15 Basic Resistance Training Principles You Need to Know Part 1
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The New Year usually symbolizes the start of something new. And maybe your new for this year is Resistance Training. Before we get too deep into this training, it is important to know these fifteen basic resistance training principles to make sure you are doing it correctly, and to get the results that you want.
Join me in this two-part series of Basic Resistance Training Principles of Embrace Your Real podcast to point you in the right direction and achieve the results that you desire.
What I discuss:
Choose the right weight
Use proper form
Be sure to warm up before you lift!
Don't rush through your reps.
Utilize your full range of motion.
Gradually increase your weight.
Mix up your workouts.
Link mentioned in this episode:
If you want more from me, be sure to check out...
Instagram: @embraceyourreal | @movementwithjulie
Transcript:
Hey there, beautiful human. You're listening to Embrace Your Real with me, Julie Ledbetter. A podcast where I empower you to just be you. With each episode, I issue a dose of real talk and actionable advice for building your confidence, honoring your body, and unconditionally loving your authentic self. Stay tuned if you're ready to embrace your real. Let's get it, let's go.
Hello and welcome back to another episode on Embrace Your Real podcast. Today we're talking about 15 basic resistance training principles that you need to know. And this is going to be part one of part two. So going to be sharing seven principles in today's episode, and I will be sharing eight in the remaining episode that I will launch next week. So stay tuned for that. But so many women have come to me over the last week and a half as we're heading into January. I mean, where by the time this is airing, we're already mid-January, which is crazy. But so many people have this, you know, New Year and you have it mentality, and I love that. But I also think that it's really important that you start resistance training or come back to resistance training with the proper knowledge on how to do so correctly. Because if you don't understand some of the principles of resistance training, it's a lot easier to hurt yourself. Plus, you might be, you know, doing it wrong and they might not be enjoying it or, you know, because you're not fully understanding things, you might not be sticking with it. And I just think that it's really important that we come at this new habit or this this habit that we're coming back to with as much knowledge as possible. And so that's why, like I mentioned in today's episode, I'm going to be sharing seven of the 15 kind of basic resistance training principles that you need to know.
And then next week I will share the remaining eight. But before we dive in, I wanted to share this review. It comes from Mary Saki. She gave a five star review and said, Loving Julie's podcast. I found Julianne. Pinterest loved her dumbbell workouts, but I also noticed some podcast snippets and really enjoyed them. So I came here naturally. She has so many great episodes and I'm excited to listen to them So far. My favorite episodes are two 5637 and 18. I believe that is the order that I listen to them in sending much love to all who read this and to Julie for all the love and authenticity she shines forth. Well, I'm so grateful not only that you found me on Pinterest, but that you came over here and you're starting to listen to the podcast. I appreciate every single one of you guys so much. My Pinterest community. You guys are amazing on a daily basis. I connect with you guys in the comments on my videos and messages and I just want to say you guys are awesome. I'm so thankful for you. And if you haven't already, subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, please be sure to do so. When you type in Embrace or Rail, you can click that plus sign in the top right corner. And then also, if you haven't already read it and reviewed the podcast and you're finding this podcast helpful, my one ask of you is that you go on that page and you leave a reading interview. It really does help me and our team out. Kind of just know how this, you know, podcast in general is helping you or how a specific episode has helped you. So thank you in advance for doing that.
Okay, so let's dive into the seven of 15 basic resistance training principles that you need to know in 2023. Number one, you've got to choose the right way. This is really, really important that you are choosing the proper weight for both you, your body, where you're at and kind of your experience level. I don't want you to pick up heavier weights just because everyone around you is lifting heavier because this can lead to poor form, you know, which can even lead to injury, which makes the exercise obviously ineffective. And I don't want you getting hurt. Or on the flip side, I want you to find with weights that are challenging to you. You know, and I think oftentimes if we're just going off of what other people say to use, then we're not really exploring that for ourself, which is the sole reason why nine times out of ten, when you're looking at any of my videos that I post online, whether it's on Instagram or TikTok or Facebook or Pinterest, I rarely put the pounds that I'm using. And I do that for a reason because every single person is in a different spot. They have different experience level, they have access to different dumbbells, and I never want to be the reason why someone is either picking up too heavy of a dumbbell or, you know, too light of a dumbbell based on where they're at. And so I always tell people the sweet spot is really having enough to challenge yourself. And the last, you know, 1 to 3 reps of every set of that particular exercise should be super challenging, but it shouldn't compromise your form. And so you kind of know, you know, that is the general kind of rule of thumb that I go by and I always tell people by like, it's going to take some time for you to figure that out for yourself and where you're at and also what you have access to.
