15 Basic Resistance Training Principles You Need to Know Part 3
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Going into Resistance Training this year? Check these 15 Basic Resistance Training Principles to make sure you are doing it correctly, and get the results that you desire.
This is the third and final part of the Basic Resistance Training Principles series of Embrace Your Real podcast to guide you in the right direction and to achieve the results that you are aiming for.
What I discuss:
13. You need to work a muscle group once a week to see optimal results.
14. The importance of rest…
15. You need to put in just as much effort into your nutrition (if not more) as you do your workouts if you want to see results.
Links mentioned in the episode:
Episode 303 - 15 Basic Resistance Training Principles You Need to Know Part 1
Episode 305 - 15 Basic Resistance Training Principles You Need to Know Part 2
If you want more from me, be sure to check out...
Instagram: @embraceyourreal | @movementwithjulie
Workout App: https://sale.movementwithjulie.com/
Website: www.juliealedbetter.com
Free e-book: www.juliealedbetter.com/free-ebook
Macro Counting Made Simple: https://www.macrocountingmadesimple.com/
Amazon Storefront: https://www.amazon.com/shop/influencer-6bda1ca8?ref=cm_sw_em_r_inf_pub_influencer-6bda1ca8_dp_DgsIam9salgfi
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 hugs, girl. Hello and welcome back to our 15 Basic Resistance Training principles that you need to know. This is part three. It's going to be the last and final part of our series. As I said before, I'm really doing this series because I know so many of you guys who are just getting started with resistance training. Whether you are coming back to it after some time off or you're getting into it for the very first time. I wanted to put together a three part series to really make sure that you understood the foundation of resistance training so that you can set yourself up for success. So if you haven't listened to part one or Part two, that is totally okay. They're not really in any particular order, but I do recommend going to listen to those next, so I will be sure to link those both of. Part one and part two in the show notes below so that you can easily go listen to those. With that being said, let me dive into what we kind of already went through in terms of the principles that you need to know regarding resistance training. So number one, choose the right way. Number two, use proper form. Number three, make sure you are prioritizing those warm ups before you lift. Number four, do not rush through your reps. Number five, utilizing your full range of motion. Number six, gradually increasing your weight. Number seven, making sure to mix up your workouts. Number eight, you need to breathe and breathe correctly. So making sure that you're just prioritizing that breathing throughout the entire movement. Number nine, taking breaks, but being strategic about those rests. Number ten, compound exercises versus isolation exercises and why you should be utilizing both. Number 11 volume, the benefits to changing up your volume. And number 12, the importance of consistency and how it can truly take at least a year to really change your body composition. So if any of those interest you or if all of those interests you, I again recommend that you go and check out part one and part two of this series. I really think that this is going to be beneficial for you, even if you have been lifting weights for a while. But maybe you didn't ever learn the fundamentals of resistance training. I think that this can add some value to your life, so be sure to go and listen to those after this podcast. Again, I will link them in the show notes below. But before we dive in, I wanted to share this review comes from Miss VI Range. She gave a five star review and said, I love this podcast. This podcast has helped me so much in my fitness journey. Julie is so informative and I've gained so much knowledge and encouragement from just listening. I also use her movement with Julie app and workouts and I absolutely love having my workouts already laid out for me. And the best part is I can do all of it from home. Thank you, Julie, for pouring so much into this podcast. I'm so grateful. Thank you so much for taking time out of your day to send this. And I'm so thankful that this podcast is not only helping you gain more knowledge, but also encouragement. Those are two foundational pieces of this podcast that I hope and pray that every woman can get from listening to this podcast in general. So thank you. I'm also so grateful to hear that the Julie App demo only workouts are serving you and that they're helping you. I personally to follow every single one of these workouts and I love having a plan. I always say this random workouts equals random results. And so if you don't have a plan, there's going to be a lot more room for excuses and you're likely not going to see the results that you want. So thankful that you are following them and you are loving them. Thank you for taking time out of your day to send this in. If you haven't already left a rating interview on the podcast, if you could scootch over to Apple Podcasts. There's a purple icon on every single Apple device that says podcast. When