Beginner Vs. Advanced Strength Training
Current Fitness and Physical Capability
Current fitness and physical capability should be taken into account when determining your starting place in a strength training plan. One of the biggest mistakes people make when starting a fitness program is jumping into a plan that is too difficult to maintain.
It is exciting when you make a decision to make your fitness a priority. You want to work hard and get the results as soon as possible. I completely understand the desire, but jumping in to something unsustainable can lead to injury, frustration and exhaustion, all of which will hinder your progress towards your health goals. You must always remember that when it comes to any aspect of health it is a process that requires hard work and consistency.
Increases in strength can be broken down to two mechanisms.
Neuromuscular connection
this is the connection between your brain and the muscles involved in the training task. It takes practice to become efficient and recruit the appropriate amount of motor units to create optimal muscle contraction for the task.
Strength results will be seen quickly as the muscle contraction becomes more efficient.
Muscle development
This is the actual growth of the muscle in reaction to the increased demands placed on it. This will take upwards of 6 weeks, therefore if increasing your strength is your goal you should be looking at a minimum of a six week program.
Don't be discouraged if you hit a plateau
To break this down remember you may see a considerable increase in strength when you start training (as your muscles become more efficient at the task) followed by a much slower increase in strength moving forward (as muscle development is taking place).
Training Experience
A study by Rhea et al. looks into increasing strength as the goal of training. His results led him to split his advice into two groups, Beginner (trained <1 year) and Advanced (trained > 1 year).
Beginner
When you begin strength training you will gain most of strength gains by training neuromuscular connections.
To maximize the benefit of training you must complete a higher amount of exercise with lower loads to allow your body to practice the task.
Repetitions
Beginners should train at approximately 60% of one rep max.
This weight should allow for a rep range of 12-15
Higher rep range allows the body to practice the movements more times in 1 set
Sets
Beginners should try for 3 sets per body part.
That usually means one exercise per body part, which allows for more full body workouts
Beginners should stick to basic exercises to start the suggested exercises in this paper were as follows:
Chest - bench presses or incline bench presses
Shoulders - barbell or dumbbell overhead presses
Back - barbell rows or pulldowns
Legs - squats or leg presses
Triceps - close-grip bench presses or skull-crushers
Biceps - standing barbell or dumbbell curls for biceps.
How many times a Week
Beginners should train muscle groups 3 times a week.
Due to the lower set range exercises can be done as 1 full body day 3 times a week or split in half to make up a 6 day/week schedule.
Advanced
People training in the advanced category will have made the neuromuscular connection efficient enough that most of their strength will come from muscle development. This means that you will have to challenge the muscle with higher loads.
Repetitions
Train at approximately 80% 1 rep max
This should allow for a 6-8 rep range
Sets
4-6 sets per body part
This will be 2-3 exercises per body part
One basic exercise and one specific exercise is suggested
How many times a week
Muscle groups should be trained 2 times per week
Advanced trainers already have a good neuromuscular connection and are stressing these muscles more than beginners. This stress to the muscle tissues is causing micro tears. You must allow these muscles to heal in order to build strength.
Strength programs can be designed in a variety of ways to suit the above point, but I suggest you split the body into 3 groups and train 6 days a week (every body part is worked 2 times per week)
Reference
Rhea MR, Alvar BA, Burkett LN, Ball SD. A meta-analysis to determine the dose response for strength development. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2003 Mar;35(3):456–64.