Finding the right balance with resistance training, cardio & rest.
The Beginners Workout
Guide
Where do you start?
What are your goals?
Plan your days (Which muscle group each day?)
Write it down
Research
SMART goals**
Resources to help you
 Unfamiliar with weight lifting?
 Do not let that deter you. There are
endless resources for you to look up
resistance training circuit




Pinterest
Bodybuilding.com
YouTube
** Using the google search engine, you
will come across millions of sites that can
offer you programs and help with each
muscle group
 Personal Trainers: sign up to work with a
trianer at least once a week and you will
learn countless exercises as you work
with them
Health Benefits of Weight Training
 Increases HDL - High Density Lipoprotein (good cholesterol)
 Decreases LDL - Low Density Lipoprotein (bad cholesterol).
 Reduces risk of:




Diabetes & insulin needs
Cardiovascular disease
Breast cancer (reduces high estrogen levels linked to disease)
Osteoporosis (building bone mass)
 Lowers high blood pressure.
 Reduces stress and anxiety.
 Decreases colds and illness.
Strength & Flexibility Benefits
 Increased muscle strength, power & endurance
 Enhanced performance of everyday tasks
 By working the muscles through a full range of motion, weight
training can improve your overall body flexibility
 Increased flexibility reduces the risk of muscle pulls and back
pain.
Body Composition
 Boosted metabolism and BMR (which means
burning more calories when at rest)
 Reduced body fat
 Overall weight may not change, but you will gain
muscle and lose fat
 Over time you should notice decreases in waist
measurements and body-fat measurement
Additional Benefits
 Strong muscles, tendons and ligaments
 All are less likely to give way under stress
 Less likely to be injured.
 Increased bone density and strength reduces back and joint pain by building
muscle around these areas
 More conditioned, firm & defined muscles
 Improved balance, stability & posture
Basic Principles
 Type of lift
 Intensity
 Volume
 Variety
 Overload
 Rest
 Recovery
5 days/week
 Back & biceps
 Chest & triceps
 Legs
 Shoulders
 Arms
3-4 days/week
 Chest & back
 Biceps and triceps
 Legs & shoulders
 Cardio
Examples of Lifting Splits
Splits explained
 Lifting splits are muscle groups you assign to each day of the
week. You can work cardio around it as well as do cardio and
lift weights the same day. These are just examples; you can
create your own. Resistance training & cardio can be tailored
to your needs whether they be goal-based, time-based, etc.
 Remember, a workout is about PUSHING yourself…outside
of your comfort zone to get the results you want
 Also, remember if it were easy, then everyone would be
doing it
 You can increase intensity by doing more repetitions, more
sets, heavier weights or decreasing rest times between sets
Volume & Variety
 The quantity of your workouts or duration
 Increase or decrease the volume by either training more or less often per
week or by training for longer or shorter periods of time
 Switching around your workout routine
 Vary your workouts by changing exercises, the rep scheme or your
training volume
 Variety challenges your muscles and forces them to adapt with increased
size and strength
 Do NOT do the same thing every day or week…the body WILL adapt
 Overload is not as intimidating
as it sounds
 Progressively try doing more
reps as well as heavier weights
 Rest between your sets: You may
rest 30-60 seconds if your focus is
endurance or for 2-4 minutes if
you are using heavier weights
with strength as your focus
 Both ways will increase calories
burned
 Recovery is as important as being
active; allow your muscle groups
around 48 hours to recover
Overload, Rest & Recovery
What to use?
 For resistance training, there are really only three general
categories to use:
 Weight machines
 Free weights (including miscellaneous things such as medicine
balls, resistance bands, etc)
 Your own body (push ups, pull ups, etc)
Watch your form
 When beginning weight training, you want to be aware of
the correct form. Research, fellow gym friends or a personal
trainer can help you with this. For example, when squatting
you DO NOT want your knees beyond your toes; you want
your weight to be distributed in your heels. Safety first!
Cardio vs. Resistance Training
 Both are extremely important
 Yes, you may lose more weight with strictly aerobic exercise
but you will lose more fat with resistance training or a happy
balance between both aerobic and weight training exercise
 The scale is NOT a good gage….. Does it measure
composition? NO.
 Gaining muscle inevitably means you are losing fat
 Depends on your goals
 Your body adapts very quickly
 3-4 times a week at most (with proper diet and resistance
training) is appropriate amount
 Change it up
 Try HIIT (High intensity interval training)
 Make sure your body cannot catch up or adjust…this yields
results
 HIIT can be done in 20-25 min
 Try 2-3 days HIIT and 1-2 days of steady state but moderate
intensity cardio
 Research routines; many out there
 15 seconds up to 1 minute intervals of high intensity, all out
followed by 1-2 minutes of recovery/low intensity
 Can be done on any machine
 May do this at home
 Burpees, mountain climbers, jump rope, jumping jacks, high
knees, squat jumps, etc
Simply doing 5-10 minutes of cardio and switching machines will
trick your body. Example: Run 10 minutes on treadmill with an
incline, 10 minutes hard on elliptical with moderate resistance, 5
minutes high level on Stairmaster, etc.
More Muscle, Less Fat
 This should be the focus. Don’t rely 100% on the scale. Rely
on your hard work, energy levels, how your clothes fit and
progress pictures!