you type in, embrace your real first, make sure you subscribe so that you never miss an episode. It's the plus sign in the top right corner. Then once you're on that page, you can scroll all the way down and leave a rating and review. It really does help us out so much, not only to know how this podcast is helping you, but also helps other women who stumble upon this page to be able to kind of look at their reviews to see if this is a podcast that they want to tune into. Our goal is to help millions of women every year really embrace the real and learn how to properly feel their body and learn how to honor their bodies with movement and just giving some real talk in between. So thank you in advance for doing that. I appreciate every single one of you guys. Let's dive in to the last and final part of the 15 basic resistance training principles that you need to know. Number 13, you need to work a muscle group once a week to see optimal results. And this is why weekly programing matters. Like I mentioned earlier, random plans and random programing will equal random results. And it's really important that, you know, you are following a specific plan because without that, you're likely not going to build the body that you want. And in order to see, you know, visible improvements in both your muscle tone and strength and also your energy, your vitality all. The other benefits that come along with lifting. It's really important that you have a structured workout plan that target specific muscle groups. There's so many different ways to structure, workout plan, and honestly, every single fitness expert is going to have a different opinion at the end of the day. It's important to be following a plan that is carefully crafted to ensure that you are hitting the appropriate muscle groups and the appropriate volume per week, and it's going to vary from person to person what type of programing you want to follow. But just remember this a muscle will not grow if it's not worked consistently. And this is because the process of muscle growth, which is also known as hypertrophy, requires a certain level of stress and tension to be placed on the muscle fibers. And without the stress being placed regularly on the muscle fibers, there's no reason for those fibers to repair, adapt and grow. But with this, one important thing to note is that consistency is key because you could have the best structured plan. But if you're not following it consistently, if your workouts are sporadic or you're only working certain muscle groups, you're not going to yield the results that you would if you were following, you know, targeted muscle groups on a consistent basis. You need to have a properly structured plan that you stick to and stick to consistently. Right. Hitting the leg workout 1 to 2 times a month isn't going to provide you the same benefits as hitting your legs four times a month. Or better yet, you know, eight times a month. Working a specific muscle group weekly is important for two reasons. You need to work the muscle consistently in order to build muscle, but you also need to give it enough time to recover and rebuild. And this is why weekly is really the sweet spot. Like working a muscle weekly can help increase the muscles metabolism, which can lead to an overall reduction in body fat. And this is why your muscle tissue is way more metabolically active than your fat tissue. You know what this means? It means that it's burning more calories even at rest. And that's what we ideally want. Therefore, by working a muscle weekly, you can increase the muscles metabolism, which can lead to a reduction in body fat, a.k.a. leading you to change your overall body composition. And at the same time, though, we don't want to overwork our muscles more is not better. And that's why Weekly is really the sweet spot. And this is kind of, you know, this is what I want to dive into, into the next principle. But all that to say, this is why I personally carefully program the movement which Julie workouts and when I'm doing so, I'm not only calculating the volume necessary for each muscle group, but I'm also ensuring that you're hitting that sweet spot between getting worked enough, but not too much. So I break the workouts into a five day split. It's lower body, which is really an emphasis on quads, glutes, hamstrings and then upper body, which is an emphasis on biceps, triceps, chest and back. And then we go into cardio and core conditioning, then we go into shoulders and glutes. It's really focusing specific on the glutes. There's definitely an emphasis, obviously on hamstrings when you're focusing on specific muscles are a specific workout exercises that are targeting the glutes, you're likely going to target your hamstrings, but there's not a big emphasis on quads on that day because you already work that in your lower body. And most of the time women want to have a pitch. They want to have they want to build their glutes. And that's why we are very intentional about working glutes two times a week in this programing. And then lastly, full body workouts are program done Fridays. So this weekly workout split kind of and the volume in each workout will really ensure that you're not overworking your muscles, but you're working them enough. If you are unsure about