Beginner's Guide to

Strength Training

Your Manual For A Stronger You

DANIEL ROSENTHAL, ROSENTRAIN LTD.

Beginner's Guide to Strength Training: Your Manual For
A Stronger You by Daniel Rosenthal of Rosentrain Ltd.
https://www.rosentrain.com

Copyright © 2022 Daniel Rosenthal, Rosentrain Ltd.

DISCLAIMER:

The fitness and nutrition information provided herein is

for general informational and educational purposes
only. The information in this ebook should not be seen
as medical or dietician advice and is certainly not meant
to take the place of your seeing licensed health
professionals, including your physician. There are
inherent risks of physical training, dietary changes,
movement, and exercise. These risks include but are not
limited to: property damage, illness, bruising, dizziness,
fainting, skeletomuscular injuries (for example muscle
tears or broken bones), and cardiovascular issues (for
example irregular heartbeat, heart attack, or death). You
should, therefore, consult your physician prior to
commencing any exercise or nutrition program.

Consult your physician prior to using or applying any of

the information provided in this ebook. You understand
that the description of risks in this disclaimer is not
complete and that if you choose to use or apply the
information in this ebook you do so voluntarily and you
expressly assume all associated risks. The publisher and
author are not responsible in any way for any injury, loss,
damage, or adverse reactions that may arise from the
use or application of information provided in this ebook.
Neither the publisher nor the author is responsible for
the content of any third-party website linked to herein.
 Table of Contents

4 About the author

5 Welcome
6 Why you need to strength train
11 What constitutes a "beginner"?
13 What is strength training?
17 How to think about strength workouts
20 Exercise Categories
- Hip Hinge
- Squat/Lunge
- Upper Push
- Upper Pull
- Core

28 Creating a program
- Sets and reps
- Warming up
- Choosing an appropriate weight
- Resting in between sets
- How often to train
- How to get stronger
- When to change your program
- Learning safe exercise technique
- Choosing appropriate exercises

42 The Template
47 FAQ
54 Gym etiquette
56 How to feel less intimidated in the gym
 4

About the Author

Daniel Rosenthal is a certified personal trainer
(ISSA) and nutrition coach (Precision Nutrition)
who has spent thousands of hours helping
clients get results, both in person and online.

He is a former overweight chain-smoker, at one

point smoking 40 cigarettes per day and
surviving on a diet of fast food and sweets.

He decided to clean up his act; he quit

smoking, changed his habits, and completely
transformed his body, losing a substantial
amount of body fat and adding 15-20 lbs of
muscle to his frame.

Now he can deadlift well over twice his

bodyweight and does pull ups for fun.

You can contact him via his website or

Instagram page.
 5

Welcome

Welcome to your Beginner’s Guide to

Strength Training.

You’re about to gain the essential

knowledge required to begin your
strength training journey.

Good luck, and enjoy!

 6

Why you need to strength

train

If you’re reading this ebook, you

probably found it via my Instagram
page where I mostly talk about fat loss.

And you’ve probably seen me talk about

how strength training is a requirement
while losing fat.

Frankly, I believe strength training is a

requirement for everyone, whether
they’re trying to lose fat or not. After all,
there are one or two benefits...

Increased strength. Sure, this is

obvious, but I’m not just talking
about the gym. Traveling with heavy
luggage gets easier. Carrying
groceries gets easier. Picking up
your kids gets easier. Life in general
is a little less difficult if you’re strong.

Maintain or improve bone density.

Strong bones become important as
we age. You can keep your bones
dense by exposing them to heavy
strength training.
 7

Improve flexibility. Stretching is

great. But stretching AND strength
training combined is an awesome
way of improving joint mobility.

Maintain/improve intelligence.
Plenty of studies have shown a
causal relationship between
resistance training and improved
cognition.

Better quality of life. While strength

training probably won’t increase
your life expectancy, it will probably
increase your quality of life in old
age.

But why do you need to strength train

while losing fat?

It’s how you’re going to let your body

know it needs to hold on to its muscle
while you lose fat by eating in a calorie
deficit.

You're telling your body "hey, we need

all this muscle for the heavy lifting, so
let's keep the muscle and just burn the
fat."
 8

Not strength training while eating in a

calorie deficit will almost certainly lead
to muscle loss. Yes, you’ll lose fat too,
but you want to minimize muscle loss
as much as possible. Because muscle
loss leads to a slower metabolism,
which means you’ll need to eat fewer
and fewer calories over time to continue
to lose weight - which isn’t sustainable.

