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General Guidelines for Strength Training
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- Always check with your physician before starting any exercise program. Our (FAF) exercise programs are designed for healthy individuals and therefore should not to be viewed or used for rehabilitative purposes.
- Meet with a health and fitness professional to establish criteria for your exercise program. You want a program tailored to meet your needs and goals. A fitness professional should understand your medical history, perform a complete fitness assessment and be able to design an appropriate exercise program.
- A fitness professional will determine the frequency, intensity, time and type of exercises to be performed in your program with the proper periodized progression. To see improvements in strength, it is important to increase your weight load gradually over the course of time.
- Supervision by a trained fitness professional is critical when starting a new exercise program. This person can provide the necessary instruction needed for proper execution of each exercise. Maintaining strict form will ensure maximum results and more importantly prevent injury. Prevention of injury is as important as performance.
- Always exercise in pain free ranges. Pain is the body’s way of telling us there is a problem that needs to be addressed. If you experience pain in or around a joint with a movement, slow down, make modifications (check your form) or stop what you are doing. If you continue to work through pain you will either injure yourself or exacerbate a previous existing injury.
- The speed and tempo of a movement can vary depending on your individualized program and fitness level. The movements must be smooth and controlled. We don’t want to see herky, jerky motions while unstable or off balance. We can’t have good form with instability. Strength and stability needs to precede balance.
- Be aware of the core and “Neutral Spine” when performing an exercise. Your exercise professional can help you recognize what neutral alignment looks and feels like. This is the position in which the spine is best equipped to deal with external stress. You should be able to move into neutral alignment while sitting, standing and moving. To learn how to find neutral posture, go to our home page and click on “Get In Condition” and scroll down to “Finding Neutral Posture.”
- Never hold your breathe for extended periods of time with weight resistance training. As a general rule, breathe out (exhale) when performing the repetition and breathe in (inhale) when returning to the starting position.
- Periods of rest are important for reaching maximum results in your program. The body needs time to repair muscle tissue that has been stimulated with resistance training. Skip a day in between working the same muscle group.
- Vary your exercise programs to combat boredom and to keep them challenging and fun. You will greatly increase your chances of adhering to an exercise program long term if you enjoy what you are doing.
- Check your exercise equipment or functional training aids periodically for wear and tear. Equipment must be safe and in good working order. For example, if your stability balls or elastic tubing bands have small rips or tears in them they need to be replaced immediately.
- Exercise in the proper environment with the proper exercise clothing and footwear.
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