Right? I've done other episodes on the podcast, which I can link in the show notes below, but I did a specific episode talking about how to challenge yourself when you don't have access to heavier weights. And that's a real thing. You know, many people don't have access to a full rack of dumbbells, and so how can you challenge yourself? And so I did a deep dive into that. But all that to say, again, it's just going to take some time for you to know kind of what is the right proper weight for you. And this is why I. I personally love tracking the weights in my movement with Julia, but I know that this is a topic of discussion that we talk about often in our community group of people being like, Man, it's my nemesis. Like, I hate logging the weight, but I'm telling you, it gets easier over time. And also you're going to be so thankful that you do it because as you continue on this journey, you're going to have the all of the exercise history on that specific movement and what you logged in the app. And so that way you're able to kind of see your self progress and it will be a good kind of guiding point for you because if you're not logging that, if you're not, you know, writing it down, it's going to be difficult for you to remember like, Oh yeah, what for Skull Crushers, What was I using or for macros, What was I using or for chess press? What was the last dumbbells that I was using for X amount of, you know, reps? And so I'm a firm believer in tracking that. So that way you have that history in that data to look back on, which kind of leads me to number two, using proper form, maintaining proper form is crucial for maximizing kind of the benefits of dumbbell training and really minimizing the risk of injury.
Right. So the goal here is to really ensure that you are having the most effectiveness and the most efficiency. And by utilizing the right form, that's going to be a lot more effective because it's actually targeting the muscle that you actually want to work. Oftentimes when we have incorrect form, even like small little tweaks, you're recruiting the wrong muscles oftentimes are bigger. Muscle groups tend to take over, especially with like the smaller muscle groups. And if we're not careful in terms of our proper form, we might be completely targeting the wrong muscle in a specific movement. And I also just want to encourage, if you're just starting out or if you're just coming back to this, it's going to take time. But really utilizing proper form will allow you to get a lot more out of each rep. And if this means completely slowing down and doing less, like doing less sets or less rounds, I would much rather you actually recruit the proper muscle with proper form, slow and controlled movement with that mind muscle connection because that's what you're going to get the most out of in terms of you just, you know, instead of you just rushing through the movement and saying like, I just got to get this done and dusted, I would much rather you get, you know, let's say, for example, you're doing a 30 minute workout. And so my movement Julie app, I would much rather you get one round of like mind to muscle very slow and controlled movement rather than rushing through all three giant circuit rounds. So just keep that in mind. Also, this is why I love the app because I give you video demos for every single movement. We just had a brand new app update that released actually, you know, at the time of recording this, it released yesterday, but it will have been released for almost a week.
Now that you're hearing this at the time of you hearing this podcast. But one of the major updates that we had to go live in our app is looping videos. And so video demos were always a part of the app, but it was, you know, you had to click through to a separate page to get to the video. And it just it was tedious and it was time consuming. And so when we were creating this app, we were like, how can we, you know, minimize the time, maximize their efficiency when it comes to each, you know, exercise, having a demo video, but not having it be like five clicks and so on. The app there is looping videos, the video is a little bit closer and it just loops for you. So that way you no longer have to click on anything. It just automatically plays for you when you're on the exercise page. And we have so many new updates in the works for quarter two, so stay tuned. I'm really excited. Some, including, you know, full screen experience, similar to my take talking, my Instagram. So I'm really excited about that. But in the meantime, I think that this current update is really helpful for that. And that's why I am a huge believer in having video demos for every single movement. So there is that. Number three, be sure to warm up before you left, and this is something that I, I will be the first to tell you I'm getting better at. And this is also something that is coming in the next few weeks in our app. I'm really excited to add more warm ups and cool downs because I know how important they are. I personally, you know, in the workouts I do give you a few exercises, typically two or three exercises to warm up, but it's really, really important to warm up properly, even if it's, you know, a five minute walk.
