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This series is collaboration between JC Deen and Joy Victoria. Joy wrote 90% of the content.
Joy’s a wealth of fitness knowledge, and has already been published in the likes of T-Nation and contributes to WomanScope News Magazine. Make sure you check out her site, and sign up for updates. This is part 2 of a 3 part series. Here’s the link to Part 1. Be sure and subscribe at the bottom of the article to get Part 3.
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In the last installment, we discussed how to get started, and why strength training is important when building the body you want. Today, it’s all about training – the why’s, how-to, and of course, getting started. Make sure you read to the very end as we are giving away some free training programs for you to download.
Out of the gate, learning the major compound movements is a great way to begin. When we say compound, we’re talking about the movements that require the use of multiple joints and muscles simultaneously, as opposed to isolation exercises, where you focus on a single muscle.
Here is why we believe compounds are the best exercises to start with.
If you’re new to training, it’s best to begin with exercises that yield the greatest impact, on both your muscles and your nervous system.
As you might infer, we’re foregoing the exercises normally recommended for “increasing tone, or length” such as leg extensions, bicep curls, and tricep kickbacks.
We also don’t need fancy moves such as the single-leg-squat-to-hop-with-overhead-press-into-a-burpee. The ultimate goal here is to focus on movements that provide the biggest bang for your buck, and get you the quickest results.
Compound movements have stood the test of time and are one of the best ways to get strong, and on your way to looking good naked.
Most of these exercises will be a push, pull or squat movement. Before you start shaking your head in confusion, we’ll break them down for you.
This categorization is an easy “way” to understand what an exercise does, and what muscles it primarily works.
Remember this: even though we are focusing on movements that make use of the entire body, they will most always favor one muscle group over another. It should always be simple when starting out. There are many variations and ways to alter these movements. But there’s no use in worrying about variations until you get the basics down. [Read more...]