Also, losing both fat and muscle will

lead to the “skinny-fat” look.

You probably want to look more "toned"

following weight loss, and being toned
simply means having large enough
muscles to give them shape, and having
a low enough body fat percentage to
make those muscles visible.

This ebook is NOT about using strength

training to build muscle. It’s about using
strength training to maintain your
muscle, get stronger, and then you can
use nutrition to burn fat by eating at a
calorie deficit. This will lead to that
“toned and defined” look that so many
people are looking for.
 9

To clarify: “getting stronger” and

“building muscle” aren’t equivalent
terms.

You can get stronger without building

muscle. Strength gains are mostly
neuromuscular - in other words, your
brain learns how to more efficiently use
your muscles. You can get very strong
without needing to build muscle.

And if fat loss isn't your current goal, no

worries. You can still use this ebook as a
guide to getting stronger.

Having said that: if you’re a beginner,

you’ll probably build a little muscle
during your first couple months of
training, as a normal adaptation to
starting to strength train. You won’t
look “big” or “bulky” and you almost
certainly won’t notice the muscle when
you look in the mirror.

But you’ll build just about enough to

give your metabolism a small boost and
make you look even more toned once
you've lost the fat.
 10

FYI if this happens, the scale might not

budge much. But instead of focusing on
the scale, take the following
measurements every 2 weeks:

- Chest
- Waist (smallest part of your middle)
- Umbilicus (0.25in below the belly
button)
- Hips (at widest point of glutes)
- Thighs (6in above the knee)
- Arms (flexed around the widest point)

As long as 1 or more drops every 2

weeks while the others remain the
same, keep doing what you're doing.
Because inch loss = fat loss.
 11

What constitutes a "beginner"?

First of all, being a "beginner" to strength

training does NOT imply that you're
weak, stupid, or lazy.

Many beginners who don't realize they're

beginners have simply been
misinformed or misled as to what
constitutes strength training, usually by
greedy marketers who just want their
money.

Being a beginner is actually an

advantage - you have the capability to
get strong pretty damn quickly once you
start following an effective program.

Obviously, some people know they're

beginners to strength training. They
either focus on cardio activities like
running, walking, and cycling, or they
don't do ANY exercise.

But others would consider themselves

"intermediate" because they've been
misinformed that their current exercise
"counts" as strength training - again, this
isn't their fault. They've simply been
misled.
 12

Here are a few very simple ways of

figuring out whether you would be
considered a beginner:

1) You've been strength training

consistently for less than 3 months
2) You only attend group fitness classes
(even ones that involve using dumbbells)
3) You only do yoga and/or pilates
4) You only work out to follow-along
videos on YouTube
5) You consider jogging a suitable
replacement for squats and deadlifts
6) You do the exact same routine every
time you train
7) You do random things every time you
train
8) You believe heavy weights will make
you bulky and light weights will tone
9) You have a dedicated "abs" day

To be clear: there are definitely benefits

to items 2-4. And while jogging isn't a
replacement for squats and deadlifts, it
can be a great form of cardio. So if you
enjoy them and you see benefits, keep
doing them. Just don't think that they
will give you the same benefits that
strength training will provide.
 13

What is strength training?

Here’s how I define strength training:

Strength training: learning how to

overcome increased resistance (weight)
over time.

In other words: learning how to pick up

heavier and heavier things.

Pretty simple, right? That’s why the class

where you’re using the same weight
every damn time isn’t strength training:
because you’re not learning how to use
heavier weight over time. And anyway,
classes are always cardio. Which is fine,
because cardio is important for overall
health, and so you can still do these
classes if you enjoy them and see
benefits - just don't think of them as
strength training.

It also explains why doing random things

every time you go to the gym isn’t
strength training: how are you going to
measure strength increases if you’re
always doing something different?
 14

It also explains why doing the same

workout with the same weight for the
same number of reps isn’t strength
training: because you’re not using
heavier weights over time. Sure, it
might be a strength "workout", but
you’re not training for strength if you
never increase the weight or perform
more reps.

As for things like yoga and Pilates:

there's great value in those forms of
exercise. You'll definitely see benefits
from doing them. But there are limits to
how far they can improve your strength.
At best, I would consider them "very
light forms of strength training".

This brings us on to the key principle of

strength training: progressive overload.

Here’s how I define it...

Progressive overload: doing something

more than last time.

