Learn everything you need to know about strength training in less time than it takes to clean your juicer!
Your workouts should be made with the intent of increasing strength and empowering you to be the best version of yourself! LESS time wasted and MORE intelligent workouts to get you one step closer to your goals. Whatever those goals may be.
We all know we need strength training. Strength training induces muscle growth. Muscle growth improves function, it is metabolically active and affects the way the body handles nutrients. For instance, people who are more muscular typically have better insulin control!
So, you know you need it. What’s next?
1.) Focus – We don’t need more exercises, more methods, or more anything. We need the ability to singularly focus on one goal at a time. Know your goal and why you want your goal and write it down. Get specific. People who write goals down are 50% more likely to achieve those goals than if they did not write them down at all.
2.) Break it down- You have to keep breaking down your long-term training goals into smaller, digestible pieces until it’s something you can comfortably execute on and see steady, consistent progress. Take small steps, make small changes, it makes a difference. Ask yourself this question, it applies directly to your training:
“What is the next, smallest, impossible-to-fail step I can take to get me one step closer to my goal?”
For example, if training consistency is your problem: Make it a goal to just show up to the training room, and leave. That’s it. Do that for a week straight. Once you’ve built that habit of showing up, add one squat to that and leave. Simple. And slowly add to it. My point is this; if you consistently do the small things, they add up to large things, big improvements and big goals over time.
3.) Exercise Selection- When you design a strength training program it’s essential to have systems in place that allow you to understand the movements you’re doing. Learning not just how to perform the exercise but what muscles are being worked, how does this impact the rest of your training and why this exercise over another. Don’t fall in the trap of just working on what your good at. Working with a coach can give you so much insight into what exactly you need to work on. It all starts with understanding the basic types of movement and then getting out there and doing it.
4.) Tracking Progress – Adding a training log will allow you to monitor progress and identify symptoms of overtraining. This allows you to see how you are adapting to the workouts and develop new strategies if needed. Based off the feedback from your body you can progress the workouts. Progressing can be expressed in many different ways. Many times the progression begins by increasing weight, repetitions performed, or sets completed. You can also increase the tempo of each exercise to allow greater time under tension. Past training history and injuries may mean that certain exercises need to be scaled back. The training log can be extensive or can be simple as a 1-10 scale during/after the workouts.
5.) Active Rest and Recovery- Your training is only as good as your recovery. We need to be proactive and focus on our whole wellbeing not just the physical. Planning an active recovery day is another way to promote this. This may include light aerobic work with stretching. Recovery is not just about what happens inside the gym but it is about creating a balanced lifestyle. The aim of these sessions are to remove waste products and stretch the muscles. This can be done also through gentle yoga, saunas and massage.
The hard part is putting in the TIME and EFFORT to build a strong body from the inside out.
And in this world, there’s a heck of a lot of “knowing” but not very much “doing”.
Feel like you know what to do but aren’t doing it?
I understand, and before you get bogged down in various training philosophies, methodologies or programs, look to a solution. Lift weights, use your body, recover well, throw in some variations to your training, and lastly seek outside guidance.
Many of my clients come in with the intention of building a strong body and confidence, and they do, but they also do things they didn’t think were possible and become inspired to take action in their life! And it all starts with a simple decision.
You might not know it now, or fully believe it yet. But, you too, are capable of your goals. It would be an honor to help you discover your true potential.
Yours in health,
Nicole Chamberlain
Ps. If there’s something you’re working on that you’ve always wanted help with but have always been afraid to ask, send me an email anytime @
