Course Title: Beginner Weight Training

Course Code: PE 121

Course Title: Beginner Weight Training

Theory Information

Written Test

Academic Year 2012-2013

Introduction

According with “Beginner Weight Training” course objectives students must have basic knowledge about: health, fitness, nutrition, benefits of physical activity.

Information which provided below will help the students better understand the importance of implementing basic principles of weight training and health nutrition in daily life. Applying received knowledge during the practical sections of the course and also outside the campus activity will help to increase effectiveness and efficiency of the student’s fitness programs.

Weight Training History

Weight training has a long history dating back to ancient China as well as the Greek culture. It was also the ancient Greeks that invented the Olympic Games, where weight lifting was a very popular sport. Ancient Greek sculptures also depict lifting feats. According to some Chinese texts, many of the great emperors utilized strength training for their subjects. Weight training became more popular in the 6th century, during which such competitions as athletes lifting heavy stones were conducted. Later, this period came to be known as the "age of strength."Additionally, weight training and its significance were written by Roman poets like Martial. As a result, the Romans originated formal weight training, which resulted in the development of one of the most feared armies in history. The actual text on weight training grew with the introduction of paper as well as printing. In 1531, Sir Thomas Elyot published a book on exercise to build strength. Weight training first became a part of the curriculum in Europe in 1544 when some of the universities in Germany and France offered weight training classes coupled with certain books. They also recommended weight training as an integral part of a school's curriculum.

Weight training progressed significantly in the 1900’s with the invention of the adjustable, plate-loaded barbell. Weight training became more popular at this time because it was much easier to change the weight on the barbells. Weight training really gained momentum when sports coaches began to see that it was an excellent addition to athletic and physical education programs.

With the onset of the 20th century, many innovative techniques were employed in the weight training arena. However it was in the 1960s, that exercise equipment gradually entered strength training gyms. Weight training gained much fame in the 1980s, with the release of the bodybuilding movie "Pumping Iron."

Today, the world of weightlifting is changing all of the time with new machines, workouts, equipment, and techniques. Fitness and everything associated with it has come far. Strength training going to get better and the benefits that come from it are astronomical. We, as a society, have come to figure out that weight training is not only for a select few; it is for everyone. Every person needs strength training in some way or another.

Health, Physical Activity, Fitness

Health – is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. The researches study found that men could add 11 years of life by following habits such us: regular exercises, adequate sleep, good nutrition, weight control, abstinence from smoking, drugs and alcohol.

Fitness – the state or condition of the body to withstand a certain amount of stress without fatigue.

Exercise – any organized physical activity performed to improve health and fitness.

Physical Activity – any bodily movement that results to energy expenditure.

Lack of physical activity is now considered as important a risk factor for heart disease. As many as 250 000 lives are lost annually due to the sedentary lifestyle. Inactivity contributes to a substantial number (34%) of the deaths from heart disease and approaches 5.7 billion $ in annual medical cost.

General Benefits of Physical Activity

• Reduces the risk for several diseases including heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, osteoporosis (bone loss), cancer.
• Improve metabolic rate, burn calories.
• Helps to lose weight with healthy way by lowering body fat and increase muscle.
• Effective in treating some mental illnesses such us depression.
• Improves mood, gives you break from daily routines and worries.
• Improve appearance and same time increase self-esteem.

How much is enough for Physical activity?

Every adult should accumulate 30 minutes or more of moderate-intensity physical activity of most days of the week.

Health-Related components of Fitness

• Cardio-respirator endurance – the ability of the heart and lungs to deliver oxygen to the working muscles.
• Muscular endurance – the ability of the muscle to exert sub maximal force over a long period of time (static) or repeatedly over time (dynamic).
• Muscular strength – the ability of the muscle to exert maximal force.
• Musclular flexibility – the ability of a muscle to move through its full range of motion.
• Body Mass Index (BMI) - is a relationship between weight and height that is associated with body fat and health risk.
• Body composition – the fat and non fat components of the human body.

Introduction Nutrition and Health Living

There is no argument to the fact that nutrition promotes healthy living. Serious illnesses and chronic conditions that lower our quality of life can be prevented if we learn the basics about nutrition. Staying healthy through good well balanced nutrition will also reduce health care costs.

Functions of Nutrition Essentials

Nutrition is the study of how carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins, minerals and water provide the energy, substances and nutrients required for maintaining bodily functions during the life. (

The general guidelines for healthy diet – 55% carbohydrates; 30% fats; 15% -protein. A diet that includes appropriate amounts of fluids (6-8 glasses) and is selected with these diet guidelines in mind will provide the necessary energy and nutrients to promote positive changes in your strength, endurance and muscularity.