There are lots of ways to progressive

overload, including...
 15

- Performing more reps

- Using a heavier weight
- Holding a position (e.g. a plank) for
longer
- Taking less rest
- Performing more sets
- Increasing workout frequency

Doing any of the above will cause

increased stress (a good form of stress)
on your muscles, connective tissue,
skeleton, and nervous system. Your
body adapts to this stress in the form of
increased strength. This ebook will focus
on increasing reps, increasing weight,
and holding a position for longer for
progressive overload.

Oh, let’s define a couple of words I just

used:

Rep: AKA “repetition”. One complete

motion of an exercise. If you do 10 push
ups, you just did 10 reps.

Set: A group of reps. If you do 10 push

ups, rest, and then do another 10 push
ups, you just did 2 sets of 10 reps.
 16

Let's see what progressively overloading

a squat over 4 weeks might look like...

Let’s say you manage to do 3 sets of 10

reps using 30lbs in week 1. In week 2,
aim for 3 sets of 11 reps. In week 3, aim
for 3 sets of 12 reps. And in week 4
increase the weight up to 35lbs and go
back to 3 sets of 10 reps (lower the reps
to compensate for the increased
weight).

Every week you can see you’re making

progress. In the fourth week, you see
you can now perform those same 3 sets
of 10 reps with more weight.

Going back to our definition of strength

training - learning how to overcome
increased resistance (weight) over time
- you can see that you’ve been
successful.
 17

How to think about strength

workouts

First, please forget about the “leg day”,

“back and biceps day” etc. approach to
training. This comes from bodybuilding,
and while there’s absolutely nothing
wrong with bodybuilding, this isn’t a
good approach for beginners to
strength training whose main goal is fat
loss, or who just want to get stronger.

Instead, beginners should keep these

two ideas in mind:

Train your full body each time you

work out.
Movements over muscle groups.

Full body training is probably best for

beginners. There's also the option to do
"upper body" and "lower body" days, but
then it starts to get a little complicated
for beginners. We're going to keep it
simple with full body workouts

But what does “movements over

muscle groups” mean?
 18

Very simply, you’re not going to think

about “back exercises” or “glute
exercises”. And instead of performing
isolation exercises (exercises that only
train a single muscle group e.g. bicep
curls, which only train your biceps),
we’re going to focus on compound
exercises (exercises that train several
muscle groups at the same time e.g. a
squat will train your quads, glutes, and
core).

We're going to place exercises into the

following movement categories:

Hip Hinge
Squat/Lunge
Upper Push
Upper Pull
Core

And while it’s definitely useful to

understand which muscles are used
during each of the above kinds of
movement, it becomes easier to
understand strength training if you
think in terms of the above categories.
 19

(I’ll describe how to incorporate

isolation exercises in the FAQ section of
this ebook. Just know that they're
usually not essential for beginners)

I’ll break down each category of

movement in the coming pages, and I’ll
also give you some exercise examples.
You can type "list of [movement
category] exercises" (e.g. "list of hip
hinge exercises") into Google for literally
THOUSANDS more.

If you're interested in variations of

favourite exercises, google “[exercise
name] variations” (e.g. "hip thrust
variations") and you’ll find a bunch.

If you need a more beginner-friendly

variation of an exercise, type something
like "squat variations for beginners" into
Google.

Also, don’t worry if you don’t have

access to a gym. You can google
bodyweight variations of exercises
("bodyweight squat variations") or you
can refer to the FAQ for how to start
building a home gym.
 20

1 - Hip Hinge

Essentially, these are exercises that

mostly hit your glutes and hamstrings
(the muscles in the back of your thigh).

Hip hinge exercises include:

Deadlift
Hip Thrust
Glute Bridge

A hip hinge exercise trains your lower

body.
 21

2 - Squat/Lunge

Squats and lunges train your quads (the

muscles in the front of your thigh) and
glutes.

I recommend most beginners actually

stay away from barbell squats. They’re
very technical and just jumping in and
doing them as a complete beginner
carries a fairly high injury risk.

Instead, stick to goblet squat and split

squat variations for the first few months.

Here are some squat and lunge

examples:

Goblet Squat
Split Squat (including Bulgarian Split
Squat)
Reverse Lunge
Lateral (side) Lunge
Step Up

Squats and lunges train your lower

body.
 22

3 - Upper Push

“Upper” refers to upper body. And push

refers to any exercise that trains those
pushing muscles: pecs (chest), deltoids
(shoulders) and triceps (the muscles in
the back of your arm).