programing your workouts and you want to learn more about my movement. Julie App all you need is a few pair of dumbbells, a small space if you have a bench. Amazing. If you do decide to get a bench, I would recommend getting an adjustable bench simply because you can get so much bang for your buck. But if you don't have access to a bench, you just have access to a few pair of dumbbells and a small space. Totally fine. That is all that you truly need because I always give alternate exercises. If I program something that has, you know, a bench or utilizes a bench, or if I program something that utilizes resistance bands, I always program a dumbbell or bodyweight alternate. So you definitely don't need those things. If you want to learn more though, and get 50% off your first month, you got to do it through my website. So go to sale That's Sally memory Julie dot com. I'll also link it in the show notes below. But if you are truly serious about seeing results with minimal equipment, I would definitely consider following the weekly program inside the app. Number 14 The importance of Rest. Now, I've talked about this in so many other episodes before, but I really want to dive into it even more because it's important and I think that oftentimes rest is overlooked simply because it's either ignorance or it's us thinking that we can kind of override it. But this the importance of recovery and rest. Is so vital if you want to see results. Working a muscle too many times in one week can be bad because it can lead to overtraining and injury and overtraining really occurs when a muscle is worked too much in one week, resulting in too much damage to the muscle fibers without giving it enough time to actually recover and repair itself. This can lead to fatigue, decreased performance, higher risk of injury, hormonal issues and lack of muscle growth. Now, let's kind of explain why this is so during your workout. That's actually not the time that you're building muscle. You are building muscle when you are at rest. When you work a specific muscle, you are causing small tears in that muscles fiber. And after your workout is when your body works to repair these tears. So when repaired, it leads to an increase in muscle mass. But the caveat here is that these tears can really only repair when you are not continuing to tear more muscle fibers. At the same time, it needs time to recover. And that's why I always say more is not better in terms of your workouts. While hypertrophy won't happen when you don't work out enough, it also can't happen if you work out too much, so your body has to processes. The first one is a NABL ism, the process of building new muscle and the second one is catabolism, the process of breaking down muscle. So when you work out, your body is in the state of catabolism, a.k.a. your tearing down your muscle fibers and breaking them down. And after your workout is when you enter the state of Annapolis where you're working to repair and grow your muscles. But if you don't ever give your body enough rest, you never really give your body enough time to finish its anabolic processes. And that will lead you to the constant state of catabolism, a.k.a. the constant state of muscle breakdown. So if you're constantly breaking down your muscle, you're never going to get stronger, more toned, which is means that you're never going to actually see the body composition change that you're looking for, right when you enter a state of overtraining and constant muscle breakdown. It can also lead to hormonal changes in your body, but most commonly an increase in cortisol. Right. Cortisol is actually your hormone that breaks down your muscle tissue. So not only will it further increase the amount of muscle being broken down in your body, meaning you're not able to get stronger or more toned, but worse. Cortisol promotes the storage of fat, particularly in the abdominal area. So you heard it right. Overtraining can actually lead to unwanted body fat gain. So this is why I always suggest more is not always better. One reason why it can actually trigger weight gain is because it slows your metabolism while simultaneously increasing your appetite and cravings. And this is a duo we don't want to be dealing with when we're trying to build the body that we want. So how do we avoid overtraining? Well, you got to give yourself at least one day to rest and recovery days from your workouts. These days, of course, you can still go for a light walk, do some, you know, light things around the house. But you are not crushing a hard workout. You're not getting, you know, your optimal burn on. For example, a recovery day would be something where if you want to attend, let's say, for example, a yoga class, this would not be a day that you are picking the power yoga class. This is a day that you're picking like gentle yoga. I also do stretching. Sometimes I will do, you know, a light walk or even a jog, something a little bit different from what I'm normally doing in terms of like crushing a dumbbell workout, but not so much to where I am, you know, absolutely sweating. And I'm like not giving my body enough rest. And this is why, personally, I have found that five days a week is a sweet spot, right? So I don't train more than five days a week in terms of dumbbell workouts. And