Muscle Building Basics

Strength training is a staple for just about every sport.

Learning to adjust exercise variables, such as exercise, reps, sets, tempo and rest, will help you develop better workouts for yourself and/or your team.

In this section, we are going to talk about building Strength Training.

If you are young or relatively inexperienced in the weight room, the best place to start is with your own bodyweight.

Before we throw a lot of weight on the bar, it is a good idea to learn how to control your own body.

We call this Relative Strength.

Squats, single leg squats, lunges, jumping, climbing, pulling, pushing, crawling, etc.

These exercises can be simple, but can also be incredibly challenging.

Used correctly, these can help you develop an incredible foundation of strength.

Once we've developed good relative strength and control, we can add resistance to our movement patterns.

Barbells, kettlebells, dumbbells and other tools simply add resistance to our movements.

We all squat, hinge, push, pull, carry, twist an interact with the world around us.

By increasing the intensity, with added loads, we can further improve our strength.

Here are some basic guidelines for developing strength

Are you Strong?

• 1 min Push Ups - 60-90 reps
• 1 min Pull Ups - 10-30 reps
• Plank - 2-3 minutes
• Single Leg Squat - can you perform a full single leg squat with each leg?
• Straight Arm Hang - 1-3 minutes
• Back Squat 1.5-2.5Xs body weight
• Deadlift 1.5-2Xs body weight.
• Bench Press 1.25-2Xs bodyweight

Be sure to check out more FCC Challenges here.