Examples include:

Push Up
Bench Press
Cable / Resistance Band Press
Overhead Press
 23

4 - Upper Pull

Again, “upper” refers to upper body. And

pull refers to any exercise that trains the
pulling muscles, the main ones being
the lats (back muscles), and biceps (arm
muscles).

We’re also going to think about the tiny

muscles in the back of your shoulder
that help maintain good posture and
generally keep the whole shoulder area
healthy - these are generally more
isolation than compound exercises, but
they’re so useful that they’re worth
doing at least 1x per week. We’ll call
them “shoulder health” exercises.

Examples of upper pull exercises

include:

Pull Up
Lat Pulldown
Rows (barbell / dumbbell / TRX /
cable / resistance band etc.)
 24

And here are some shoulder health

exercise examples:

Face Pull
Band Pull Apart
Rear Delt Raise
Y Raise
 25

5 - Core

Core basically means “abs”.

That’s a slight oversimplification, but

not really.

I always start beginners off with simple -

but not easy - core exercises. Examples
include:

Plank
Side Plank
Dead Bug
Bird Dog

The above exercises are awesome for

developing real awareness of the
different muscles of the core. When
you’ve been doing these for a few
months and developed a good level of
strength and stability, you can then add
in some “loaded carries” which involve
picking up a heavy weight and going for
a walk.
 26

My two favourite carries are:

Suitcase Carry (holding a weight in

one hand by your side and walking)
Farmer Carry (holding a weight in
each hand and walking)

And an important note about the core:

you should engage your core and keep
it engaged during your sets. This
basically means "flex your ab muscles".
If you can't quite figure it out, imagine
someone is about to punch you in the
stomach. Did you feel your abs tighten?
That's what an engaged core feels like.

Important: do NOT "bear down" in your

pelvic area while engaging your core.
You should NOT feel anything in your
pelvis - just in your abdominal muscles.

You should engage your core while

breathing at the same time - this takes
practise.
 27

An engaged core makes you more

stable. Being more stable means you
can safely lift heavier weight. Lifting
heavier weight over time means you’re
getting stronger.
 28

Creating a program

You’re going to use the upcoming

template to create up to 3 different
workouts that you'll perform each week.

You’ll repeat each workout every week

for 4-8 weeks, tracking your progress
over time.

Your workouts, taken together, form

your strength program.

Every 4-8 weeks you'll change your

workouts by changing the exercises.

Before we go on to the template, here

are 9 important factors to always bear in
mind while creating your workouts...
 29

1. Sets and Reps

For now, and for the foreseeable future,

stick with 3 sets of 8-15 reps per
exercise. Any fewer reps and you’re not
really giving your brain enough total
repetitions to properly learn the
technique; and don’t forget, if you’re a
beginner, you’re still in the learning
stage. Learning safe technique should
be your top priority.

Any more than 15 reps and this basically

becomes cardio; you might as well be
spending your time on the elliptical.

Also, make sure you balance things out.

Perform as many reps for your upper
pull exercises as you do for your upper
push exercises. And perform as many
reps for your hip hinge exercises as you
do for your squat/lunge exercises.
 30

2. Warming up and cooling down

Warming up before your workout is

non-negotiable. You must warm up,
unless you enjoy injuring yourself.

You don’t have to spend 20 minutes on

the elliptical or anything, which is an
extremely inefficient way of warming
up.

Instead, your warmup can be as simple

as a few minutes of full-body foam
rolling followed by some dynamic
stretches. My personal favourite is the
"World's Greatest Stretch" which you
can look up on Google or YouTube.

And if you have any body parts that are

particularly tight, google “dynamic
stretches for [tight body part]” e.g.
“dynamic stretches for hips”.

Then, before you perform each exercise,

do 8-10 reps of the exercise with either
bodyweight only or around 50% of the
weight you intend to use. If you’re
performing a bodyweight exercise,
perform a slightly easier version to
warm up.
 31

For example, if you’re doing knee push

ups you can warm up with wall push
ups. This is called a “warmup set”. The
rest of your sets are called your “work
sets”.

For now, you should perform one

warmup set and three work sets of each
exercise.

As you get stronger and more

advanced, you might need more than
one warmup set (if you’re using a
particularly heavy weight) and you
might need to perform more than three
work sets. But don’t worry about that for
now.

