FOUNDATIONS OF EFFECTIVE TRAINING: BEGINNERS

Everyone starts somewhere. We’ve all experienced the uncertainty of entering a gym for the first time. In my case, I was lucky to have people guide me through those beginnings, helping me set a strong foundation for my training journey. Now, I want to do the same for you by giving you a head start and clear guidance to make progress toward your goals easier.

Training Frequency

Is how many times a week or per schedule you train. There are many suggestion on how often it is good to train, what's optimal, what's safe and whatever the fuck people come up with just to be in trends. But fuck that. This is just overcomplicating the most basic thing to consider when setting up a schedule.

For beginners, up to 5 training sessions per week is ideal to build foundational strength without overloading your body. Why ? Because you are nowhere near overtraining at the start. You've still got a lot to figure out and because you are not pushing your limits yet, you're learning them.

The suggested structure:

• 1+1: Train one day, rest one day.

• 2+1: Train two days, rest one day.

• 3+1: Train three days, rest one day.

• 4+1: Train four days, rest one day.

Its easy to understand and follow. Plus its versatile so it can fit into your daily life without interfering much with your other activities such as job, family, friends and other stuff that is important to you..

Training Split for the First 3 Months

Why this split?

It targets all major muscle groups while ensuring adequate recovery. The goal here is to develop a strong base of strength and movement patterns before transitioning to more advanced splits.

Training Split Sample (3-Day Rotation):

• Day 1: Legs, calves

• Day 2: Chest, shoulders (delts), triceps

• Day 3: Back, rear delts, biceps, abs

Weekly Schedule:

**After 3 months, this split should be adjusted to increase frequency and further isolate muscle groups to combat adaptation.

The Beginner’s Guide to Muscle Training

1. Technique is KEY

Good technique is essential for healthy, sustainable muscle growth.

• In the beginning, progress comes easily because your body adapts quickly to new stimuli. Avoid the temptation to sacrifice form for heavier weights.

• Poor form in the early stages will hold you back as you advance, forcing you to re-learn movements and potentially lose progress.

• Focus on quality movement over quantity or intensity. Solid technique ensures you build strength while preventing injury.

2. Free Weight IS KING

 Free weights, like barbells, dumbbells, and kettlebells, should be the foundation of your training for several reasons:

• Improved Strength and Stability: Free weights engage supportive and stabilization muscles, which machines and cables don’t fully activate.

• Functional Movement: Compound exercises (like squats, deadlifts, and bench presses) mimic natural movement patterns, helping you move more efficiently in daily life.

• Transfer to Machines: Mastering free weights makes machine and cable exercises easier, as they are less complex and require less stabilization.

Pro Tip: Start each training with compound free-weight exercises after the warm up when your energy is highest, then move to machines or isolation work.

3. Rep Range MATTERS

Recent studies suggest that 5–30 reps can promote muscle growth if you train close to failure.

What does this mean?

• Lower reps (5–10) = Heavy weights. (80-90% of 1 Rep Max)

• Higher reps (12–30) = Moderate weights. (60-75% of 1 Rep Max)

Guidelines for Beginners:

• Upper Body: Focus on 8–10 reps with controlled form.

• Lower Body: Aim for 12–15 reps to maximize blood flow and muscle activation in larger muscle groups.

If you can exceed the rep range comfortably, add weight to challenge the muscle further.

Key principle: The last rep should be near failure, where you struggle to complete it with proper form.

4. Patience, Consistency, and Technique

Mindset is everything in training. Building your ideal physique is a marathon, not a sprint. It may take 5–10 years of consistent work to achieve the results you desire.

Here’s the reality: 

• You cannot “hack” your way to lasting results in weeks or months. Quick fixes don’t work.

• What does work is consistency: showing up, learning, and adapting over time.

• Think of it as a lifestyle, not a temporary effort to “get ready for summer.” Once you embrace this mindset, fitness becomes a part of who you are—not a chore.

Weight, Reps and Sets

These three aren't just words. They're the core of your progress. How much you lift, how often and how you break it down will decide how far you go.

Weight

Choose a weight that allows you to perform the recommended rep range with good form.

For example, when training chest, let's say you're doing a dumbbell bench press. You don’t just grab the heaviest dumbbells you think you can lift and start yanking them up and down. That will eventually fuck you up so, instead, start with a lighter weight to warm up and get familiar with the movement pattern. Then, progressively add weight.

Dumbbells typically increase in small increments. The light ones usually go up by 1 kg (1, 2, 3, 4, etc.), while the heavier ones increase by 2 kg (10, 12, 14, 16, etc.). Stick to these increments as you progress.

