5 Weight Training Tips To Get Better Results In Less Time
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5 Weight Training Tips To Get Better Results In Less Time
There are countless reasons to strength train – from weight loss to changing body composition, even addressing underlying health concerns like PCOS and insulin resistance. But no matter what your goal, I bet you’re looking to get those results as soon as possible.
Weight training is a long-term game – you can’t change your body overnight. But if you’re smart about the way that you train, you can maximise the return on the time and effort you invest into your training.
5 tips to get more out of your weight training
Nail your form before anything else
I’m going to let you in on a secret – the number on your dumbbell, kettlebell or plate doesn’t really matter. If you are training without proper form, you can lift massive weights and still not see the results you want.
And on top of that, incorrect form means you’re far more likely to injure yourself. More injuries equal less consistent training and therefore your results will fall short.
Make sure that you understand the correct form for every single weight training move you utilise. This will help you to train the right muscles, achieve the physique goals you’re aiming for, and greatly reduce your risk of injury.
If you don’t know the correct form, seek out help. This could be from a local trainer, an online trainer, or even from free YouTube videos. Just make sure you check the credentials of your source first.
One important thing to note here – there is rarely one perfect way to do a particular exercise. The way that your body is structured in terms of size and function can influence the best way to perform a movement. For example, you might have longer femurs, which alters how you squat.
Keep it consistent
Like any area of your health, the biggest factor in your progress will always be consistency. Even if you have an epic training program that ticks all of the boxes, it is useless unless you consistently follow that plan.
It’s not unusual to lose motivation and feel discouraged after a period of consistency. You might feel like you’re not improving as much as you’d hoped, or you’re not seeing the physical changes. But this is where you need to remember that you won’t see any changes if you give up or stop showing up!
The real results in the gym can take months or even years to pay off. In the meantime, focus on the little wins and track your progress. For some easy ways to track your fitness, check out this article.
Consider tempo
One often overlooked factor in weight training is your tempo – the speed at which you perform your movements. Most people start out with just one tempo that they perform. But using faster movement, slower movement or pauses can help to break through plateaus and improve your results.
Different tempos have different benefits depending on what your goals are. For example, increasing tempo can be useful if you have goals around speed and explosive power. On the other hand, slower tempo can help with any weaker areas of the movement where you might be throwing the weight rather than controlling the weight.
Warm up
No, I don’t mean ‘switch on’ your muscles – that’s not how it works, despite what many people say about warming up before working out! But I am a big fan of including a dynamic streching or mobility warm-up before each session.
Why? Including this style of warm-up can help to increase blood flow to the muscles and reduce your risk of injury and muscle soreness. It can active the nervous system and prepare it for movement, which can help with aspects like your coordination. Research shows that dynamic stretching can also help to improve performance in weightlifting.
Remember to warm up the body parts you’re planning on training! There’s not much point in doing some lunges to warm up if you’re hitting shoulders that day.
Don’t neglect recovery
When people start training, they think that the focus is what they do in the gym. And while that’s true to some extent – after all, that is where you do the actual training – the real results come afterwards.
The secret to getting the most out of your training sessions is to put your recovery at the top of your priority list. Even with the most consistent and effective workout routine, if you follow it up with:
Skimping on sleep
Eating heaps of processed foods and not many nutritious foods
Forgetting to hydrate adequately
Not taking any rest days or active recovery days
Running on caffeine and stress
- then you’re going to wait a lot longer before seeing the results you want. Recovery is key for muscle growth, reducing injury risk, lowering inflammation, avoiding the side effects of overtraining – basically everything you want when you’re working out.
The number one area I see people neglect in their recovery is rest. When you sleep, your body has time to rebuild the muscle tissue, reboot the nervous system and repair any other damage that occurs throughout the day. If you aren’t getting enough, you’ll be more sore, too fatigued to give your all during your workout, and at higher risk of injury down the track.
For more workout recovery tips, I’ve covered my go-to habits here.
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