Hello friend!
I have a super practical post for you today.
Today I’m going to be going over the foundational exercises you are going to use that are going to take your results in the gym next-level.
I’m going to go over the 3 big lifts that are going to be the foundation for your strength training workout routine.
The reason I say these lifts are the foundation for your routine is that they are all what’s called
“compound” lifts. A compound lift is one that uses multiple muscles to complete it. The other type of lift is an “isolation” lift which targets one specific muscle.
So why would we want to use compound lifts? Well, for one they are very efficient. You are working a lot of major muscles with one exercise instead of having to do multiple exercises.
The other big reason is that with these big lifts you can progress pretty quickly to a really heavy load, especially as a beginner at strength training. Which means more tension on your muscles which also means…results faster! That’s what we want, right?
These lifts are going to seem really intimidating at first but you are totally capable of doing them. For real. If you need some encouragement about going into the weight room if you are new then listen to episode 2 again about overcoming fear of the weight room or read the blog post here.
Remember, you belong in the weight room too!
You also don’t have to be scared of hurting yourself if your form is dialed in, and at the beginning you are going to use lighter weights so your much less likely to cause injury while you are getting your form right.
Seriously, don’t worry about it just practice your form.
I am going to do an episode on fear of injury soon, because it’s a legitimate concern for some people, and weight lifting has this stigma around it that you are just waiting to hurt yourself.
Alright lets dive in! I'm going to go over the big 3 lifts we are going to be using to start us off weight training. Also-all of these lifts use a barbell. That’s that big metal bar that you can slide weight plates on the sides to increase or decrease the weight.
This exercise works your lower back, your glutes, your hamstrings, your quads and your core. So many muscles!!
I would suggest doing the back squat once a week at the beginning. It takes some practice getting the form right, and you really want to get that form right so you are activating all the muscles you can.
Your goal is to squat DEEP. This may take some time because you may have to improve your flexibility as well.
I’ll be doing an episode/post later on stretches to improve flexibility on the squat. Most people at the gym do what’s called a “half squat”, and it isn’t as effective. It's definitely a starting point though, so just be sure you are going low enough that your thighs are parallel to the ground, and then work on flexibility and gradually move it deeper.
Progress over perfection, remember that. Practice your form without weight first and then you can start to add weight.
#2: The barbell deadlift.
This is the one most people are worried about hurting themselves with, but trust me and just work on getting your form right with lighter weight and you will be ok.
There’s a few different variations of the deadlift, I’ll post form videos for the two I think are the easiest to start with.
The first one is the conventional deadlift. This works the glutes, hamstrings, thighs, lower and upper back, and core. Again, a super efficient exercise. I’d also suggest the deadlift once a week at the beginning. You can practice the form with a light weight more often, but lifting heavy or challenging weight I’d start with once weekly.
The other variation is the sumo deadlift. This works the same muscles as conventional but is more glute-focused. This one is my favorite as I love training glutes, I also feel it’s a little easier on your lower back muscles. Again, Ill have a form video for you in the show notes.
#3: My FAVORITE exercise: the barbell hip thrust!
This one is a newer exercise but I see plenty of people in the gym using it now. The reason I love hip thrusts so much is that they really really work the glutes. You work some hamstrings too but its primarily glutes, and there’s so many ways you can change the exercise up to keep it interesting.
Also, because its an exercise where you are using a bench and the weight is across your hips, the injury risk is extremely low. Hip thrusts don’t work your lower back as much so you can do hip thrusts pretty often, every time you lift if you want.
I usually do hip thrusts 3x weekly which is how often I lift weights during this season of my training.
A quick tip-you will need what’s called a barbell pad for the hip thrusts and squats to soften the pressure of the bar on your body. Your gym probably has some, but you can get them pretty inexpensively on Amazon.
So those are going to be your big three lifts. Do the deadlift and the squat once a week and you can do the hip thrust more often if you want. Once you get your form dialed in, I want you to start pushing the weight up. Use Progressive Overload, which you can learn about here.
You want to challenge yourself so you are making those muscles grow and get stronger.
If you want an simple and effective workout template that tells you exactly what you need to do to start weightlifting plus other super important information, like explaining progressive overload, you can get that for FREE here!
Happy Lifting!
-Rachel
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