Weight Training Exercise Chart

Beginner Firming/Toning Program

Now that we have covered many of the fundaments of good resistance training programs in Part 1 of this article, published in the February 2010 of CoSozo Living, let’s get into the details. If you are a beginner or have not worked out for 2 to 3 weeks or longer, you do not want to do too much. Many people are afraid to put even a little stress on their muscles because they are not familiar with this type of exercise. A preferred method to prevent undue soreness is to control the overall volume of work.

Most people cannot tell if they are doing too much work at first until soreness occurs well after the exercise session is over. For this reason, when first starting out, only perform one set of exercises after your warm-up set. This will allow you to gauge your level of soreness over the next day or so without doing too much work.

Gradually add up to 3 sets plus your warm-up set over the course of 2 to 3 weeks, depending on your soreness level. Let your soreness level determine if you should do one, two, or three sets of any exercise. Practice on your exercise form during this time. The neurological adaptations in response to weight training is the primary factor for the increase in strength development at the beginning stages of a resistance training program.

12 to 15 reps are chosen because it is desirable to perform high reps with a light weight for the purpose of toning or firming your muscles or if you are just starting resistance training. This helps enhance the neurological adaptations and is easier on the muscle skeletal system for beginning exercisers. Most women prefer to firm or tone their muscles, and have some level of fear associated with “bulking up.” Muscle size and strength increases are inevitable with any type of resistance training. However, muscle size increases occur at a microscopic pace. Ladies, don’t hold back. Many women could use added strength to become more independent and be able to perform all of their chores with more vigor. Bulking up requires a lot of work for men, and even more work for women.

Most sources consider reps of over 10 as “high”. You are using a light weight because you are able to lift it 10 or more times, even though you still may be working very hard to complete the recommended repetitions. Furthermore, when you select a weight light enough for you to perform 20 or more reps, you are getting so far away from the strength component that it becomes more of an endurance stimulus. That is why you should choose a weight heavy enough so that you cannot do more than 15 reps.

Note: The overall amount of muscular stress or volume of work combined with a high degree of intensity (working as hard as you can during a set) best determines or develops muscular size, not the mere use of “heavy” weights. You don’t want to over do it. However, this regimen is typically well-tolerated by most beginning exercisers and toners, regardless of age.

After some time you can, and should, push yourself harder. In order to get stronger, you must submit your muscles to increasing workloads. This is called the over-load principle. Increasing workloads does not always have to be increasing the weight. It can be increasing the amount of exercises, or decreasing the rest time in between exercises and/or sets. After the initial stage (2 to 3 weeks in most cases), you can start to add exercises. During the initial stage, you should be able to tolerate 3 sets of 12 to 15 reps with the exercises listed in the chart at the beginning of this article. After the initial stage, you can gradually add from 1 to 3 exercises in each group of the chart so that you gradually build up your tolerance.

You want to perform up to 8 to 12 exercises total or more if you are conditioned with regular weight training exercise. When you add exercises to your workout, you may want to start with just one set like you did when you started. As mentioned, this is to prevent you from doing too much work and becoming severely sore. You may be working the same muscles as you did from the start, but you may not know how you are going to respond to the new movements or exercises. Again, gradually add up to three sets of these new exercises plus your “core” exercises.

It is recommended to change these new exercises at regular intervals rather than deleting your “core” exercises. Upon completing about 3 to 4 months of regular resistance training, you should be able to tolerate a significant increase in the amount of work you can perform. Over time, for general strength, it may be suitable to decrease the reps to 8 to 10 reps and add weight so that your intensity remains high.

Strength Programs

To focus on developing strength, use fewer reps, such as 8 to 10 and take longer rest periods in between sets. This is a good average rep range for developing strength for home activities, work, or sports. It will provide a great strength stimulus as well as some level of endurance.

Power Lifting: Power lifters are athletes who are only concerned with strength, not muscular size or endurance. Power lifters compete in a certain weight class, depending in their body weight. Therefore, they cannot afford to gain weight by continually adding muscle. Power lifters may use even fewer reps until exhaustion, such as 3 to 8 reps. In general, the fewer reps until exhaustion, the longer the rest periods. They may take a 2 to 3 minute rest between sets and/or exercises. Power lifters may use this type of repetition range and still do 1 to 3 exercises per muscle group.  