Carbohydrates – are the body’s primary source of energy and provide 4 klc per gram. They actually provide about 45% of the body’s energy. Preferred sources of carbohydrates include cereals, breads, flours, grains, fruits, pasta and vegetables (complex carbohydrates). Other sources are syrups, jellies, cakes, jam and honey.

Fats(Lipids) - have the function of insulating body’s cells form the outside world. They are a main component of the membranes of all the cells. Fats provide a concentrated form of energy 9 kcl per gram – more than twice that carbohydrates or proteins. They are involved in supporting the immune system, brain health and cardiovascular function. The brain is about 60% fats by weight. Preferred sources of fats – olives, canola, corn, fish, nuts, mackerel because they are associated with lower risk of developing heart disease. Fat also include different type of meets and dairy products (cream, milk, cheese, butter).

Proteins – building blocks of all body cells and provide 4 kcl per gram. They are responsible for the repair, rebuilding and replacement of cells as well as for regulating bodily processes involved in fighting infection. Meat, fish, poultry, eggs, milk and cheese are sources of complete proteins. Incomplete sources of protein include breads, cereals, nuts, dried peas and beans.

Vitamins – Human’s body require vitamins in small quantities and these should be supplied in a normal balanced diet. They are needed for a wide variety of reasons – good vision and skin; red blood cell formation; healing; healthy bones and teeth; blood clotting. Regardless of the type, vitamins do not contain energy or calories, and extra vitamin supplementation will not provide more energy. Sources of main vitamins are: vitamin A (cheese, liver, carrots, and tomatoes); vitamin B (grains, nuts and meet); vitamin C (fruits and vegetables); vitamin E (vegetable oil).

Minerals – have function in the body as builders, activators, regulators, transmitters and controllers of the body’s metabolic processes (

Water- not a provider of energy for activity. Water makes up about 72% of the weight of muscle and represents 40-60% of an individual’s total body weight. Water holds oxygen and is the main component of many cells.

Nutrition Program

The Food guide Pyramid can help to choose the best foods for healthy diet.

What the human body need is a good and simple healthy food.

• Select organically grown foods, they promote your health and health of our planet.
• Choose foods that provide a rich source of many of the essential nutrients needed for optimal health. Include the fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts and seeds, lean meats, fish, olive oil, herbs and spices that you enjoy and are familiar to you.
• Select foods that are chock full of rich natural nutrients, are not highly processed and do not contain artificial ingredients and toxic substances.
• Choose whole grain foods instead of processed grain products.
• Include chicken, turkey, fish at least 2-3 times per week and remove the skin.
• Select non-fat dairy such as skim milk, non-fat yogurt and non-fat cheese.
• Choose liquid oils for cooking instead of solid fats. Olive oil is always a good choice.
• Choose water, natural fruit and vegetable juices instead of sodas and empty calorie drinks. Avoid drinks with artificial sweeteners.
• Avoid buying snack foods and full-fat desserts like chips, cookies, cakes.
• Buy foods that you and your family will enjoy, that taste good and that you can use in many recipes. Select organic vegetables and fruits which locally grown.

Nutrition and Physical Activity

Balanced nutrition and regular exercise go hand in hand. The key with nutrition as well as exercises is to set goals you have a good chance of reaching. Your food and physical activity choices each day affect your health — how you feel today, tomorrow, and in the future.

Below some information related the nutrition and physical activity:

• A light meal high in carbohydrate (fat and protein are more difficult to digest) should be taken at least two hours before physical exercises.
• For exercise of a comparatively short nature and high intensity, the energy fuel will come from carbohydrates;
• For exercises of a longer duration (1.5-2 hours), but of a moderate intensity the energy used will come from equal amounts of carbohydrate and fat;
• For exercises of long duration and higher intensity (marathon) the amount of energy derived from fat stores will increase.

Weight Training

The principles of weight training: If you're setting up your own program, you'll need to know some basic strength training principles. These principles will teach you how to make sure you're using enough weight, determine your sets and reps and insure you're always progressing in your workouts.

