Worried about what people think whilst your amongst the gym environment? Can’t focus? Making up your workout as you go along?  Making that first step into the weight room can be a daunting task for many, however it is certainly worth overcoming the anxiety and taking the plunge. There are a number of health benefits associated with weight training. The primary benefit is building lean muscle tissue, which in turn gives you a higher caloric output, leading to a leaner physique alongside improving your overall quality of life. What more could you ask for?

It’s time to get organised and set yourself up with your own strength training plan.

Here is a break down of what you want to consider in a strength training programme design:

Let’s start with the most important – Goal Setting: Do you have a particular deadline to work towards? Why do you want to build muscle and strength? Use a journal and track your workouts, how do you know whether you are improving if you don’t know what you did the previous session? Stay focused and never repeat the same workout twice. I would recommend using your own training journal to track and to also clearly state what your desired goal is alongside when you will achieve this by.

Next, it is important to consider the following into programme design:

Training Frequency

How many sessions can you do over the course of a week by week basis? Remember you must be able to stick to this week in, week out. There’s no point starting something if you are not going to see it through to the end, don’t start with 6 sessions a week if it isn’t realistic. For beginners a good place to start is 3 sessions a week for 1 hour which would cover 2-3 sets per exercise, this would also include both warm up and cool down. Stick to a set plan for 6-12 weeks, once you reach this stage it’s time to mix things up and give both your mind and body new stimulus to respond to. One of the most common problems that most people have is that they don’t see things through to the end, finish what you have started and you will see week on week progression with the use of consistent action.