Body Building: Body builders are people who are mainly concerned about muscular size. Body builders typically use 8 to 12 repetitions but perform 4 to 6 different exercises per muscle group while doing 4 to 6 sets of each exercise. Even though the body builder gets more conditioned to weight training over time, they might not have the stamina to perform all the exercises they need to do in order to get a “good” workout in one exercise session. It is advisable in this case to workout more often than just 2 to 3 days per week by training 2 to 3 muscle groups per session, and repeating two times per week.

As a result, body builders have more energy to work these fewer muscles at a higher level, rather than trying to get a full-body high quality work out in just one session. In addition, they are able to perform more work (i.e. more exercises or sets) with the specific muscles trained that day. Typical progressions are increases in workout frequency from 2-3 times per week up to 4-6 times per week. They may rest on average for about a minute between exercises or sets, but this can vary widely. Body builders ultimately perform a lot more sets, exercises, and overall repetitions than power lifters and “toners.”

Circuit Training

Another popular training option is called circuit training. Circuit training is a form of weight training that, in comparison to traditional weight training, increases the number of calories you burn per time. It is a way to perform aerobic exercise through resistance training. Many types of circuit training programs exist, and it is not the intention of this article to compare program effectiveness. However, in general, circuit training is performed at a faster pace than traditional weight training, and this increased pace may be harder on your ligaments and tendons. An increased pace also increases your rate of breathing and therefore your heart rate as well.

Note: An elevated heart rate alone is NOT a criterion to suggest that you have had an aerobic workout, contrary to popular belief. Heart rate is only a valid indicator of physiologic stress with steady state exercise, which is exercise that uses large muscles, is rhythmic in nature, and can be continued for an extended period of time without stopping or resting. Weight training is not considered aerobic even though there is an increase in heart rate.

Circuit training has a smaller aerobic component than traditional aerobic exercise, but it does burn more calories than traditional weight training, which has many necessary rest periods. Circuit training will usually raise your heart rate to levels close to what would occur with more pure aerobic exercise heart rates.

So what do we mean by an aerobic component? It has to do with our muscles’ need and demand for oxygen or O2. Traditional weight training programs as well as circuit training programs do not create as great a need for O2. This is why circuit training does not burn as many calories as traditional aerobic programs. However, circuit training is indeed demanding. The increased pace may place more stress on your body. Performing traditional weight training for about 2 to 3 months prior to initiating circuit training helps to prepare you for the stress of various circuits and thus helps to prevent injury. Furthermore, with circuit training, there are no or minimal rest periods between exercises, so you have to be very familiar with the equipment, and be able to set it up in a hurry. Traditional weight training helps to prepare you for this.

This type of training is good for people who are short on time but want to get the most calories (energy) expended as possible, while still firming or “toning” their entire body. One drawback with circuit training is that it does not build muscular size or strength nearly as effectively as traditional weight training programs. In addition, as stated earlier, it does not burn as many calories as traditional aerobic exercise. However, circuit training can be a superior mode of training for athletes, especially for mid-season training. After all, you can’t usually endure traditional weight training and still perform at peak performance during competition.

This type of training is also popular with many women, because it de-emphasizes muscular size development as compared to traditional weight training programs. Remember, weight training and aerobic exercise combined are the best way to exercise your right to good health. Women usually have a greater need then men to perform resistance training for a variety of reasons. Some of the most common reasons include a greater degree of fat loss in women than in men with resistance training, a greater need to increase strength, and a need to combat osteoporosis.

With circuit training you perform as many repetitions as you can in 20 to 40 seconds, as tolerated. The pace should approximate 1 to 1.5 seconds per repetition. You can also simply aim for 20 to 30 reps. You should then “rest” for about 15 seconds. “Resting” in circuit training means that you slow your pace to low or moderate intensity. It does not mean full resting. This “rest” period, usually called “active recovery,” is designed to allow lactic acid to be converted to carbs and/or to be removed by the body. Lactic acid is one of the reasons for muscle fatigue. You need to keep moving during your “resting” time, as blood flow is needed to remove lactic acid. Short aerobic bouts such as jogging in place, using the treadmill or bike, or other activities are good ideas. (Please refer to Heart Rate and Wellness: The Truth in the September 2009 issue of CoSozo Living for additional information on the volume of oxygen our bodies can use aerobically, or VO2.)

The “rest” period also allows your blood pressure to decrease and your body’s O2 percentage to increase. After you “rest” move as quickly as possible to another exercise, which uses a different muscle than the one just exercised to allow those muscles to rest. Hopefully, you can last for at least 20 minutes, the minimum amount of aerobic exercise recommended by the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM). If not, adjust your weights, change the order of your exercises, use less time each set, or take longer rest periods.