I have found that to kind of be the sweet spot for many women in being able to commit to them, you know, during the week without feeling like they're overtraining, but also feeling like it's not so overwhelming that they can't do it. But I also say that if five days a week is not in the cards for, you can absolutely train, you know, three days a week and still see amazing results so long as you are properly training each muscle group. Right. If you are hitting all the major muscle groups within these three days and giving yourself the time that your body needs to repair, you're still going to see amazing results. Again, this is really only true, though, if you are programing the proper muscles on each day. So for instance, when people ask me like, Hey, I can commit to three days a week training, what would you recommend if you are doing like a monday, Wednesday, Friday split? I would do lower body on Monday, upper body on Wednesday, full body on Friday. The cool thing about this though, is that you could actually do lower body upper body and I would give one day in between upper body and full body. But you could do like a monday, Tuesday, Thursday split or you could do a Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday split. But as long as. You know, you're hitting those three major workouts, lower body, upper body and full body. You are going to be able to see results. And just remember that more is not better. Okay. So let's dive into the final principle of resistance training, which is 15. You need to put in just as much effort into your nutrition, if not more, as you do your workouts. If you truly want to see results, you guys, I couldn't let you off the hook. You know, I know we're talking about resistance training here, but nutrition plays such a vital role in the overall journey. And so I had to mention it. Proper nutrition is genuinely just as important, if not more important, than regular exercise when it comes to achieving your fitness goals. In fact, like I mentioned earlier, many experts argue that nutrition really plays a larger role in determining your overall body composition and overall health. You really can't out train about diet because of the significant impact that nutrition has in your overall health and fitness goals. And while exercise, yes, is a very important component of a healthy lifestyle, it is not enough to counteract the negative effects of under nourishing your body. So when it comes to weight loss or muscle gain, whether whether or not you like it, the good old calories in versus calories out strategy, that still holds true. And this means that if you want to lose weight, you need to create a caloric deficit by consuming fewer calories than you burn. If you want to gain muscle, you need to create a caloric surplus by consuming more calories than you burn. But at the same time, it's not all about your calories. It's also about your macronutrients, A.K.A. macros. So you hear me talk about macros a lot on this podcast. And first of all, macro counting really does ensure that you are consuming enough protein to support your muscle growth and repair. Right. Protein is essential for muscle recovery and growth. And while you're resistance training, you're going to need enough protein and more protein than you would if you just sat around all day because your body really needs that protein to be able to repair and grow your muscles. So really, by being intentional about tracking your protein intake, you can ensure that you're consuming enough to support your muscle building slash toning goals. Plus, macro counting allows you to monitor also two other macronutrients your carbohydrates and your fat intake, which are also very important for both muscle growth and overall health. So carbohydrates provide energy for these intense workouts. Well, rare as healthy fats are really necessary for that hormone production brain function. The absorption of certain muscles, the absorption of certain vitamins and minerals. And by tracking your macros, you are able to make sure that you are consuming enough carbohydrates and healthy fats to ensure that you're supporting your body's goals while maintaining a healthy balance. To dive a little bit deeper, failing to nourish your body with what it needs will lead you to lack energy, which means that you likely won't have the energy to really challenge yourself in your workouts, which could hinder you from seeing muscle strength or toning or whatever it is that your goal is right. Failing to properly nourish your body could also mean that you're not giving your body enough protein, and when your muscles don't have enough protein it needs to build, it likely will not build more muscle. Right. This means that you could be actually slowing down your metabolism, which in turns means that you're not burning as much fat as you would like. This can also lead to more inflammation, hormone issues, deregulated system, and the list really does go on and on. The different ways poor nutrition can have an effect on your results is genuinely endless. And this is why it's really important to nourish your body that it needs in order to see optimal results from your workouts. I like to use this saying because I feel like it really gives us a visual picture, but working out without