Great Job! You completed the first phase of your exercise schedule and you are ready for a new assignment.
The next 3 weeks will be designed to help you increase your knowledge on the main components of a successful exercise program. You will implement a new weight and repetition scheme, and start to develop a nutritional/supplementation plan to maximize your efforts in the gym.
This will be a great chance to continue developing a sound foundation that will set you up perfectly for Max-OT training.
Weight Training
Your main goal, in the beginning, was to get comfortable with the exercises. It was a good chance to get familiar with the gym as well as the equipment. Now you are going to build upon that by increasing the intensity of each workout.
As we discussed, weight training is the stimulus for muscular strength and development. It is time to increase the stimulus by lifting heavier. Remember, the best way to stimulate is overload and in order to get yourself totally ready for Max-OT training it is important to progressively lift heavier.
During this phase of your program, you will increase your weights and lower your reps. This is the pattern you will follow over the weeks to come. For now, choose a weight that allows you to complete 8 repetitions per set. If you can get more than 8 reps per set it is too light and if you can’t get 8 reps it is too heavy. Make it your goal to really be exerting yourself each set.
There are three areas you should start to focus on while training. They are form, range of motion, and muscular control. Attention to these areas, in the beginning, will help you establish good habits that you will carry with you the rest of your training days.
Form:
When you are performing an exercise, don’t be so strict with your form that you restrict your natural movements or limit the amount of weight you can use. Allowing yourself to move naturally when performing an exercise helps you to generate more power and actually helps guard against injury.
Range of motion:
Get in the habit of performing a full range of motion with all of your exercises. This will allow for greater stimulation. Don’t sacrifice range of motion for the use of a heavier weight.
Muscular Control:
There are two parts to each movement: positive and negative. Basically, the positive portion is when you are contracting the muscle and the negative portion is when you are stretching the muscle back out. It is very important that you always control the weight throughout the positive and negative portion of each movement.
