around knowing that your back is as tight and toned as your legs?

8. You can train at home: Have you been putting off getting started with your strength training program because you felt you had to belong to a gym? You can implement a very effective strength training no matter where you are. Invest in some dumbbells and an adjustable bench and you’re set. Get some exercise videos or books that focus on strength training; now you can lift weights on your own anytime you like.

9. You can get rid of pain: Do you have limited range of motion in your joints? A bad knee? A wrenched neck? Bum shoulder? Strength training promotes strength in your joints so you have ease of movement. That old knee problem improves enough for you to can go hiking in the mountains for days without pain. No pain, more endurance. You can do more outdoorsy things – and have fun while doing them!

10. You build stronger bones: Bone responds to strength training the same way that muscles do, by becoming stronger and denser. Building strong bones can be the best defense against osteoporosis. You’re more active, more mobile, and without lower back pain. And age doesn’t matter; you can start when you’re 65 and still experience tremendous benefits from a strength training program. IT IS NEVER TOO LATE TO START A STRENGTH TRAINING PROGRAM! I hope you found this information helpful. Your greatest challenge is not learning new exercises or the proper strength training technique; it’s not learning how many sets or reps to do or how much weight to use. Nor is it deciding when or how to change your strength training routine. The greatest challenge facing you at this moment is deciding whether you are willing to take action and make time for yourself and make strength training a priority. When you begin achieving great results, the excitement and fun you experience will make the change and time you’ve spent well worth the effort. Action creates motivation! Good luck: I hope you enjoy all the wonderful benefits of an effective strength training program. And dont forget, click here to take our FREE Fitness Analysis for a free sample strength training program and for the book, Big Fat Lies!

Recommended Reading:

Making Time for Strength Training – Convinced that strength training is necessary but not sure if you have time for it? This helpful article provides practical tips on how to shorten the time it takes to strength train.

Strength Training Principles and Guidelines – New to strength training or need to brush up on your skills? This five-part series give you all the information you need to create a safe and effective strength training routine.

About Global Health and Fitness

Global Health and Fitness (GHF) is an online fitness resource that provides an entire team of professional trainers and nutritionists to their clients. To learn more about them and how they can help you achieve your weight loss and fitness goals, read our review of Global Health and Fitness.

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Editor’s Note:  This is a must read article for anyone starting out the year with the infamous, “lose weight and get in shape,” New Year’s resolution. Dr. Smoot gives us the inside track to fitness success! 

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I know what you’re thinking. You’d really love to be fit as a fiddle, but you just can’t seem to make it happen. Instead of making sweet music, all you get is a bunch of sour notes. Too much weight, too little energy, too much flab, too little tone.

Believe me, I totally understand — because my coaching clients come to me with the very same problem. They’ve “been there and done that,” but still aren’t getting the results they want. Major Insider Fitness Secret: The #1 key to success is NOT to keep trying harder, but to stop doing what doesn’t work, and start doing what’s been proven to work. Amazingly, that one simple shift can give you — literally — twice the results with half the effort. Problem is, most people have no idea what actually works. Why? Because all our lives we’ve been buried under an avalanche of hype, misinformation, wild claims, and outright lies about fitness, fat loss, and health in general. (Ever watch Saturday morning TV?) So to help make sure 2006 will be the year you get fit — and stay fit — I want to help you avoid “The Top 7 Fitness Mistakes Just About Everybody Makes.” Any of these ring a bell?

1.  Wasting your precious time, energy, money, and emotion doing things that simply don’t work. This leave you burned out, frustrated, and wanting to quit before you even get to see any measurable results. If that sounds painfully familiar, I urge you in the strongest terms to take this article to heart. You deserve to succeed, and I want to help you do it!

2.  Fuzzy goals / wimpy motivations – A huge factor in reaching your fitness goals is to have a clear understanding of (a) where you want to be, and (b) why it’s so important to do be there. If you don’t have clear goals AND see that there are tremendous benefits in reaching them AND huge costs of not reaching them, you simply won’t have the motivation it takes to get you off your butt, put down the fork, or make wise choices in the supermarket.

3.  Expecting results from “generic” solutions – and failing to recognize that you are a totally unique individual in a unique situation with unique needs. To succeed, you absolutely must have a program that’s custom-tailored to your unique needs, and it must involve not just your diet and exercise plans, but also your thinking and motivation.

4.  The “Trojan Horse” between your ears. Are you trying to get fit and healthy through diet and exercise alone? Extensive research has shown that the REAL reasons we succeed or fail at fitness / fat loss has a lot more to do with what goes on between our ears much than what goes on our plates. Odds are, you’re not even aware of your own self-sabotaging beliefs and attitudes. But until you correct them, no amount of obsessing about diet and exercise can make any real or lasting difference for you.

5.  Unrealistic, unenjoyable, unsustainable exercise program – The first time I ever went to a gym, they put me through such a routine I was sore for days. And you know what? I’ve NEVER been back to a gym. But I do get exercise. I’ve simply figured out what I like to do, so I have no resistance to doing it. (Well, maybe a little now and then.) And what a huge difference it makes! I actually get my exercise now!

6.  Failure to build your fitness program into your lifestyle – I’ll tell you, I always had a pretty decent diet, but I struggled for years with the exercise thing. What finally worked — and still works great today — is to build my exercise program into my daily life. So now, instead of never being able to “find the time” to get the exercise I need, it’s simply become part of my day, like eating, showering, or brushing my teeth. The result? It gets done — automatically, and without stress, struggle, or procrastination.

7.  Failing to involve “all of you” in the success process – You are not just your body! You are body, mind, and spirit, and unless you get all three aspects of yourself “on board” for success, you’ll only be running on “1/3 power.” You’ll be like a 6-cylinder car running on just 2 cylinders! The result? Very little power, and a mighty rough ride! That’s no way to get to your goals! Making these mistakes — even just a few of them — will just about eliminate any real chance of getting or staying fit and healthy. There are quite a few other mistakes we make as well, but avoiding these “Super 7″ will make success a whole lot easier for you! Next time we’re going to zero in on that “Trojan Horse” between your ears and see how to kick it out of your castle. You’ve got enough problems “out there” without having to fend off “psycho terrorists” inside your own head! Have an awesome holiday! “Dr. Frank” (aka Coach Frank Smoot) Dr. Frank B. Smoot, MA, DD www.CoachFrankSmoot.comDrFrank@CoachFrankSmoot.com www.WeightLossGodsWay.com 540-567-2050

Read other articles by the Global Health and Fitness team

About Global Health and Fitness

Global Health and Fitness (GHF) is an online fitness resource that provides an entire team of professional trainers and nutritionists to their clients. To learn more about them and how they can help you achieve your weight loss and fitness goals, read our review of Global Health and Fitness.

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