A good way to monitor your intensity during circuit training is by the Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) scale. Even though it is usually considered an aerobic routine, circuit training uses many different body segments moving at different times. These body segments will vary greatly in their size and therefore an erratic heart rate often results. Therefore, using your heart rate to monitor your exercise intensity during circuit training is not recommended. Circuit training can be fun and you can use a variety of equipment or exercises on the spot. Remember to keep your body moving!

Protect your Assets

We need to protect the spine and strengthen the muscles of the lower back. Beginners and more advanced fitness level individuals should start their program by strengthening the abdominal and lower back muscles.

This is done for both injury prevention and athletic performance reasons. The lower back exercises should be treated with even more conservatism than other exercises. Start slow, such as performing a set of 10 to 15 reps. Once you know how you respond to this (in terms of soreness), then you can increase the work to 1 to 3 sets of 15 to 20 reps, 2 to 3 days per week.

The abdominal muscles are a little different, not in structure, but in the manner in which we use these muscles. We typically use our stomach muscles to a mild degree during many of our daily activities.

Therefore, daily abdominal exercises can be appropriate. It is not uncommon for exercisers to perform 50+ reps at a time in one set. Perhaps start with 3 sets of 10. Build up your tolerance for performing about 75 to 100 reps of any combination of abdominal work.

Performance Plateau

If you are not progressing as you once were, you may be at a plateau, and as a result you may need to change your workout. Muscle adaptation responds favorably to change, which can have different effects with different people. Therefore, the “best” change for one individual may not be the best change for another.

Try to change the type of exercises, such as machine to free weights, bands, hydraulic, and cable exercises, etc. Change can be as subtle as changing the grip selection on a particular exercise or machine. Switching exercises that use the same muscles can valuable. Use different combinations of equipment, such as free weights with machine weights. Change the number of reps performed, and keep in mind that the weight will have to be changed as well. Mix up the order of your exercises. If you always wait until the end to do bicep curls, perhaps you just don’t have enough energy to work as hard on them as you do with other areas.

Rest periods between sets and exercises can also be altered to promote further progress. Getting a partner or changing workout clubs may provide great motivation and increase adherence to your own program. Take time off. Periodic rest periods are necessary. One to three weeks off may provide the rest your body needs. Changing exercises can also not only prevent plateaus, but prevent boredom as well. A different exercise or method may prove to increase your excitement about the exercise and thus increase your work ethic, which may drive you past your plateau.

I usually recommend changing at least one or more exercise every few weeks rather than every workout. In this way, you may be able to track your progress more accurately. The new exercise may use the same muscle as the old exercise, but stimulates your mind and provides slightly different neurological pathways to lead to further progress. Feel free to try different exercises if only to provide a training option when your favorite machine is being used.

Note: You are likely to find that some of the free weight exercises are more comfortable than its machine weight equivalent. Don’t forget about sleep and nutrition. Ask yourself if your diet has changed. Look at the types of calories, the amount of fat, protein, and carbohydrates. Are you getting enough? Are you eating too much?

Over-training

Look for signs of over-training. Over-training can certainly be the reason you are at a plateau. Working out harder or doing a higher volume of exercise than you should can lead to muscle and joint injuries. Many, if not most, exercise specialists feel that over-training is very common in health clubs, gyms, and even some athletes. Signs of over-training can differ for everyone.

Generally, if one or more of the obvious gains that you have made throughout the course of your program stops or even starts to reverse, you may be over-training. Cutting back on your volume, the weight used, your exercise frequency, or all of these may be needed. Taking a rest period of 1 to 3 weeks is periodically necessary and may be just what the doctor ordered. After about 2 or 3 months of working out, you may feel you are strong enough to meet your needs. After this occurs, studies indicate that you may be able to reduce your lifting frequency (and put more time into your aerobic program) by lifting only once a week on each muscle, instead of 2 to 3 times per week, and still maintain your strength.

Conclusion

There are hundreds of seemingly different “programs” out there. A large variety of magazines come out with a different miracle program each week or month. It’s hard to keep up. Here is a tip to wade through it all. The specific program you use is not as important as the overall amount and type of work performed.

Keep your workouts fun, change your routine often, and keep them regular, rather than occasional. Age, medical status, genetics, conditioning level, nutrition, different work ethics, and programs designed with realistic goals determine program success. I hope the rationale for these recommendations will help you with your own confidence and achievement of your goals. Your commitment is the key. A healthy diet and regular exercise are the most powerful controllable behaviors we have to greatly enhance our health and mental state. You CAN do it! Exercise your right to good health!