In the metabolism piece I mentioned the low resting metabolic rate of muscle. A pound of muscle does not burn an extra 50 or so calories a day just sitting there. It burns closer to 6. So, why train with weights? Well:

• It makes you look pretty from the neck down. Women dig you, and you dig yourself because having big muscles is good for your self esteem. Just don't get too inflated an ego (I struggle with this one).
• It keeps your bones and joints strong.
• It makes you strong. This can come in handy when ketchup bottles needs opening or furniture needs moving or asses need kicking.
• It helps build a strong and healthy heart
• Did I mention that it makes you pretty?

I should also note that humans are perfectly capable of building muscle and losing fat at the same time as these are two different metabolic processes. If you are already quite pumped up and go through a major fat loss it can appear as though you are losing muscle even though you are still weight training, but in reality you are losing fat surrounding and even inside the muscle tissue. Think about marbled beef – you burn that fat too and the overall size of your physique will shrink a bit. When you get slim take pride in the fact that you wouldn't taste good.

Change is vital.

Your body adapts. When you challenge your muscles with intense stress they grow to adapt to this challenge. When that process is complete the adaptation stops, so a new stress must be added in order to achieve a new level of muscular development, strength and performance.

You must continually change your weight lifting program in order to continue getting results. This concept is known as muscular confusion. The idea is that you don’t want to give your muscles time to get used to any one way of exercising or they will stop growing. You will achieve a plateau for your current levels of exercise frequency and exertion. We’ll call this a “limited plateau.”

That’s why I’m going to keep pushing you. You can putter along at a limited plateau for a while, but eventually you’re going to have to shift it into a higher gear again. You are chasing your genetic plateau, even though most people will never reach it, so let’s just try to get you close with the time constraints and energy you have.

Muscles grow because they are forced to grow. Keep pushing yourself until you achieve your own personal “good enough.”

Intensity.

It’s real simple. When you exercise intensely with weights you rip apart the muscle fibers. Later on, with proper food intake, those muscle fibers grow back bigger and stronger because you sent your body the message that you demand more from it.

Rep:
Short for repetition. Lifting a weight one time is one rep. Lifting it ten times is ten reps.

Set:
A set is a series of reps. You can do a set of four reps, or a set of six reps etc. If you do the common “three sets of ten” this is a reference to doing ten reps, followed by a short break, then another ten reps, followed by another short break, and then another ten reps.

Concentric Movement:
This is the “lifting” portion of an exercise; the part where you are moving the weight against gravity (I provide this additional explanation because there are certain machines where you are pulling down towards the ground, but still, the weight on these machines is going against gravity).

Eccentric Movement:
This is the “lowering” portion of an exercise. Some people say a mnemonic for it is “E” for easy, because the weight is being moved with gravity rather than against it , but as I will explain later in the book the goal is to make this portion challenging as well because it is an important part of the muscle building process. The idea is to keep the tension on the muscle as you lower the weight, and not just drop it. Feel the muscle fibers rip apart.

Compound Movement:
These are multi-joint movements. They are the primary focus of a good weightlifting program because they use your muscles in a coordinated and natural way – the way they were designed to be used.

Periodization:
I don’t use this term because it makes me think of menstruation, and no guy wants that in his head. It means changing shit up on a regular basis, which I already discussed.

Hypertrophy:
This means making muscles grow bigger.

Anaerobic:
Meaning without oxygen. Weight training and other short burst, intense, power sports are anaerobic in nature. The simple explanation is that the exercise is intense enough that the demand for oxygen exceeds supply, so this triggers anaerobic metabolism which provides the needed energy from fuel stored in the muscles.

Split Routine:
This is what I advocate. It refers to splitting your program up into different body sections for each session. The other method is a whole body workout which I don’t think you should do.

There are many more terms, but I think this is enough.

You must check your ego at the door.

