What is strength training?

Essentially a training style aimed at increasing muscle through increased muscle density, power and force. Strength training has been proven to help keep the body fit among many different health avenues and it has even been advised as one of the most important training styles to engage in when trying to burn fat. Strength training is a relatively simple; basic style however mistakes are inevitable in any program, so here are our 5 Common Strength Training Mistakes You Are Making which you can avoid:

1. The infamous 5-day split

There are many opinions on what is the best training split to follow, we believe the evidence is inconclusive and thus it is inaccurate to claim one split is the split. However, we can confirm that there is no supportive evidence that explicitly displays a significant increase in strength via the infamous 5-day training split:

  • Monday – Chest 
  • Tuesday – Back 
  • Wednesday – Legs 
  • Thursday – Shoulders 
  • Friday – Arms
  • Saturday – REST
  • Sudnay – REST 

The best advice we can give is to experiment with different training styles which optimise strength and then incorporate those routines into your weekly split. For example, all compound lifts which act as a pulling motion will target multiple muscles on the rear part of the body as well as the biceps, so this day could be set as a “Pull day”. Alternatively, pulling and pushing compound lifts could be set to an upperbody day. The options are endless, so experiment and see what works for you.

 

2. Training in the higher rep ranges

Now although higher rep ranges have their benefit, they play little effect in the role of strength training. The idea is to work around your 1 rep max (1RM) and lifting 90-100% of this weight, for all major lifts you should have tested your 1RM and consistently aim to increase it, to increase it however you do not need to test your 1RM every week but merely train so that your lifts become more fluid and each set leading up to a 1RM becomes more efficient.

 

3. Skipping de-load week

We love lifting heavy weights and yes the goal is to lift heavier, but without incorporating a de-load week your lifts will suffer. This is because the muscles become fatigued over time and they need recovery periods to reset their potential, without a de-load week you will notice yourself hitting serious plateaus and maybe even losing strength. Generally a de-load week should be incorporated into a program once every 4-6 weeks, reduce load by 20%, increase rest periods slightly, it is even effective to reduce the number training days in the week. Program a de-load week!

 

4. Lack of recovery

Big, big, big mistake! If you are not programming a rest day into your training split, then your lifts, strength and body will suffer greatly, be cautious of your body’s abilities and know when and when not to train based on muscle fatigue and tiredness. More often than not, people over exert themselves to a point where the body enters a deficit and overtime can lead to muscle atrophy. By incorporating at least one rest day every 3-4 training days for beginner to intermediate trainers and every 5-6 training days for advanced trainers.

 

5. Not hitting a personal record often enough

During your training journey, you should be aiming to increase your lifts in order to increase strength. This is done by lifting heavier weights each session as frequently as possible in hopes of hitting a new record for each lift over time, to do this you must be recording your lifts, taking either a mental or physical note each week. A personal record (PR) doesn’t have to be a 1RM, in theory it can be 8 reps at 80% of your 1RM one week and 10 reps at 80% of your 1RM the next week, a new PR.

If you found this post insightful, why not check out some of our previous posts on our blog page or if you are interested in becoming a qualified personal trainer check out our main page for course information.

Written by Daniyal Siddiqui.