by Molly Galbraith

We know you can’t get enough of Molly’s endless knowledge, so she’s returned with more training basics everyone should know!

• Focus on Strength!

Until you can properly squat and deadlift at least your body weight, and bench press at least half of your body weight, you have no business doing body part splits! Getting stronger opens up many doors to a lot of other types of training, and makes that training infinitely more effective.

Think about it: How effective will your metabolic circuit be if you could barely do five pushups? How many rounds will you make it through before your upper body gives out on you?

And just think about those curls you do on your “arm training day.” Your results would improve tenfold if you were doing hammer curls with thirty pound dumbbells rather than the tens! What kind of effect will that have on your hypertrophy training? Astronomical, right?

Training for strength will also help improve the strength of joints and ligaments and help prevent injury when you are training explosively, as in sprints or plyometrics, for example.

So the bottom line is, training for strength is the way to go! Once you’ve built up a decent strength base, you can try other types of training and reap major results.

• Stick With It!

Everyone wants results from their routines like, yesterday, and this can cause frustration — along with the “grass is always greener” syndrome. Any time a new, cool-sounding routine or diet comes out, everyone wants to jump on the bandwagon. You end up skipping around from routine to routine, and diet to diet without ever really sticking with any one of them for a long enough time to see results.

So pick a single routine, stick with it for four to six weeks, and see results! If nothing else, this will also help you to determine how your body responds to specific training and dieting stimuli.

Do you feel like you get a lot out of doing deadlifts? Awesome, you’ll know to keep them in your training routine! Does the Anabolic Diet give you great energy? Wonderful, stick with it! Do barbell complexes rip the fat off of you? Great, try the different variations!

Sticking with a diet or routine for a long enough period to see results is the best way to figure out what works for you and what doesn’t. So quit jumping from one thing to another like a Chihuahua with ADD!

• Do Your Compounds!

If it’s been said once, it’s been said a million times: Let big, compound movements comprise the bulk of your training!

Your money exercises are as follows: Squats, deadlifts, pushups, pullups, bench press, rows, overhead presses, and all of their respective variations. These are the exercises that will make you strong while building shapely, sexy muscle in the shortest amount of time.

They’re also the exercises that create the biggest demand on the body and burn the most calories. Get good at these exercises and do them often if you want to reach your goals! ‘Nuff said.

• Stop Neglecting Overall Conditioning!

Cardiovascular activity is not the devil! It should be used wisely to get the desired results.

One of the major benefits of being in good overall condition is increased recovery. You will have better circulation and better nutrient partitioning, resulting in quicker recovery from your workouts. You will also be able to weight train more intensely if you’re in good overall condition.

This is not hard to achieve, and oftentimes, your weight training will condition you just fine without any additional work. But some people need a little something extra. Low intensity walks and light sled pulling are great ways for you to increase your conditioning and speed up your recovery without hampering your workouts.

About Molly

Molly Galbraith is co-owner of Red Point Fitness, an online nutrition and training company found here. She is also a natural figure and powerlifting competitor. She also trains clients online and in-person. You can contact her at molly@redpointfitness.com.