Making the decision to begin weight lifting is an exciting experience. Maybe you walk in the gym and see some huge ripped dudes hauling hefty barbells weighing hundreds of pounds, and it inspires and motivates you. It certain did for me – the first time I stepped into my weights room at college, I remember a surge of exhilaration and thinking “yep… this is for me”.

However, the sheer volume of information and advice for a beginner can be quite overwhelming. Without even browsing the internet or a book store, you could ask five different guys in the weights room for their opinions on the best way to train – and you’d get five different answers. Hell you could probably ask them each how to do the bench press, and you’d get five different replies.

Weight lifting is like business – there’s no one clear method that is superior to all the others. There are many routes to success.

Having said that, there are some basic principles that should be common to every weight lifting program for beginners. Here are the two most important. Beyond these two, you want to design a program based on your goals – get clear on whether you’re aiming for strength and size, what results you want to see in two months time, and consult a personal trainer to put together the specifics.

Here’s the two most important points to keep in mind for weight lifting programs for beginners.

Utilise compound exercises

These are exercises that involve multiple joints and muscles. Think the bench press, squat and deadlift. Compound exercises have been proven in multiple studies to stimulate the most muscle growth and build maximum amounts of raw strength. They also have the best carryover to sporting performance and strength for general fitness.

Don’t Overtrain

The most common mistake made by newbies is overtraining – either training any one muscle group too many times per week, or pushing out too many reps in a set, beyond the point where your muscles are sufficiently fatigued.

Training too frequently will stagnate your gains – you wont grow, and you might even find yourself getting weaker. Depending on your goals – strength or size - train each muscle group 1-2 times per week (for size) or 2-3 times per week (for strength) - no more.

The same applies to how hard you push each set – a good rule of thumb is to keep a couple of reps “in the tank”. If you’re pushing each set to utmost physical exhaustion, you’ll burn out quickly. Don’t believe me? Try it for a few weeks and watch your gains stall out.

These are the two most important principles to keep in mind for a weight lifting program for beginners. Beyond that, a personal trainer should be able to help you put together a solid routine based on compound exercises.

Designing a weight lifting program can seem complex at first.  Afterall there’s just SO MUCH information on the web about weight training. People lift weights for many different goals – building mass, building strength, developing power, getting faster, getting leaner, losing weight, gaining weight… I could go on.

The information is bewildering, because different goals require very different kinds of training. Lifting weights isn’t “one size fits all” – think of a sprinter, and how he’ll train differently from a long distance runner. They both run track, sure - but that’s about where the similarity ends….

…and that’s why the most important thing you need to know when designing your program is what exactly it is you’re training for.

Before we get to that, though – let’s deal with the basics.

The first thing you need to consider is your starting level of fitness.

If you’ve been really inactive for a few years, the first thing you should do is consult your doctor and get the all clear. Tell him you plan on taking up a program of weight lifting, and get the medical all-clear first.

If you’re really unfit, you should probably get yourself on a program of light cardiovascular exercise and stretching for a few weeks before hitting the weights. This will get your heart, lungs and joints back in shape before you start stressing them heavily with weights.

So the second thing that you need to be clear on is your personal goal for the program.

Ask yourself the following questions:

“What is my primary goal – what am I lifting for?”

Do I want to add muscle mass?”

“Is strength development my priority?”

“Am I looking for improved performance in a particular sport?”

It might be a combination of the above, but get clear on exactly what it is you want to achieve, and designing a weight lifting program will go that much more smoothly.

If packing on as much muscle mass as possible is your goal, you’re going to want to get yourself on a classic bodybuilding split. Bodybuilding splits go something like this:

• -Work each bodypart once or twice a week
• 6-8 sets per bodypart
• 8-10 reps per set
• Rest a minute between workouts.
• Utilise heavy compound lifts, like the Bench press, Squat and Deadlift, with some isolation exercises (curls, shoulder raises, etc) mixed in.

If strength is your goal, then you’re going to want to train slightly differently. Lower reps (3-5), more frequent workouts, and more compounds and less isolation.

Both the topics of strength and size could warrant thousands of pages each on their own (and indeed they have). Designing a weight lifting program is not to be taken lightly.  Sport-specific training is even MORE complex – so if that’s what you’re training for, I strongly suggest getting yourself a personal trainer, or better yet, consulting an athletic coach who knows his way around the weights room.