As you progress in skill your goal will be to lift as heavy weights as you can with good technique for the intended number of reps and sets. I can lift heavier weights than what I usually do – if I sacrifice my technique.

The gym I workout at is full of university students; young university students. Needless to say the babe factor is awesome. That’s not my point, though. My point is that in my gym there are plenty of dumbass 18-20 year old guys who don’t have a friggin’ clue what they’re doing and lift as much as they possibly can.

Like I said, they’re dumb.

Good technique targets just the intended muscle group, and as a result you can’t lift as much. Let’s use bench press as an example. When you choose a moderate amount of weight you can concentrate on just using your chest muscles to move it (well, mostly). If you select a weight that is too heavy, you end up recruiting a host of other muscles to move it. This is counterproductive and places undue strain on your body, possibly leading to injury.

I see these kids come in a flop around on the bench doing the funky chicken trying to lift far more weight than they should. As I will mention in the chapter on gym etiquette, I resist the urge to inform them of their folly. Never give advice unless asked, and even then just tell them to visit www.bodyforwife.com.

I will provide detailed descriptions of how to ensure you are using good technique in the various phases.

As I already wrote, change is vital, and there are a number of ways in which you can achieve it:

• Change the amount of weight you lift
• Change the number of reps per set
• Change the number of sets per exercise
• Change the types of exercises you do
• Change the order in which you perform various exercises
• Change the tempo at which you lift and lower the weights
• Change the length of the rest period between sets
• Change your grip
• Change your stance

I will teach you to do all of these.

As I mentioned in the jargon section, failure means lifting until you can’t lift anymore. Again I wish to qualify this to include the words “with good technique.” Those last three words are why I don’t feel that people usually need to use a spotter. When I am doing bench press – an exercise where you can get trapped under the weight if you’re being dumb – a lot of guys will use a spotter to help them lift the weight for the last rep. I get asked to be a spotter sometimes and it’s impolite to say “no.”

The reason I don’t ever need one is because of my focus on less weight with good technique. If I get stuck on the last rep, all I have to do is use a bit of bad technique (recruit other muscles for that one rep) and the weight gets lifted.

Most guys who are serious about building muscle go to failure on every set. I do, and I advise you to as well – after about a month of acclimatizing your muscles to weight training. After you acclimatize I want you to go to failure on every set of every exercise every time, all the time (this does NOT include warm up sets). It will become second nature.

I should note that when you always go to failure, the standard “three sets of ten” becomes impossible because if you’re doing it right you probably can’t hit ten on your second set, and definitely not on your third. Well, you could if you took a longer rest period, but you don’t want to rest that long.

The goal is to pick a weight where ten (or another number – see below) is the absolute maximum that you can do (once you are acclimatized). Then when you do your second set ten is likely impossible, so you only do nine. The third set will probably be eight reps; maybe seven if you really pushed yourself on the first two sets.

Overall, I say don’t sweat the exact number of reps so much. The weight you choose decides how many reps you do.

Hey! I just made that up and think it’s pretty damn profound, so let’s bold, italicize, and center it for effect:

I’m not talking about your muscles; I’m talking about the muscle groups and the order in which you work them. In every session you always start with the most challenging type of exercise that works the larger muscle groups. These are compound (multi-joint) movements.

In Phase 3 I’ll have you doing a two-day split (upper body one day and lower body the next) because I’m easing you into weight training, but that won’t last. Once you get into Phase 4 I am moving you to a three-day split, and if you like you can stick with this until you die. I plan to. Here is how it works:

            Day 1: Chest, shoulders, triceps (upper body “pushing”)

            Day 2: Legs

            Day 3: Back and biceps (upper body “pulling”) and “midsection” (abdominals and twisting exercises)

You can stick to lifting just three days a week and do well. If you wish to lift weights four times a week (what I usually do) this is adaptable for that. It can also be adapted for five days a week (which I sometimes do) and even six (I never have). I will teach you all about this in Phase 5. Even if you get so hardcore that you go six times a week it still allows each muscle group a 72 hour rest period, which is important.