To cool down, spend 5-10 minutes foam

rolling and static stretching
 32

3. How to choose an appropriate

weight

Choose a weight that will leave you with

around 2 reps in reserve. Having 2 “reps
in reserve” means you stop when you
think you can do just 2 more reps with
good technique. How do you do that?
Well, the first time you try an exercise,
start light and slowly increase the
weight each set until you find the sweet
spot - it’s essentially trial and error. And
always start with a lighter weight than
you think you can handle and slowly
work up - better to think “I could have
worked a little harder in that set” than “I
hope someone calls an ambulance for
me soon”.

For example: let’s say you’re performing

a goblet squat and you want to do 10
reps. The first set you try a 10lb
dumbbell. You get to 10 reps and you
think “I could easily do another 10 reps.”
That means the weight’s too light - so
you grab a 20lb dumbbell and try again.
You get to 10 reps and you think “I could
probably do another 5 reps” - which
means we’re closer, but it’s still too light.
 33

So you grab a 30lb dumbbell for your

third set. You get to 10 reps and you
think “if I were to really push, I could do
2 more reps” - that means you should
stop there because you’ve now found
the best weight for you. At this point,
you can either move on to the next
exercise (because you’ve performed 3
sets) or you could do an extra couple of
sets - because the first 2 sets were
obviously too light.

But don’t worry - as you gain more

experience, you’ll gain an intuitive sense
of how much weight you should use for
exercises based on past experience with
similar exercises.

Another way of thinking about leaving 2

reps in reserve is that your final rep
should feel like a 7-8 out of 10 subjective
intensity level. And you should definitely
not be able to talk while you’re
performing the exercise; your focus
should be on safely lifting the
subjectively heavy weight with good
technique.

This should allow you to perform the

same number of reps in each set.
 34

4. Resting in between sets

A good general guideline is to rest for 1-

3 minutes in between sets. If you need
less than a minute, you're probably not
working hard enough.

And the fewer reps you do, the more

rest you’ll need. That isn’t a typo. A set of
8 reps will need more rest than a set of
15 reps. A lower-rep set will, by
definition, involve using a heavier
weight, and using heavier weight
requires a little more recovery time.

Also, this isn't cardio. You don’t need to

worry about keeping your heart rate in a
particular zone. You don’t even
necessarily need to sweat. You just need
to work hard during your set, and then
use your rest time to recharge so you
can do the same again.

Eventually, you’ll learn when your body

is ready to start the next set. It just takes
time and experience.
 35

5. How often to train

I recommend you train 2x per week as a

beginner, which means you'll need 2
different workouts.

Here’s what a typical week might look

like if you're training 2x per week:

Monday: Workout A
Tuesday: Rest
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: Workout B
Friday: Rest
Saturday: Rest
Sunday: Rest

And by the way, “rest” doesn’t mean

sitting and doing nothing all day. It
means “take a rest from strength
training”. You should still go out and get
your steps every day (I recommend 7K+
steps per day), and you should also do
cardio 2 or 3x per week. But make sure
you have at least 1 day per week where
you don't strength train OR do cardio.

If you're ready to train 3x per week you'll

need 3 workouts, and your week might
look like this...
 36

Monday: Workout A
Tuesday: Rest
Wednesday: Workout B
Thursday: Rest
Friday: Workout C
Saturday: Rest
Sunday: Rest

Now, if training 3x or even 2x per week

sounds a little overwhelming, think
about training on a 2-week schedule
instead:

Week 1
Monday: Workout A
Tuesday: Rest
Wednesday: Rest
Thursday: Rest
Friday: Workout B
Saturday: Rest
Sunday: Rest

Week 2
Monday: Rest
Tuesday: Rest
Wednesday: Workout C
Thursday: Rest
Friday: Rest
Saturday: Rest
Sunday: Rest
 37

In week 1 you train on Monday and

Friday, and then you train on
Wednesday of week 2. In week 3 you go
back to Monday and Friday, and then
Wednesday in week 4. Essentially, you
train every 4-5 days.

If you’re wondering whether you can

train just 1x per week… well, it’s a
thousand percent better than not
strength training at all. So if that’s all
you can manage, no worries.

And if you’re thinking about training 1x

per week temporarily, as a way of easing
yourself into eventually training more
often - that’s totally valid and it’s a great
strategy.

6. How to get stronger

This is important: you need to record

your workouts. Google Sheets works
well .

Later in the ebook you’ll find a blank

template that will help a ton if you've
never recorded your workouts before.
 38

It’s vital that you record how many reps

and how much weight you use.
Because there’s no way you’re going to
remember how many reps and how
much weight you used last week.

