Actually there is not much to the theory, I can probably fit it all into a 2nd reply.
Treat strength as a skill. Practice makes stronger.
Weight training is a deliberate stress to the body. It responds by overcompensating. You get stronger. Most people who are not juicing require a day off after a good session.
Free weights and body weight are safest and most effective. Pulley systems come second. There is no third.
Learn the big six full body compound moves and their dimensions. Deadlift is a lower body pull - weight is pulled towards you. Squat is a lower body push - you are pushing the weight up. Bench press is horizontal push, barbell row is horizontal pull. Standing press and pull-ups are the vertical push and pull. You will do these forever.
Injuries are rarely dramatic or instantaneous. Most injuries are in the joints and build gradually. They are caused by bad form. You spend your entire life improving form.
Bodybuilder moves are not strength training. Bicep Curtis and other isolation moves are of no use to us. Neither are high deep sets where you "feel the burn".
A personal trainer who is not a power lifter will never let you lift enough to get strong. A personal trainer who is a power lifter will get you injured - but not badly. I prefer the latter.
"Push through the pain" refers to the voice screaming in your head to quit. Push through that. Never push through physical pain in the muscles or joints.
Strength gains are gains in the musculo-skeletal system and the nervous system. Bones get stronger, muscles get stronger, and more connections are wired up from your brain to the muscle.
Very heavy lifts, that you can hit only one or two reps, drain your nervous system. It is restored by sleep. You will eventually get strong enough to lift enough weight to need 2 or 3 good nights sleep before lifting heavy again.
For much more on the beginner stuff, "starting strength" by Mark Rippetoe. The author is, in my opinion, a bit biased towards athletes so he offers a few opinions as facts. But these are harmless early in training.
After you've finished stronglifts 5x5 which will take a few months, buy "5/3/1" by Jim Wendler. IMHO the perfect training program, for a lifetime.
The website t-nation.com has surprisingly high quality considering it exists to sell useless dietary supplements. It's a "tips and tricks" site so you've got to read hundreds of articles before you can tell the wheat from the chaff.
Overall, everything you need to know is on the web. It's just that the signal to noise ratio is so freaking low. Learn to recognize the methods that are for "juicers" - the guys lifting better through chemistry. Stay away from those.
Thanks! Stronglifts looks like a gold mine of information to me. Just what I was looking for. Currently I'm training with a bodybuilder approach and I'm starting to doubt it because it's hard to increase weights when you only have mid-to-high-reps sets. Personally a lot of motivation comes from the increase in the weight I lift so maybe a powerlifting approach would suit me better. Since I'm a novice (started training about 2 years ago), I'm a bit scared of doing PRs though. But maybe it could be an efficient way to force me to improve form?
I believe Stronglifts is based on the Rippetoe "Starting Strength" program and both are awesome. There are some great diagrams and theory in the book that can help you stay safe while lifting.
Like parent comment says, Rippetoe can be a bit dogmatic, but I personally like my coaches that way!
Treat strength as a skill. Practice makes stronger.
Weight training is a deliberate stress to the body. It responds by overcompensating. You get stronger. Most people who are not juicing require a day off after a good session.
Free weights and body weight are safest and most effective. Pulley systems come second. There is no third.
Learn the big six full body compound moves and their dimensions. Deadlift is a lower body pull - weight is pulled towards you. Squat is a lower body push - you are pushing the weight up. Bench press is horizontal push, barbell row is horizontal pull. Standing press and pull-ups are the vertical push and pull. You will do these forever.
Injuries are rarely dramatic or instantaneous. Most injuries are in the joints and build gradually. They are caused by bad form. You spend your entire life improving form.
Bodybuilder moves are not strength training. Bicep Curtis and other isolation moves are of no use to us. Neither are high deep sets where you "feel the burn".
A personal trainer who is not a power lifter will never let you lift enough to get strong. A personal trainer who is a power lifter will get you injured - but not badly. I prefer the latter.
"Push through the pain" refers to the voice screaming in your head to quit. Push through that. Never push through physical pain in the muscles or joints.
Strength gains are gains in the musculo-skeletal system and the nervous system. Bones get stronger, muscles get stronger, and more connections are wired up from your brain to the muscle.
Very heavy lifts, that you can hit only one or two reps, drain your nervous system. It is restored by sleep. You will eventually get strong enough to lift enough weight to need 2 or 3 good nights sleep before lifting heavy again.