FYI: I put midsection on the back and biceps day because it takes less time than the chest, shoulders, triceps day.

I admit that there are other types of routines because I’ve tried most of them. I like this one best, I know a lot of other guys who prefer it, and I’ve recommended it to many people and they all like it too.

By the way, this isn’t “James’” routine. I didn’t invent it. I can’t remember where I learned it, but I’ve been doing it for at least ten years.

Bear in mind that everything that follows involves going to failure.

When you lift heavier weights only a few times you build strength. When you lift lighter weights several times you build endurance (and you move from anaerobic to aerobic). In between, you build strength and size.

Here is how it works:

• 3-5 reps = strength focus
• 6-8 reps = strength with size
• 9-12 reps = size with strength

In Phase 3 I am going to commit weightlifter blasphemy; I will recommend that you stick to the weightlifting machines and not do any free weights. These machines do a mediocre job of training your muscles, and that is why I think it makes them good for acclimatizing your body to the sport. However, there are certain machines that belong on the junk heap. I will tell you which ones to avoid.

Phase 3 is a short one; after a month or two I will move you over to free weights in Phase 4. You can still do some machines, as they serve a purpose, but they soon become regulated to playing a small supporting role in your overall program.

When it comes to free weights, there are varying degrees of difficulty. Phase 4 will be moderately difficult (there is no “easy” when it comes to free weights), and Phase 5 will kick your ass.

A jog to the gym or five minutes on a bike doesn’t warm you up in the necessary manner for weight training. Neither does stretching. I will cover stretching in Phase 3, but it isn’t something that you need to do as part of your weight training routine. In fact, multiple sources have shown that stretching a muscle prior to weight training can inhibit performance. Stretching should be done for its own sake to help improve overall flexibility at a time outside the gym. It should be noted that the act of weight training helps to improve flexibility by stretching the muscles that are under work.

A proper warm up involves warming up the target muscles that you are about to exercise. For example, when I am about to do chest I will start off with a dozen pushups. Then when I hit the bench I grab half of my top weight and bench it about five or six times. My chest, shoulders and triceps are now warmed up and I don’t need to do any further warm up sets at all for that day.

I go through a fundamental change in my program every month on a four-month rotation. Once you get into Phase 4 I advise changing yours in the same manner, except since you are just getting started do it every two months for eight months, and then shift to changing it monthly. Do it the first day of the month to make it easy to remember.

Here is an example. In every case below I go to failure on every set. Always.

Note that I don’t include warm-ups in these examples.

When on this program, the weight I select does not change for a specific exercise. I pick my weight, do three or four sets then move to another exercise. As I mentioned in the note about failure section, when you go to failure on every set then for progressive sets you are running out of gas and can’t do as many, even though the weight remains the same.

Set 1: 6 reps

Set 2: 6 reps

Set 3: 5 reps

Set 4: 4 reps

Again, I am decreasing the number of reps with each set because I’m running out of energy from going so hard in the earlier sets.

Set 1: 12 reps

Set 2: Increase weight and do 10 reps

Set 3: Increase weight and do 8 reps

Set 4: Increase weight and do 6 reps

Obviously, the weight isn’t going to be increased that much because you have to factor in getting tired.

As with the heavy weight / low reps program, this one involves using the same amount of weight through an entire exercise.

Set 1: 11 reps

Set 2: 11 reps

Set 3: 10 reps

This one is damn challenging. I think it is the hardest month of all four. It involves decreasing the weight and increasing the number of reps.

Set 1: 6 reps

Set 2: Decrease weight and do 8 reps

Set 3: Decrease weight and do 10 reps

Set 4: Decrease weight and do 12 reps

This is what I’ve been doing for about four years now, and I have no intention of changing it any time soon, if ever. It provides regular change in the program to keep my muscles guessing and trying to adapt. When coupled with the other strategies I mentioned in the “methods of change” section this allows for plenty of adjustment in my program to keep it fresh. Taking this into consideration I think the fact that my four-month rotation and split routine never change is fine. I have more regular change in my program than most guys do, which keeps me from getting bored and provides ongoing challenge to my muscles.

