The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommends the following for resistance training:

• Exercise 2 to 3 times per week
• Perform a minimum of one set per major muscle group
• Complete 8 to 12 repetitions per set; at least one set to near-fatigue should be completed during each session.
• Older adults may find 10-15 repetitions helpful to provide strength and prevent loss of muscle mass.
• Maintain a moderate to slow speed and perform controlled movements.

These are general guidelines. However, if your goal is to improve strength, power, or endurance, you will need to be more specific with your training. Specific guidelines based on your goal are provided for you.

Regardless of your training goals, you should choose exercises that promote overall balanced development and make sure you equally train opposing muscle groups. Choose exercises that balance and compliment your other activities.

Speed

The slower your speed of movement, the fewer amount of repetitions you will be able to do through a full range of motion and the more muscle fibers you will recruit. The faster your speed, the more momentum takes over resulting in fewer muscle fibers being recruited and increasing your risk of injury. Using a full range of motion is optimal.

Progression

In order to improve your muscular strength or endurance, you must overload your muscles. Overloading refers to a systematic method referred to as exercise progression.

• Increase your repetitions before you increase your resistance. For example, if you’ve been lifting a weight for 8 to 10 repetitions and it is no longer a challenge and you’re no longer reaching fatigue, increase your reps to 10 to 12. Once your upper limit of repetitions is no longer a challenge, then increase your weight and reduce your reps back to 8 to 10. Using this method will be the safest way to improve without injury.
• When you add another set, decrease the number of repetitions.
• Your increases should be 5% or less at a standard interval (i.e. weekly, biweekly, monthly) that is dependent on your goals and fitness level.

Frequency of Training

You should never work the same muscle group two days in a row; allow yourself at least 48 hours in between workouts. You can train more frequently as long as it is not the same muscle group. When you lift weights, you actually create microscopic tears in your muscle that need time to rebuild themselves and reshape the muscle. Not allowing this healing time can lead to injury.

Variety is Key

Your body quickly adapts to new routines, so it won’t take long before your muscles are no longer challenged and you become bored. You should change your routine frequently. Simple ways to add variety include: changing the order you perform each exercise, doing different types of exercises for a muscle group, or adding in some training emphasizing eccentric training (see Frequently Asked Questions for a more detailed explanation of eccentric training).

Building Strength

Strength training helps to improve your ability to do work that requires a concentrated effort in a short period of time (i.e. moving boxes, lifting groceries, lifting kids, etc.). When you strength train, you typically not only build strength but also increase in size.

Reps	Sets	Resistance (% of 1 rep max)	Rest Interval
1 – 4	4 – 8	85% - 100%	2 – 4 minutes

This means that you are lifting very heavy weight only a few times, so you’re reaching fatigue very quickly. Due to the strain on the muscles, you need to rest longer before attempting another set. Using high resistance increases the risk of injury due to the maximal effort required.

Pyramid Training

This is a technique used for building strength where you typically perform 4 to 6 sets of an exercise. Your first set is with slightly higher repetitions with the reps decreasing with each set until your last set is your 1 or 2 rep max. Here is an example:

• Set 1 – 8 reps at 50 pounds
• Set 2 – 6 reps at 60 pounds
• Set 3 – 4 reps at 75 pounds
• Set 4 – 2 reps at 90 pounds
• Set 5 – 1 rep at 100 pounds (this would be your 1 rep max)

If your goal is to build Power, follow the following guidelines:

Reps	Sets	Resistance (% of 1 rep max)	Rest Interval
5 – 8	3 – 6	70% - 80%	1 ½ – 2 minutes

Endurance Training/Toning

Muscular Endurance refers to the ability of your muscles to work or contract repeatedly over an extended period of time. Muscular endurance training helps improve the overall functioning of your muscles and promotes an active healthy life.

If your major goal of resistance training is to increase your muscular endurance, you should perform slightly higher repetitions (10 to 20 reps) with lower weight (less than 70% of your 1 rep max). What this means is that you still need to have enough weight that you hit fatigue between 10 and 20 repetitions. If you do not reach fatigue, you do not have enough weight and will not receive the benefits of resistance training. If you use resistance that’s too low, not only will you diminish strength benefits but you may increase your risk for an overuse injury.

Reps	Sets	Resistance (% of 1 rep max)	Rest Interval
8 –12+	2 – 4	50% - 70%	45-90 seconds