And it’s super important that you record

your workouts so that you can apply the
principle of progressive overload and
ensure you’re getting stronger. Here’s
what I suggest you do:

Week 1: figure out the best weight

for you and how many reps you can
do
Week 2: try to do 1 more rep for each
exercise than you did last week
Week 3: try to do 1 more rep for each
exercise than you did last week
Week 4: increase the weight by 5-
10% and try to do as many reps as
you did in week 1.

For an exercise that’s measured in

seconds rather than reps and weight -
like a plank - simply increase the time
you’re holding the position by 2-5
seconds each week.
 39

7. When to change your program

Once you’ve put your program together

using the upcoming templates, you can
follow each one for 4-8 weeks.

Any less than 4 weeks and you’re not

giving yourself enough time to get
stronger. Any more than 8 weeks and
you’ll probably start getting very bored.

After 4-8 weeks, simply change the

exercises - choose another one in the
same category.

Google “variations of [exercise name]” to

try out more different variations of the
exercises you’ve been doing. For
example, if you’ve been doing a
dumbbell bench press, you could try an
incline dumbbell bench press.

8. How to learn safe exercise technique

It's beyond the scope of this ebook to

teach you safe exercise technique - it's
your responsibility to learn. The best
way is to work with a personal trainer or
coach.
 40

You don't necessarily need to work with

someone 3x a week for the next few
months - that's gonna get expensive -
but I would highly recommend you find
a professional who can show you the
basics. You should be able to find
someone who can do this over the
course of two to four 1-hour sessions.

If that isn't in your budget, there are

many online communities where you
can post videos of you performing an
exercise and receive technique
feedback - although you should do your
research and make sure the people
advising you are properly qualified.

And remember: never sacrifice good

technique just because you're trying to
lift more weight or perform more reps
than last time - or if you've already
performed 2 sets of 10 and you're trying
to do 10 reps in your final set.
Performing 2 sets of 10 followed by a 3rd
set of 8 is totally fine. Next week, just
aim for 3 sets of 10 again. Or 2 sets of 10
and a 3rd set of 9. Either of these
options would be examples of
progressive overload. And remember:
you might not get stronger every week.
 41

9. How to choose appropriate exercises

It's important to consult your physician

before beginning any exercise program.
This is especially important if you have
any medical issues.

Your physician can advise any

modifications you would need to make,
or if they can't, they'll refer you to
someone who can.

You can also choose to consult a

physiotherapist or a physical therapist
who can recommend exercises based
on your movement abilities. For
example, if you feel you have tightness
in certain joints (like your hips or
shoulders) or an imbalance on one side
of your body, one of these professionals
can assess your movement and then
make recommendations.
 42

The Template

Now that you have an understanding of

the movement categories, you're going
to realize just how simple it is to create
a full body strength workout.

You simply take 1 exercise from each

movement category and perform 3 sets
of each exercise, going through them
one by one. Each workout will contain 5
exercises:

Exercise 1: Hip Hinge

Exercise 2: Squat/Lunge
Exercise 3: Upper Pull
Exercise 4: Upper Push
Exercise 5: Core

If you prefer, you can perform a

squat/lunge before a hip hinge, and an
upper push before an upper pull. Just
make sure you perform your lower body
exercises before your upper body
exercises because lower body exercises
are more tiring.

If you're training 1x per week, you'll need

to create 1 workout. If you're training 2x
per week, you'll need 2 workouts, etc.
 43

Your first workout is Workout A. Your

second is Workout B. Your third (if
you're doing a third) is Workout C. Each
workout should contain different
exercises.

You perform each workout every week

for 4-8 weeks. Record your workouts,
and apply progressive overload to each
exercise every week (as described
elsewhere in this ebook). After 4-8
workouts, simply create new workouts
and start the process again.