You're doing some dynamic stretching, which is always in my warm ups that I program in the app. But it's important to help, you know, prevent injury. And as we get older, I'm you know now in my thirties I'm 32. It's really important that we are just being smart and I know like if I don't warm up at all and I just go straight into trying to crash a workout without doing anything, it's I'm at a higher risk of injury. And so I and like I mentioned, I'm really excited. To announce that we're you know, we're adding more kind of full warm up and full cool down routines are going to be five minute routines to start with that you can utilize. And they'll be, you know, different ones for leg day and upper body day and full body. And so really excited for that. But please, please, please make sure you are warming up before your sessions. Number four, do not rush through your reps. I kind of mentioned this earlier, but I think that this principle is super underrated in my opinion. Like you'll see in my videos, I purposely don't speed up my videos. And many people that say like, Oh, you got to speed up your videos so that it's, you know, under 15 seconds. And I, I used to do that like even, you know, six, 12 months ago, if I look back at my workout videos, I was really like speeding up my my workout videos just to get it under that 15 second mark. And I have found that that gives a false representation of the movements. And I am a very slow lifter, naturally, and I want you guys to see that because I always say in my program, you know, under the exercise notes, I'm always like slow and controlled movement.
I know this is a one minute amount movement, but it's very slow and controlled. And here's why I like slow and controlled reps really do increase your time under tension, which is also called tight. And this can greatly increase the results from your workouts. Right? Essentially the principle of tight is that it's like the longer the muscle is under tension, the more challenge it is and the more muscle fibers will be recruited during that time. Right. So this is why sometimes you'll even see me like pause for a second or 2 seconds or 30 seconds or I'll do some sort of tempo where I'm like, one, two, three, four, five. Pause, go down right in my mind, I'm talking about like a bicep curls. So like the five second eccentric concentric, all of those things. But I implement a lot of these in my movement with Julie just workouts simply because I love, love, love, time and attention movements. I feel like you can really recruit those muscle fibers and it's fun. They're fun to have all different types of variations in the movements that you so often do, like bicep curls and chest press and sumo squats and deadlifts and all of those things. So that is really, really important that you are not rushing through your reps. Number five utilize full range of motion, utilizing your full range of motion. Other in other terms, it's called ROM programs. If you ever see that, whether it's, you know, on Instagram or you're reading an article, all Rome and Capitals always means range of motion in resistance training. That's really important because it allows you to work all of the muscle fibers in the muscle group that you're targeting, right? When you're only using like a portion of your rom your range of motion, you're not working all the muscle muscle fibers, which really limits the effectiveness of the exercise and can honestly even lead you to injury when you're performing that.
Plus, it can also ensure that you are building muscle in a balanced and symmetrical way. And this can also improve joint stability, flexibility, mobility. And it allows you to use more weight, which leads to greater muscle growth, which is a win win. I want to encourage you guys, because this is a comment that I see a lot. So I've personally been lifting for, you know, ten plus years. Let's see, I really started lifting at the end of 2012. So yeah, it's been ten plus years that I've been lifting and being very intentional about that. And so many people, like when they see, for example, like a goblet squat or they see like a curtsy lunge or a reverse lunge for me, they're like, How the heck do you go so low? And this is going to vary from person to person. I think that some people naturally have just a, you know, an increased range of motion. Like they can literally go all the way down to the ground with a goblet squat, whereas other people who've been lifting for 15, 20 years still can't do that. So I want to I want you to give yourself grace, but also know that the more you do it and the more kind of mobility that like mobility work that you're doing outside of your workouts, that's going to help a lot too. But utilizing your full range of motion to the extent that you can is really important. Number six, gradually increase your weight. So this is really important that you are gradually increasing your weight over time. And this is something that I think a lot of times we let our egos take over and we're not even really recognizing it. Like we're like, Oh, I think I can push it.
