Strength Training NOT Bodybuilding: How To Build Muscle & Burn Fat...Without Morphing Into A Bodybuilder (Strength Training 101)

by Marc McLean

ourselves. Life is all about growing and improving and getting better…but always do it for yourself. No one else.

“Do the thing you fear and the death of fear is certain.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

The first crucial step in this chain of events leading to a stronger, healthier, better you is proper preparation and goal setting.

With clear, defined goals you’ll: Have a target to aim for Be inspired to get going Put some real meaning behind your workouts Be MUCH less likely to quit. Without clear, defined goals you’ll: Get bored easily and look for excuses Have no real perception of progress End up majorly frustrated Run out of motivation quickly Undoubtedly quit and end up back at square one

“Set a goal to achieve something that is so big, so exciting that is excites you and scares you at the same time.” – Bob Proctor.

All the hugely successful people in this world usually have two things in common: 1 – They’re physically fit because they know that looking after their bodies will also sharpen their minds. 2 – They set goals and go about achieving them with a laser like focus. Goal setting is very important before you lift a single dumbbell because it clears the path leading to where you want to be and gives you targets to zero in on.

#1 Be specific about what you want – and aim high. We don’t do vague goals like, “I want more muscle”, or “I want to lose my belly fat”. That’s hardly inspiring, is it? Specific details about your perfect body is more like it. No point in setting the bar low, let’s raise it right up and get fired up about the possibility of completely transforming your physique. Think about how achieving this will make you feel. #2 Set your starting point - To get where we’re going we need to know where we are. Take measurements, date, weight, size of waist, arms etc. Also, take a ‘before’ picture. Nobody really likes doing this as it feels awkward, but it will feel much better looking at it when you have the ‘after’ photo to compare it to. #3 Set a deadline - Choose a date – between 12 and 16 weeks from now – and make that your deadline for hitting your goals. This is the ideal period because if the deadline is too far in the distance you’ll slack off. We want a sense of urgency as we chase these goals.

make it a habit to spend just 30 seconds reading them every morning. Keep reminding yourself of what you intend to achieve and how you’re going to feel once you do it. It’s a simple habit but one that keeps you focused on your targets and bats any excuses right out of the park. If They Can Do It So Can You...

exercises – aka the big multi-joint movements that work several muscle groups at once. Rule #2 Progressively overload the muscles – aka increase the weight gradually as you get stronger. Rule #3 High weight, low reps – aka getting into double figures with reps means you won’t get very far. Rule #4 Rest and recovery is crucial – aka avoid overtraining like the plague as your body needs sufficient time in between weights session to repair and develop.

instead of doing countless reps of an exercise at a particular weight, you should be steadily going heavier to increase the resistance on the muscles.

I always recommend roughly a 48-hour gap between heavy weight training sessions. It’s as simply as one day on, one day off. No more than 3-4 strength training sessions per week.

Heavy weight training using compound exercises – particularly squats and deadlifts – has been scientifically proven to boost production of anabolic hormones, such as growth hormone, IGF1 and testosterone.