Let's create a workout at random and

go through it:

1. Hip Thrust
2. Reverse Lunge
3. Dumbbell Row
4 Dumbbell Bench Press
5. Plank

To make sure you fully understand how

to actually "do" this workout, let's go
through it step by step. After you've
done your foam rolling and dynamic
stretching, here's what the workout will
look like...
 44

1. You start with a hip thrust. Perform

your warmup set.
2. Perform 8-15 reps with the weight
you’ve decided to use (your first work
set).
3. Rest for 1-3 minutes.
4. Repeat steps 2-3, using the same
weight and aiming for the same
number of reps.
5. Repeat steps 2-3, using the same
weight and aiming for the same
number of reps.
6. Now you move on to the reverse
lunge. Perform your warmup set.
7. Perform 8-15 reps with the weight
you’ve decided to use.
8. Rest for 1-3 minutes.
9. Repeat steps 2-3, using the same
weight and aiming for the same
number of reps.
10. Repeat steps 2-3, using the same
weight and aiming for the same
number of reps.
11. Now you move on to the lat
pulldown…

I think you get the idea: perform a

warmup set and then 3 work sets with 1-
3 minutes’ rest in between each work
set.
 45

Once you've gone through all your

workouts, time to cool down with foam
rolling and static stretching.

Summary:

- to build a workout you simply need to

choose 1 exercise from each movement
category, performing the lower body
exercises first, then the upper body
exercises, and then the core exercise.

- beginners should start by working out

2x per week, which means they'll need
to create 2 workouts: Workout A and
Workout B.

- choose different exercises for each

workout.

- repeat each workout every week,

preferably on the same day. For
example, you perform Workout A every
Monday and Workout B every Thursday.

- apply progressive overload to your

workouts every week (see page 16 for a
reminder)
 46

- change your workouts every 4-8 weeks

by choosing new exercises from each
movement category.

This blank template will help you build

workouts. Each should contain:

- a warmup that features foam rolling

and dynamic stretching.
- 1 hip hinge exercise.
- 1 squat/lunge exercise.
- 1 upper body pull exercise
- 1 upper body push exercise.
- 1 core exercise.
- a cooldown that features foam rolling
and static stretching.
 47

FAQ

How often should I train?

- If you're a beginner, start with 2x per
week. When your body gets used to
that - which can take a few months -
you can try 3x per week.

How do I know if the weight is heavy

enough?
- Let’s say you’re aiming for 10 reps.
When you get to 10, you should feel that
you could do just 2 or 3 more reps with
good technique if you really had to. You
shouldn't actually do them - you should
just feel like you could.

What should I do when bodyweight

exercises like push ups get too easy?
- Type “advanced push up variations”
into Google or YouTube.

How long do these workouts take?

- Including the warmup and cooldown,
you’re looking at 30-60 minutes.
 48

I want to buy some home workout

equipment. Where do I start?
- Look into the following equipment:
Foam roller (for warming up and
cooling down)
Yoga mat (for ground-based
exercises)
Resistance bands
Suspension trainer (commonly
referred to as a “TRX”)
Bench (preferably one that inclines
and declines)
Adjustable dumbbells

Can I just create 1 workout and do it 2

or 3 times per week?
- Sure. But you’ll get bored quick. And
you risk injury doing the same thing
over and over again.

Can I train on consecutive days?

- No. You aren’t giving yourself enough
time to recover if you train 2 days in a
row. Choose non-consecutive days to do
your workouts e.g. Monday and
Thursday.

How often should I change the

exercises?
- Every 4-8 weeks.
 49

What do I do when I change the

exercises? Just choose new ones that
fall into each group?
- Sure, that’s one way, and it’s probably
the most simple way. Another way
would be to find a progressed (more
difficult) version of an exercise. For
example, a split squat can be
progressed to a Bulgarian split squat.

What should I do if an exercise hurts?

- Stop doing it, immediately. And make
an appointment with a physician or
physiotherapist to find out why that
exercise caused pain.

Do I need to cool down after a

workout?
- That would be a good idea. Spend 5-10
minutes foam rolling and stretching out
(google "static stretching").

How difficult should each workout feel?

Do I need to be sweating and totally
out of breath by the end?
- No. Absolutely not. At the end of a
workout, you should definitely feel like
you worked hard, but at the same time,
you should feel that you could repeat
the entire workout if you really had to.
 50

How often should I include those

shoulder health exercises you
mentioned?
- Once a week would be ideal.

I don’t see you mention isolation

exercises like calf raises, bicep curls,
tricep extensions, side lateral raises etc.
What do I do if I want to include these
kinds of exercises?
- Add them in at the end of each
workout. If you train 3x per week, do this
no more than 2x per week because
you'll need more time to recover from
the added exercise.

How many sets and reps should I do?

- Stick with 3 sets of 8-15 reps. For
isolation exercises like bicep curls, stick
with 2 sets of 8-15 reps.