I think I can really push it, you know, today and this is why I mentioned earlier in this episode that it's really important that you're tracking your weight, because I personally always recommend increasing, you know, your dumbbells by two, two and a half or £5 at a time, not jumping from like £5 to 15 or 17 or £20. And it's going to take time. And I tell people, you know, oftentimes when you're lifting and you and you're lifting consistently. Typically, you can slowly start to increase your way. I would say every, you know, 4 to 6 weeks is a great kind of when you're first getting into it, you really want to make sure you stay consistent, that you're your proper form, you're really focusing on form. First. I always say if your form is crap, it doesn't matter how much you're lifting because you're not recruiting them. The right muscles, which I mentioned earlier. And so really try to focus on that first. But if you are ready to increase and you're finding that, you know, the last 1 to 3 reps of each exercise and each set is you can do it with ease and it's not tiring you out at all, then you are definitely ready to increase. And and I have this, this actual topic came up in the movement with Julie Community recently and someone talked about this company called July Body July so the month of July body Y and this is definitely not an ad but I checked them out and it's actually really cool. So they have like £1.25 clips that you add to your dumbbells to increase them by £2.5. And I thought that this is really beneficial for people who, you know, are wanting to have that option to increase.
And the cool thing about this is that they're versatile, right? So they're clip on. So whether you're, you know, maybe you're want to increase something for bicep curls but then you also want to increase something for squats. Well, that's typically going to be two different dumbbells as I always tell people, like when they first start out at least having, you know, a light pair of dumbbells, which will be the majority of your upper body exercises, will be utilizing the light pair. And then for your leg day, your glutes, your hamstrings, all of those things, you'll likely use the medium to heavy pair. Well, it's really cool to have clips, so that way you don't have to get like tons of different dumbbells and have like entirely new sets of dumbbells. And so check it out. I don't have a discount code. I think when I went on the website they did have some sort of newsletter sign up discount codes, so check that out. Again, it's called July Body j u l y like the month body y. And I think if you just type in and I'm sure it will pop up, but super important that you are gradually increasing your weight, not doing it suddenly. And this is again why I love tracking my weight and tracking how much I'm using for specific exercises. So that way I'm able to kind of refer back when I'm doing a similar, you know, exercise in the future. And number seven, mix up your workouts. Mixing up your workouts is going to do a few main things. It's going to prevent boredom and it's also going to help with plateaus. So how does really mixing up your workouts cause plateaus? Well, your body adapts to this stress that it's repeatedly placed under, which is why if you're solely, you know, building strength and that's your goal and I've talked about this before in the podcast, you'll need to do the same program over and like the same exercises over and over and over again.
But if you are really wanting to build strength, like strength is your number one goal. You don't care about doing the same workout over and over. You're going to have to consistently increase your weight with specific exercises as you get stronger simply because your body is going to adapt to whatever you're doing right. So if you're, you know, for six months for chess press, you're using £10 dumbbells for that, exercise it over time, your body's just going to adapt to it and then it's, you know, you're likely going to see a plateau, You're not going to be getting stronger. But I also see kind of like I mentioned in a different podcast episode, I see so many women when they're following kind of these more traditional weight training programs, and it's the same programing week in and week out. They're getting super bored, and when they're bored, they lack consistency. I know for me this is exactly why I stopped going to the gym and I started demo workouts at home in 2018 was because I was bored and I was doing the same workouts over and over again. But you've heard me a million times in this podcast talk about this, that it doesn't matter what exercise program you're following, if you're not following it consistently, it's not going to obviously work, right? So I always say, okay, well, again, if strength is your sole goal and you just want to focus on strength and you don't care about the same programing, by all means do that. You need to have access to, you know, heavier dumbbells or heavier weights if they're, you know, at the gym and you're doing barbells so that you can consistently keep challenging your body. But this is on the flip side, why I love kind of mixing up your workouts because it's the consistent, imperfect action over time that leads to results.
