When you're doing strength training there are several important guidelines to keep in mind. These guidelines will make sure you do not overdo your workouts which is bad for your body.
The key thing to remember is to do your training, but be smart and realistic about it. Here are the most important guidelines that you need to know.
1. Don't do your weight training any more than three times a week. This will help to give your body the workout that it needs while also allowing your muscles time to rest.
Your muscles grow when your body is at rest. Most people don't know that, so be mindful of it and make sure you are not overdoing it.
2. For each exercise that you do, you want to perform 1-2 sets for each. This will allow a good workout, but will keep you from overdoing it.
3. For each of your small muscle groups choose 1 to 2 exercises to do. For the larger muscle groups do 2 to 3 exercises.
In other words, for your back, chest and leg muscles, you want to do 2 to 3 exercises and for your arms, shoulders and other small muscle groups, you want to do 1 to 2 exercises.
4. Don't ever choose more than 8 to 10 exercises and always work hard with them. This will keep your training going good without overdoing it.
It's always a good idea to keep track of your workouts you have done. This will help you keep track of the progress being made and will give you an easy way to adjust your workouts.
5. When doing the exercise, you want to be sure that you perform is slowly. It is imperative to force your muscles to do the work for the training, not the momentum or it won't be effective.
6. Any time that you notice a slow-down in your progress it is time to make adjustments to your routine. Don't stay with the same thing over and over, because this will not continue to be effective for your muscles, and after awhile they need to be worked out a little more.
These are the top guidelines to keep in mind when doing strength training. Training is helpful in getting and staying in shape, but if you overdo it and can also hurt your body.
By remembering these guidelines, you will be able to complete effective training, while not being in danger of overdoing it.