2024 has just begun and many of you have made the New Year’s resolution to get into the gym or to get back to exercising regularly, with the intention to get strong and fit. Perhaps, some of you are blindly going into the gym with no knowledge or minimal experience on what to do or how to even get to your goal. So here are three tips for starting a strength program:
1. Selecting a tailored training split for you
The training split you select can have a big impact on what muscles are stimulated and how frequently they are trained. Your training split will be tailored to your needs and goals which will depend on how often you plan to exercise, what body parts you want to target, what aspects of training you want to get stronger in etc. A common training split that targets most muscle groups, provides optimal stimulation and optimal recovery time is the push-pull-legs split. This is a six-day training split that separates muscles according to whether they create a push or pulling force and then legs on their own day. However, depending on what your goals are, you should consult a strength coach to help determine what spit is optimal for you.
2. Optimal nutrition and recovery
Putting in the work at the gym and working hard is the right idea for optimal strength gains. However, without eating right and getting enough rest, all that hard work in the gym will be for nothing. Ensure that you are in a caloric surplus or at least eating maintenance calories so that you are replenishing the body of the necessary micro- and macro-nutrients to fuel the body. Additionally, eating the optimal amount of protein for the day that is required for protein synthesis. You’d be surprised how big of an impact a good night’s rest is important for rest and recovery. Getting the optimal amount of sleep each night can play a large role in strength gains, as sleep provides the rest period for muscle growth and protein synthesis to occur. Without good rest, your body is working in overtime and doesn’t have a chance to recover and grow muscle.
3. Focusing on good form and technique
The foundation of training and strength will come from focusing on good form and developing great technique with different exercises. Sure, you can go into the gym and smash out weights and get strong. However, you will miss some extra strength gains that come with exercising with good technique and good form, as this is more likely to stimulate the required muscle fibres and therefore generate more power and strength. This will additionally place your body in a more stable position, where you are far less likely to develop any injuries and interrupt your strength journey.
If you have any further questions or queries on training for strength, or need some clarification regarding the information that was presented above, please come down and see one of the Osteopaths at Canterbury Health Hub. Here we can provide a tailored consult as well as help with tailoring a plan suited for your strength journey.