And this is why I'm a firm believer in movement and workouts through and through, because each week your workout is going to be different. With that being said, from week to week I program the same foundational movements to ensure that you're properly working your muscles. We work the same muscle groups week in and week out, right? We have this same kind of workout split that we follow. Like on Mondays we do lower body Tuesdays, upper body Wednesdays, cardio and core Thursday shoulders and. Glutes and Friday's full body. But within those workouts, yes, the foundational movements are the same from week to week, but there's different variations. So that way you're not getting bored, you're not getting disinterested. That's not following through with your training program. So mixing up your workouts can be super beneficial if you are wanting to stay consistent. And like I mentioned, it's consistent in perfect action over time that's going to lead to the more massive results. If you are interested in my movement. Julie app kind of what's included. So we have, like I mentioned, the fiber, any workouts each week. We have to work out options each day. So depending on your time constraints, we have a 60 minute workout where 30 minute variation, if you're low on time, it makes it perfect for you to fit into kind of your time constraints that day. Video demos, like I mentioned for each movement with trainer notes with key points to make sure that you're executing each exercise with confidence, and then you are also able to adjust the difficulty level or the equipment that you have available. So if I program something with a bench, I will always program a no bench alternate. If I program something with cable or bands, I'll always program a dumbbell or a bodyweight alternate movement just to make sure that you have that.
And then on the flip side, when it comes to like cardio movements, I will always program a low impact movement. If it's in impact movement, just because I know that some people, they don't like the impact movements or they're working out, you know, on the third level of their apartment and they don't want their neighbor to totally hate them. But that way, all fitness levels can really finish each workout with confidence. And then my most favorite part is the accountability and support. So as an active subscriber, you actually gain access to an incredible group of women from all over the world inside Facebook. And it's really cool because we're each doing the same workouts from week to week. You know, the workouts are movable, so even though they're programed on your schedule from Monday to Friday, if you want to do a cardio and core workout on Saturday instead of Wednesday, or you want to start your workout week on Saturdays or Sundays, you can totally do that. New workouts for the following week are always released at 12 p.m. Mountain Standard Time on Saturdays. And I know that there's a huge group of ladies in the community that start the workout. We kind of on Sunday just to kick start their week and so they're done by Thursday, which is awesome. So totally up to you how you do it. You can move the workout to a different day on the calendar. If you know if it's programed on Monday, that doesn't mean you have to do it on Monday. It's totally the freedom and flexibility is there for you. So if you want to learn more, you can go to sale That's Sally demo or Julie dot com again that sale as Sally dat movement with Julie dot com.
We would love to have you I would love for you to be inside the app check out the new app update. I really think that it's going to be beneficial for you. Just remember that movement doesn't have to be complicated and you can really, you know, see how fun and effective these workouts can be. And really all you need is a few pair of dumbbells, a small space in your phone. So there you have it. Also, I wanted to quickly recap those seven principles that I talked about today. And remember, we are going to have a part two next week, so stay tuned for that. But number one, choose the right weight number to use proper form. Number three, be sure to warm up before you lift. I'm talking to myself to number four. Don't rush through your reps. Number five, utilize your full range of motion and just remember to give yourself grace. The longer that you do it, the more that you do it. And also the mobility that you're doing outside of your training programs is really going to help with this. Number six, gradually increase your weight and number seven, mix up your workouts. If you found this episode helpful, I would love for you to share it with a friend or share it with your community on Instagram or Facebook or wherever you find yourself on the internet. You can screenshot this and post it up. You can also copy the link and send it to a friend in a text message and say, Hey, check this out. But that is all that I have for today's episode. I love you so much. And we. And I'll talk to you in the next. All right, sister. That's all I got for you today.
But I have two things that I need you to do. First thing, if you are not already following me on the gram, be sure to do so. Julie, A, Ledbetter. Yes, it's with “A” in the middle,for that daily post workout real talk, Healthy tips and tricks, and honest accountability to keep your mind and heart in check. The second thing, be sure to subscribe to Apple Podcasts to never miss an episode. Thank you so much for joining me. It means the absolute world. And I'm going to leave you with one last thought. The most beautiful women that I have met in my life are the ones who are completely confident and secure in being authentically themselves. Remember that beauty goes so much deeper than the surface. So go out there and embrace your real because you're worth it.