This will vary, as it is one of the aforementioned methods of change, but also because of the type of program you are currently engaged in. Heavier weight (strength building) sets require a longer rest between sets – around three minutes. At a moderate weight the rest period is one to two minutes long.

I don’t advocate using a watch, but instead listening to your body and going again as soon as you are ready. As a method of change (remember that change is vital) sometimes you can go again before you are ready. This will decrease the number of reps in the following set, but it is all part of having a continuously adapting program.

• Focus! When the iPod Shuffle came out (a tiny little thing that clips to clothing) I thought it was perfect for weightlifting because I finally had something that wouldn’t get in the way. For over a dozen years I had lifted without headphones, and the Shuffle was going to allow me to blast the tunes. After a few months, however, I found that it was detrimental to my concentration. I’m a serious rock and roll fan, so when Eric Clapton or Alex Lifeson are rocking a guitar solo I really get into it and it has a tendency to blow my concentration. My gym plays the radio, but it’s quieter and easier to ignore so I can concentrate on the task at hand. When I run I can let my mind wander about whatever I please so listening to music is fine, but when I lift I try to push out thoughts of all else except moving the weight with good technique.
• Breath out on the concentric (lifting) and in on the eccentric (lowering). An exception can be made towards the end of a set when you are running out of energy. Even though this is anaerobic exercise you still need to breathe, and the harder you work the higher your heart and respiration rate (although still not as high as during aerobic exercise). I find that towards the end of a set of an intense compound exercise the rule of breathe out on the lift and in on the lowering doesn’t provide me with enough oxygen, so I make an adaptation for the last couple of reps where I still only breathe out on the lift, but on the lowering I can take few rapid half breaths in order to keep going. This is an advanced technique to integrate towards the end of Phase 4.
• Put your mind into the muscle. When lifting, try to imagine that you are somehow moving a part of your consciousness into the muscles that you are working.
• INERTIA IS BAD. Always try to keep continuous tension on your muscles. Don’t explode the weight and then let inertia carry it. Force your muscles to be tense and working the entire time the weight is moving. You want to feel the muscle fibers ripping apart.

Rather than footnote the hell out of this chapter, I based it on a number of sources, many of which are overlapping. I also based some of this chapter on over 15 years of personal experience and discussions with other gym rats and personal trainers.

The Best Reference

In my opinion, this one is the most impressive of the lot, as it is a position stand written by 15 esteemed researchers with a crapload of letters after their names:

• Kraemer, William, et al., “Position Stand: Progression Models in Resistance Training for Healthy Adults,” Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 2002, 364-380.

• Delavier, Frédéric, Strength Training Anatomy, (Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 2006)
• Magnusson, Peter & Per Renström, “The European College of Sports Sciences Position Statement: The Role of Stretching Exercises in Sports,” European Journal of Sport Science, 6 (2), 2006, 87-91.
• Mann, Charlie, Built Hard, (Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 1998).
• Nelson, Arnold et al., “Acute Muscle Stretching Inhibits Muscle Strength Endurance Performance,” Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 19 (2), 2005, 338-343
• President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, “Progression and Resistance Training,” Research Digest, 6 (3), September, 2005,
• Rahimi, Rahman, “Effect of Moderate and High Intensity Weight Training on the Body Composition of Overweight Men,” Physical Education and Sport, 4 (2), 2006, 93-101.
• Schuler, Lou and Alwyn Cosgrove, The New Rules of Lifting, (New York: Avery, 2006)
• Wolfe, Brian, et al., “Quantitative Analysis of Single- vs. Multiple-set Programs in Resistance Training,” Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 18 (1),  2004, 35-47.