Be Prepared and Proficient
The way one trains when beginning weight training, or returning to it after a break is something that has a lot of varied opinions and approaches. Today I will discuss a few things that I often notice novice lifters could do better.
First of all, lets discuss a true beginner. For someone who has never weight trained before, I prefer to do a few things differently than I often see them done.
I often see coaches of beginners and beginners alike jumping into a very rigid program that is preplanned for a semi long period of time based off only percentages. While this is great to develop the discipline and consistency needed there are two logical problems with this from a programming side. First is that the athlete will be very rapidly changing as they learn new skills, develop new strengths, and as a result their needs are very dynamic. Second is that following a program as previously described requires a baseline. This means maxing on something that you simply might be unprepared to safely max on. Also, they will not be recording an accurate baseline for tracking strength progress, because motor learning will be such a large contributory factor. Now, if you can afford a coach, this is one of the many reasons I suggest it. I also se beginners doing a lot of overly complex movements, or rotating movements very often from the very beginning. For coaches and athletes thinking through it themselves though, here are a few of my easy to follow principles regarding this.
Don’t max to start. I prefer to see beginners getting a baseline after a small prep phase, or if they have a coach, to see them calling the weights week to week on new clients (or set to set if they’re hands on clientele), especially if they are true beginners. Make the relative intensity align with the proficiency and preparedness.
Set rep ranges on your top sets to allow a little wiggle room. I do this sometimes for advanced populations too, but it is excellent for beginners because it is a very simple way to properly execute a good degree of autoregulation. Alternatively you can set weight ranges rather than calling a weight, or if you have a coach they can call the weight week to week or even set to set.
I stick to the same movements for several weeks. Keep the same big movements in there consistently and rotate the secondary and assistance movements every 3-8 weeks.
All of these are also true if you are an experienced lifter but have had a long layoff. You may still be good at the movement, so your primary movement selection may be a little broader, however you should still expect to bounce back faster than you got strong in the first place. Muscle memory is kind of like noobie gains. Also like beginners, you may not have the physical preparation needed to safely max those movements. An inaccurate baseline isn’t worth risking injury. So, gain the benefit of a more accurate and safer baseline by maxing after a small prep period, and start small with your movement selection and broaden your horizons again over time. While it may be tempting to max out right out of the gate and then pretend you had massive progress, you will learn more about patterns by waiting until data points are more suitable to include for consideration. This, like most things that matter, is a marathon of sorts, not a sprint.
Take the time to set yourself up for success. If you need help with that, check out this 3 week corrective block! You can run this block 1-3 times in a row when starting out or when returning to the gym to fast track your technical proficiency and set yourself up for longterm success. And it will have you getting stronger out the gate too! NTBFW Training Systems
After you feel good at the movements and ready to move on you can check out this document to find your next NTBFW program!
Stay strong!
Coach Josh