1 – Choose a programme and stick to it.
It doesn’t matter if you do 5/3/1, starting strength, stronglifts or whatever programme you have found on t-nation or bodybuilding.com or wherever people go to read about lifting these days. Don’t listen to the total body ninjas or the split fanatics there isn’t really any right or wrong way of getting into lifting the important thing is that you actually get into lifting and stick with it.
You’re going to get stronger doing any programme at this point in your training life so it is pretty much irrelevant what loading patterns or sets x reps you do. Ideally you will do a programme that provides a diverse variety of compound movements so you can get a taste of different kinds of lifting. You might find you love the snatch and clean and jerk or variations but hate bench press so you might decide you want to go into weightlifting a programme that only offers the big 3 (squat bench deadlift) will only let you know what your thinkof powerlifting based programmes. That being said doing a powerlifting based programme is infinitely better than no programme at all.
What ever programme you decide to do give it a minimum of 6 months before you entertain changing your training. You need to learn the process of training everything that surrounds it how to warm up, best time in your day to go to the gym, what to eat in and around training. All of these factors are much more important for you that what you are actually doing in your training programme.
You need to learn how to train before you can even think about what kind of training you are doing.
2 – Shut your fucking mouth and stay off the internet.
You don’t deserve and opinion as you haven’t earned the right to have an opinion until you have been training for a few years and read around the areas, perhaps even achieved some standard of strength you don’t deserve an opinion.
Getting under the comment section of a youtube video of someone who is in all likelihood a much better lifter than you and shooting your mouth off isn’t going to do shit for you as a lifter. Arguing with other pencil necks about which version of bullshit diet is the best version isn’t going to do much for your strength or physique. Adopting some “guru” standpoint on an issue of no consequence isn’t going to improve your technique.
Instead of reading whatever “guru” ass piece A or “guru” ass piece B has to say on the internet how about you getting your car or go for a walk to your nearest weights room and put some work in?
The only thing that is going to improve your lifting or your knowledge is either getting some experience training or to pick up a book written by someone who know’s what day it is. There is a plethora of shit on the internet when it comes to strength training or fitness books are a much better bet.
Read starting strength but don’t stop there Mark Rippetoe has written a great starting place for lifters but if you think reading one book on the topic will suffice then you’re in for a bad time. Read the science and practice of strength training by Zatorski sure some of it will fly over your head but you will start to develop a good understanding of the in depth background.
3 – Never increase the weight unless your form is beautiful
You only get 2 knees and one spine so please don’t fuck them up doing a 140 kg deadlift or squat sure it feels good hitting a personal best but there is no need to endanger your future joint health to lift what is relatively speaking warm up weight for most lifters. Rome wasn’t built in a day but your spine can get fucked in 1 minute if you don’t pay attention.
Ultimately your ability to push through an efficient line in a lift will lead to much greater weights being lifted in the long run. Whilst you might have to take a back seat on the gains express during your first few years as a lifter to get your technique right on a few lifts it will mean you can go much further down the line.
Lifters who rush their strength or try to take shortcuts to getting stronger before they have learnt the correct technique always end up hitting massive plateaus or getting injured. If you use the correct technique with your lifting not only are much less likely to get injured but you are always much more likely to lift bigger weights. Seems like a no brainer to me.
There is no need to try and lift heavier loads every workout this is a good path to ruin.
1 – Learn how to do it.
2 – Make it beautiful
3 – Make it Heavier
4 – Make it beautiful
5 – Make it Heavier
6 – ……
Marc