1. Overload: To build muscle, you need to use more resistance than your muscles are used to. In plain language, this means you should be lifting enough weight that you can ONLY complete the desired number of reps. You should be able to finish your last rep with difficulty but also with good form.
2. Progression: To avoid plateaus (or adaptation); you need to increase your intensity regularly. You can do this by increasing the amount of weight lifted, changing your sets/reps, changing the exercises and changing the type of resistance. You can make these changes on a weekly or monthly basis.
3. Specificity: This principle means you should train for your goal. That means, if you want to increase your strength, your program should be designed around that goal (e.g., train with heavier weights closer to your 1 RM (1 rep max)). To lose weight, choose a variety of rep ranges to target different muscle fibers.
4. Rest and Recovery: Rest days are just as important as workout days. It is during these rest periods that your muscles grow and change, so make sure you're not working the same muscle groups 2 days in a row.
5. Reversibility: It’s easy to lose fitness that you gained when stop training. This concept is known as reversibility. Two-three weeks no exercises and fitness level dropping significantly.

Basic Weight Room Rules:

• Dress appropriately, including shoes.
• Know what you are doing & use a trainer, teacher, or spotter.
• Work with a partner who will challenge and help you focus on technique.
• Use collars on barbells so the plates don’t fall off.
• Stay in control when you lift.
• Keep your mind on what you are doing.
• Make adjustments on machines before you lift.
• Always return the weights to the weight trees.
• If you spend more time talking than lifting – you shouldn’t be in the weight room.
• Keep food & drink out of the weight room.

Key tips of weight training:

1. Always warm up before you start lifting weights. This helps get your muscles warm and prevent injury. You can warm up with light cardio or by doing a light set of each exercise before going to heavier weights.
2. Lift and lower your weights slowly. Don't use momentum to lift the weight. If you have to swing to get the weight up, chances are you're using too much weight. The movement up should take the same time as the movement back.
3. Don’t jerk or throw the weight around. It is far better to use a weight that allows you to perform the movement correctly. Cheating with a heavy weight often results in injury and robs the intended muscles of resistance.
4. Never lock your elbows or knees while lifting. Always keep them slightly bent.
5. Isolate the muscle group that you are intending to work
6. Breathe. Don't hold your breath and make sure you're using full range of motion throughout the movement. Exhale through the most difficult part of the lift.
7. Stand up straight. Pay attention to your posture and engage your abs in every movement you're doing to keep your balance and protect your spine.
8. Sequence of Exercises: Make sure you choose at least one exercise for each major muscle group. If you leave any muscle group out, this could cause an imbalance in your muscles and possibly lead to injuries.
9. Recommended to start program with your larger muscle groups and then proceeding to the smaller muscle groups. The most demanding exercises are those performed by your large muscle groups and you will need your smaller muscles to get the most out of these exercises.

How Much Weight to Use:

1. Pick up a light weight and do a warm up set of the exercise of your choice, aiming for about 10 to 16 repetitions.
2. For set 2, increase your weight by 5 or more pounds and perform your goal number of repetitions. If you can do more than your desired number of reps, heavy up again for your 3rd set.
3. In general, you should be lifting enough weight that you can ONLY do the desired reps. you should be struggling by the last rep, but still able to finish it with good form.
4. Use heavier weights with larger muscle groups such as chest, back and legs. You'll need smaller weights for the shoulders and arms.

How Many Reps/Sets to Do: In general:

• For Strength: 3 set of 3-5 reps using enough weight that you can ONLY complete the desired reps.
• To gain muscle: 3+ set of 6-8 reps to fatigue. For beginners, give yourself several weeks of conditioning before going to this level.
• For health and endurance: 1-3 sets of 12-16 reps using enough weight that you can ONLY complete the desired reps.

For beginners: choose about 8-10 exercises, which comes out to about one exercise per muscle group. The list below offers some examples:

• Chest: bench press, chest press machine, pushups, fly deck machine
• Back: one-armed row, seated row machine, lat pull downs
• Shoulders: overhead press, lateral raise, front raise
• Biceps: bicep curls, hammer curls, concentration curls
• Triceps: triceps extensions, dips, kickbacks, press down
• Quadriceps: Squats, lunges, leg extension, leg press, legs curls
• Hamstrings: deadlifts, lunges, leg curl machine
• Abs: crunches, reverse crunches, oblique twists, legs raise

How Long To Rest between Exercises/Workout Sessions:

This will depend on your goal. Higher intensity (i.e., when lifting heavy) exercise requires a longer rest. When lifting to fatigue, it takes an average of 2 to 5 minutes for your muscles to rest for the next set. When using lighter weight and more repetitions, it takes between 30 seconds and 1 minute for your muscles to rest.

The American College of Sports Medicine recommends training each muscle group 2 to 3 times a week. But, the number of times you lift each week will depend on your training method. In order for muscles to repair and grow, you'll need about 48 hours of rest between workout sessions. If you're training at a high intensity, take a longer rest.