Do you have any tips for effectively

ordering the exercises?
- Start with either a hip hinge, a squat,
or a lunge. Your lower body muscles are
larger and therefore require more
energy, so it's best to do them before
your upper body exercises so you're
more fresh (and less likely to injure
yourself).
 51

Should I take breaks from training?

- Yes! Take a week off every 12 weeks or
so and just go on walks.

How should I breathe during exercise?

- Breathe in during the easier part of the
rep, and breathe out during the difficult
part of the rep. For example: with a
squat, breathe in as you descend, and
breathe out as you ascend.

How do I incorporate cardio?

- The most simple option is to do cardio
on days you don't strength train (just
make sure you take at least 1 full day off
training of any kind). If you can only do
cardio the same day you strength train,
do cardio after strength training if
strength gain and/or fat loss are your
primary goals, and do cardio before
strength training if improving your
cardio is your primary goal.

Will strength training like this make me

bulky?
- No. You only get bulky if you eat in a
calorie surplus.
 52

Can I train 4x per week using these

templates?
- No. More than 3x per week and you're
not giving your body enough time to
recover. Training 4x per week means
doing 2 upper body and 2 lower body
workouts per week. There's nothing
wrong with that, but it's not really
suitable for beginners, and so I haven't
discussed that method in this ebook.

Should I train if I'm sore?

- If you're so sore that you have a limited
range of motion, then don't. If you're
just a little sore and your flexibility
doesn't seem to have been affected, you
can train, but use lighter weight than
usual. And spend extra time warming
up.

Does being sore mean I had a good

workout?
- Not necessarily. Being sore simply
means you did something new. After a
few weeks of doing the same workouts
you'll notice yourself getting less sore.
This doesn't mean your workouts are
getting less effective. As long as you're
getting stronger, you're good.
 53

What can I do to make sure I recover as

well as possible in between workouts?
- Don't undereat. You won't recover if
you're only eating 1200 calories. Use my
weight loss calorie calculator for
guidelines. You can also google "tdee
calculator" if you want an approximate
estimate of how much you should be
eating to maintain your current weight.
- Eat more protein: around 1g per lb
target weight.
- Sleep enough: 7-9 hours.
- Eat lots of fruit and veggies.
- Stay hydrated.
- Walk more and walk frequently,
getting 7-10K steps per day, spread out
over the entire day.
 54

Gym Etiquette

New to the gym? No worries. Here are a

few simple guidelines to make sure
everyone has a good time.

1) Put all equipment back where you

found it.

2) Don't hog more than 1 piece of

equipment at a time. Using dumbbells
AND a bench is fine. But it isn't cool to
hog a bench, a pair of dumbbells, AND
the lat pulldown machine all at the
same time.

3) Wear clean clothes.

4) Wear deodorant.

5) Don't wear excessively strong

perfume.

6) Don't work out directly in front of the

dumbbell rack. Take a couple of big
steps back.

7) Play your music through headphones

- never through your phone's speaker.
 55

8) Wipe your sweat off the equipment

after use.

9) Don't talk to someone while they're in

the middle of a set.

10) The squat rack should only be used

for squats.

11) The benches are for exercise - keep

your belongings off them if you're not
using the bench.

12) If someone's using a piece of

equipment you want to use, it's
perfectly reasonable to politely ask how
many more sets they have left. It used
to be reasonable to ask if you could
"work in", meaning "share" the
equipment, but COVID and social
distancing can make this difficult - it
comes down to your comfort, the other
person's comfort, and any hygiene rules
the gym has in place.
 56

How to feel less intimidated

in the gym

If you're new to the gym, you might be a

little anxious about being in a new
environment.

Or perhaps you're worried about being

judged.

This is totally normal. Here are a few

points to bear in mind that will help you
out:

- Nobody is going to laugh at you.

They're not even paying attention to
you because they're too busy worrying
that someone is going to laugh at them.

- If you have a question, just ask one of

the personal trainers (as long as they're
not with a client) or someone working
at the front desk.

- Just because someone's stronger than

you it doesn't mean they have more of a
right to be in the gym than you. You
paid your membership fee, and so you
have just as much right to be there.
 57

- If you feel super uncomfortable and

can't bring yourself to go and use the
weights, just hop on a cardio machine.
You'll at least get used to spending time
in the gym environment, and you'll
improve your cardiovascular fitness at
the same time.

- Most gyms have a separate training

area where they might provide group
fitness classes. If that area is free, you
might be able to take your dumbbells in
there and train away from the weights
area until you develop more confidence.
 58

What Next?

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