Things I've Learned About Strength Training

1. Unless you are an experienced lifter, do not create your own program. Great programs, created by professional strength coaches, have already been created...do one of those.

2. Do not do a program you find in a body building magazine. Bodybuilding programs are pretty much useless for beginners since they contain high sets, high reps, and a lot of isolation exercises.

3. Compound exercises are key. Learn how to squat, deadlift, bench press, and row. With those 4 exercises, you will get the body you want.

4. Heavy weight, lower reps > low weight, high reps.

5. Form is key. Take time to perfect your form, your joints will appreciate it.

6. Ego is the cause of most injuries.

7. You will not gain significant muscle mass unless you exceed your recommended caloric intake.

8. Women will not look like men if they lift weights. Women who do look like men take steroids and estrogen blockers (or they really are men in women's clothing).

9. Have a plan. If you go into the gym without a plan, you'll limit your results. Stick with a routine for at least 6 weeks to see if it works for you. If its working, don't change it until it stops working.

10. If you show me a fitness study, I'll show you a contradicting study. What may work for someone else, may not work for you. Fitness is an imperfect science, there is a lot of trial and error to find what works best.

11. A thousand crunches a day will not get you a six-pack, but a good diet will.

12. You will keep the weight off longer if you lift weights. The more muscle you have, the more resting calories you burn.

Feel free to add more to help inform!

this person did not give his credentials, unless you know this guy, do not follow his advice, he could be right or wrong i don't know and neither do you. please ask a certified personal trainer or someone who is educated with a degree in the industry.

Check out Rippetoe's starting strength too He has better credentials, and it includes a lot more information on technique (Vs start strength text is 60% telling you how great it is)
Also heard on BB site that 3x5 is more sustainable long term.

In any case, it's good to read both and find what works for you. I like Stronglifts' suggestion of rows instead of Rippetoe's power cleans, for example.

The only reason I didn't mention Starting Strength is because power cleans are very difficult for a beginner to do...heck even for advanced lifters its difficult to master.

4. Heavy weight, lower reps > low weight, high reps.

That is all about personal goals and what the individual is trying to achieve. Not a guideline.


IMO do the research yourself don take this information just how it sits.

1. Unless you are an experienced lifter, do not create your own program. Great programs, created by professional strength coaches, have already been created...do one of those.

2. Do not do a program you find in a body building magazine. Bodybuilding programs are pretty much useless for beginners since they contain high sets, high reps, and a lot of isolation exercises.

3. Compound exercises are key. Learn how to squat, deadlift, bench press, and row. With those 4 exercises, you will get the body you want.

4. Heavy weight, lower reps > low weight, high reps.

5. Form is key. Take time to perfect your form, your joints will appreciate it.

6. Ego is the cause of most injuries.

7. You will not gain significant muscle mass unless you exceed your recommended caloric intake.

8. Women will not look like men if they lift weights. Women who do look like men take steroids and estrogen blockers (or they really are men in women's clothing).

9. Have a plan. If you go into the gym without a plan, you'll limit your results. Stick with a routine for at least 6 weeks to see if it works for you. If its working, don't change it until it stops working.

10. If you show me a fitness study, I'll show you a contradicting study. What may work for someone else, may not work for you. Fitness is an imperfect science, there is a lot of trial and error to find what works best.

11. A thousand crunches a day will not get you a six-pack, but a good diet will.

12. You will keep the weight off longer if you lift weights. The more muscle you have, the more resting calories you burn.

Feel free to add more to help inform!

So if I am on a calorie deficit I can't gain muscle? Should I just not be at a deficit on the days I do strength?

Can someone elaborate on #7? I want to gain muscles *and* lose weight too at the same time. I don't want to increase my cal intake though. Is there a balance way to lose weight and tone at the same time?

Can someone elaborate on #7? I want to gain muscles *and* lose weight too at the same time. I don't want to increase my cal intake though. Is there a balance way to lose weight and tone at the same time?

Tone and gain muscles are two very separate things. When you are lifting while eating a deficit you will harden your muscle mass you do have or as some people say create lean body mass. You aren't really gaining muscles but you are firming up your current muscles which with a drop in body fat gives you a toning effect.

Can someone elaborate on #7? I want to gain muscles *and* lose weight too at the same time. I don't want to increase my cal intake though. Is there a balance way to lose weight and tone at the same time?

Tone and gain muscles are two very separate things. When you are lifting while eating a deficit you will harden your muscle mass you do have or as some people say create lean body mass. You aren't really gaining muscles but you are firming up your current muscles which with a drop in body fat gives you a toning effect.

There is no such thing as toning (should've put that as #1). Toning is the lowering of body fat percentage to see the muscles, if you use low weight/high reps you won't have much muscle to see. The reason people believe it works is that typically low weight/high rep workouts are done as circuit training (ie. cardio). You will see very limited results, but unless you plan doing something like the NFL combine (how many reps of 225lb bench you can do), you're much better off using heavier weights. Oh yeah, show me big muscles that aren't firm.

What the fake "latest and greatest" body building routine from a magazine doesn't tell you is that most of their results were made from doing heavy squats, deadlifts, rows, and presses.

#1. Heavy Weights to start off, then a High Rep set to failure on the end has repeatedly been shown to have benefits as well as helping with the aesthetics. Add into the fact the hypertrophy of a mid rep set (which is what I do at the end for pumps 8-12 reps) gives you more benefits with the training of the muscles.
#2. Big muscles is different than what the lady was asking. Muscles that haven't been built from lifting AKA someone starting out losing weight can be pudgy. They will harden when you are working out and lifting over time, even in a calorie deficit. Even without growing any muscle mass.
#3. I never suggested any moves that weren't compound moves as I'm a firm believer in compound lifts.

Also to add into your whole low weight/high reps argument. Look up Dana Bailey takes on crossfit. nuff said.

#1. Heavy Weights to start off, then a High Rep set to failure on the end has repeatedly been shown to have benefits as well as helping with the aesthetics. Add into the fact the hypertrophy of a mid rep set (which is what I do at the end for pumps 8-12 reps) gives you more benefits with the training of the muscles.
#2. Big muscles is different than what the lady was asking. Muscles that haven't been built from lifting AKA someone starting out losing weight can be pudgy. They will harden when you are working out and lifting over time, even in a calorie deficit. Even without growing any muscle mass.
#3. I never suggested any moves that weren't compound moves as I'm a firm believer in compound lifts.

Also to add into your whole low weight/high reps argument. Look up Dana Bailey takes on crossfit. nuff said.

Agreed high reps to me is 12-20 reps. I do 20 reps bench to immediately 20 squats to 20 clings then rest 3 minutes and repeat sometimes.

Just chiming in on #1. Jim wendler's 5/3/1 program helped me gain a ton of strength AND size, especially for my squat and legs. His program is a mixture of both high weight / low rep sets, followed by sets of volume at lower weight. But see, I think "high rep" is being confused here. You aren't getting anywhere by doing 20-30 reps of the bar, I think that's what he meant. As others have already said, 1-5 reps for strength, 6-12 for hypertrophy, 12+ for endurance, 20+ for cardio