proper nutrition is like walking up an escalator that's going down. It's going to take a lot longer. It's going to take you so much hard work to try to go against what the escalator is doing right, But you don't have to make it that much harder. You really don't. And this is why I always say that prioritizing your nutrition will take you so far in life, not only because nutrition plays such a vital role in just our overall social life, and food is genuinely the center of our life. Like the events, the things that happen, social interactions, food is oftentimes at the center of that. And if you don't have a healthy and thriving relationship with food, not only are you going to be hindering your fitness goals, but you're also likely going to not be able to enjoy your social life. You're not going to be able to enjoy the food. And I always tell people the goal of macro accounting is it's not a diet, it's a lifestyle. It is teaching you. It is empowering you around food so that you can genuinely feel so encouraged around food to the point where you're able to eat what you want in moderation and not feel like you have. You restrict yourself to the point where you're missing out on family events, you're completely missing out on eating your favorite foods from week to week. And this can lead you in such a toxic cycle and you could be working against yourself. I know that the thought of counting macros can feel very daunting and overwhelming. And also I want you to know that micro counting is not just a plain black and white approach. I personally gave you a really informative episode a few months ago. It's episode 277 The Five Macro Approaches. I will link it in the show notes below, but I really break down kind of all the different approaches to macro accounting that you can take so that you can pick which one you feel is best fit for your season of life right now. It doesn't have to be cut and dry. It doesn't have to be black and white, and it doesn't have to be overwhelming. If you want to learn more, I do have a program on macro accounting itself where not only we really try to break down everything in the most simple form without leaving out the important things. In my macro economy, it's simple Online academy. You can learn more. We also give you a custom macro calculation. We show you step by step how we did it so that you can feel empowered in the future. We don't want you to feel like you have to rely on a coach for the rest of your life. And that is exactly why we created this program. So if you want to learn more, I will link that in the show notes below. But it's macro accounting made simple. Com and that is really the place where you can get access to all the tools that you need to nourish your body for ultimate success. Again, I will link that in the show notes below, but let me recap what we chatted about in today's episode. Number 13 You need to work a muscle group once a week to see optimal results. And this is why your weekly programing matters. Working out at the gym or at home, whatever you are doing, having a specific plan or goal in mind is really going to help get you to where you want to be. Number 14 The Importance of rest, right? Remembering that more is not always better when it comes to working out overtraining can actually lead to adverse effects, aka slow metabolism, weight gain and muscle breakdown. And then lastly, number 15. You need to put in just as much effort, if not more, into your nutrition as you do your workouts. If you truly want to see results while exercise, this is a very important component of a healthy lifestyle. It's not enough on its own to counteract the negative effects of under nourishing your body. Again, if you want to learn all of the principles that I talked about, I will link part one and part two in the show notes below. If you have a friend, a coworker, someone in your life that you feel like would really benefit from this series in particular, you can copy the link to maybe part one and part two and say, Hey, check these out and that will lead them to part three. Or, you know, you could even link this episode. This is not in any particular order, but I really hope that at the end of this series you feel encouraged, you feel educated, you feel empowered and ready to crash 2023 with your resistance training and now having all of this new or maybe just knowledge that was again passed on to you like, Oh yeah, I remember that. I heard, you know, that a few years ago. But it's a good refresher so that you can really set yourself up for success this year because I believe that you can see massive results without ever having to step foot in a gym. This is why I'm a firm believer in my demo workouts. So again, if you want to learn more about either one of my programs that I talked about, my moment with Julie app that is sale I Sally dominant or Julie Larcom or macro accounting made simple that is macro accounting made simple dot com. Both of those will be conveniently in the show notes below so that you can easily go click on those. But that is all that I have for today's episode. I love you so much. I mean it 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 lot better. Yes, It's with a name medal 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 Syria because you're worth it.