It's the time of the year, when I get bombarded with requests from individual who want to start exercising, especially weight training. I have put together this most valuable guide to any novice who wants to develop size, strength and muscle in the most effective way.

This article is geared to the very inexperienced to outline the key principles that must be considered to maximise the inevitable gains a complete beginner will make and to get into the good habits as early as possible.

Mindset

Often neglected by the beginner and yet the most important ingredient in success is desire. Many fail by seeing it as a short-term goal to improve their physique. This will contribute to failure. Get it out of your head that you need to get in shape for your holiday in eight weeks time. You should see it as a lifestyle. A way to live your life.

Accept the condition your body is in and make the decision to change your life to achieve your objectives. Accept it is a long-term plan and you will not be disheartened if it takes time to improve. Let's face it folks, if it was easy then everybody would be doing it.

Be realistic about your goals. A beginner should not be saying I want to lose 20 kilograms of fat and gain 10 kilograms of lean muscle in two months. It just won't happen, yet time and again; people put this sort of image in their mind and become disheartened when it doesn't happen that fast.

It's time to wake up. Forget the brainwashing from the health and fitness industry that you have endured most of your life, it's so they can sell their latest fat-loss or muscle-growth gimmick.

Prepare yourself for hard work and sacrifice and you will see it as something you love and not as a chore. You will see it as something that distinguishes you from the masses who cannot be bothered or those who shoulder too much pride to seek advice. As soon as you see it as a chore you are on the path to failure.

Objective setting

First of all assess your physique. Decide what you need to do most of all — lose fat, build muscle.

How fat you are, or how small your muscles are, will determine where your priorities should lie. I feel this is important so that you can set yourself some attainable targets. Remember, for fat loss, the more muscle you have the more calories your body burns at rest.

Training: Weights

Your weight routine will be the bedrock of your lean muscle gains. To make consistent and long-term gains you should make of point of having a structured weight routine from the start.

My first recommendation is to join a good gym. A gym that offers a comprehensive induction process and has staff who knows what they're doing. A good gym will be one where you feel comfortable. If you want to train at home, then get some weights or resistance bands (which are cost-effective), as well as an expert trainer to guide you through exercising on your own.

Get your form right!

This cannot be stressed enough. Poor form is rife amongst the majority of those doing weight training and will vastly hinder your progress. Do not sacrifice good form in all exercises for more weight! Your muscles will develop much quicker and you will have much less risk of injury if your form is good. If you cannot complete good form with the exercise then the weight is too heavy for you.

As a good rule aim for nine to 12 sets (max) for large muscle groups (chest/back/legs) followed by a smaller muscle group for six to eight sets (max) (biceps/triceps/shoulders/abs/calves).

Also as a good rule work at a weight that you can perform six to eight reps with strict form with before you can't hold good form anymore. When eight times becomes comfortable then you can add a little more weight.

Six to eight reps is the best compromise between hypertrophy gains (muscle growth) and strength gains. Where you see "train to failure" — this means until you cannot do anymore reps at that weight with perfect form.

Rest

This is very important. You should aim to give your muscles a few days rest for recovery and growth. Muscles grow while you rest. This is why you train each muscle group once a week, so that you give the muscle a week's recovery time before you hit it again the following week. It is very easy to overtrain, especially when you are very enthusiastic at the outset. To begin with you will most likely gain some muscle but not nearly as much as if you rested properly. No good doing 20 times sets of bicep curls three times a week. Your arms will not grow!

Training: cardio

Cardio is important for fat loss and cardiovascular fitness. You should aim to do cardio on separate sessions from weights so that your muscle glycogen is used while weight training to fuel the muscles. Do not perform cardio before the weights sessions otherwise you reduce the potency of the weights session!

Email Ronald at Ronald@mypersonaltrainer.co.za for more info or help