Over time, you’ll notice that you don’t always need to follow every step in the weight sequence. Instead of going 10 kg → 12 kg → 14 kg, you might find yourself jumping from 10 kg straight to 14 kg or even 18 kg as you get stronger. The goal is to avoid wasting energy on tiny, unnecessary weight increases, and maximize your strength gains efficiently.

Reps

Repetitions (reps), the number of times you perform an exercise within a single set, are the cornerstone of any workout. The number of reps per set influences training adaptations, targeting strength, hypertrophy, endurance, or power.

For beginners, don't overcomplicate it. Save your focus for mastering the basics. Follow this structure as it will help you build your foundational strength.

Upper Body:

• Focus on 8–10 solid reps with proper form.

• Use weight you can control.

• Once you can complete 10 controlled reps, increase the weight.

Lower Body (Legs):

• Focus on 12–15 solid reps with proper form.

• Follow the same principle: Increase weight once you can comfortably achieve 12–15 reps.

General Rule:

• If you fail to reach lower rep range, reduce the weight slightly and retry or just retry with same weight.

• Focus on controlled movements to maximize muscle engagement and avoid injury

• Explosive yet controlled concentric and slow and controlled eccentric parts of the movement will ensure proper engagement and growth.

Note: Except for rear delts and seated calve raises. Rear delts and soleus have generally higher type 1 Red muscle fibers dominance and best way to train such muscle fibers is to control both the concentric and eccentric doing slow and controlled movement across whole range of motion.

Sets

Sets, or the number of cycles you perform a specific exercise, are a fundamental variable in any training program. The number of sets per exercise significantly influences your workout’s effectiveness, tailoring it to goals like hypertrophy, strength, power, or endurance. Understanding how to structure your sets ensures you maximize progress while avoiding overtraining.

What are Sets?

A set is a group of repetitions (reps) performed continuously before taking a rest.

For example:

• 3 sets of 10 squats = performing 10 squats, resting, and repeating this cycle 3 times.

The number of sets per exercise depends on several factors, including your training goal, experience level, and recovery capacity

Warm-up set VS Work set

There is a saying i particularly like. It goes like this: You can have as many warm-up sets as you want but you only need 1 work set to promote growth. What does it mean ? Let me translate it for you.

When you go to the gym, not every set you do has to be super intense. In fact, most of them shouldn't be. You can warm up with as many light sets as you need to get your body ready, but when it comes to building muscle and strength, its that one heavy, hard set, where you really push yourself, that matters the most

Think of warm up sets like warming up the engine before going nuts on that back road you know your whole life. You are preparing your body, getting blood into your muscles, practicing the movement, and making sure your joints are ready. These sets are important, but they're not the ones that make your body grow.

The real magic happens in that one "work set"- the set where you go all in. Its where you push close to your limits (Not sacrificing your form). That's the set that tells your body. "Hey, we need to get stronger and build more muscle for next time."

So don't waste energy of bunch of heavy sets if you're just starting out. Warm up smart, focus all your effort into that one serious set, and then move on. Simple, effective, and beginner friendly.

For the beginners lets keep it simple as you need to figure out a lot before considering super- heavy work sets. Lets leave that for later. But its good to know the difference.

What i would recommend is to start with 3 sets per exercise.

Why ?

First set is to get familiar with the movement pattern and warm up the component muscles and joints. Second set you repeat the first set and gauge your strength for the actual work in the last set. Then the third set is your all out set where you give it your max effort. Then go and move to the next exercise.

For the total number of sets per training day. It depends on how many exercises you do. Based on the schedule above. Stick to 3-4 exercises for larger muscle groups like Chest, delts, Back, Legs and 1-2 for small groups like arms and abs. So the total could be around 9-12 sets for larger groups and 3-6 for small groups per session. That's enough work for someone who is just starting with training.

Learn to control your urges to do more because sometimes more can hurt you more than doing less. Remember this is not a sprint, we are in this for the long haul. Save the extra effort for later, once you are familiar with the basics and you've build a solid foundation.

Key Lessons to Remember: 

• Technique, technique, and technique: Master the basics and ask “Why?” behind every exercise and program.

• Progress takes time: Muscle growth and strength development happen slowly but steadily.

• Be curious: Learning fuels growth. The more you know, the better decisions you’ll make.

Favorite Quote:

“The more you know, the more you don’t know” and the more you'll want to learn.

Take care of your body, it’s the only one you’ll have. Feed it well, train it smart, and give it time to grow. You’ll be amazed at what it can achieve with patience and persistence.

BONUS CHAPTER

What Is 1 Rep Max (1RM) & Why One Set Can Be Enough

When you’re starting your fitness journey, you’ll often hear the term 1 Rep Max, or 1RM. This is a foundational concept in strength training—and understanding it, even on a basic level, can help you train more effectively from day one.

What Is a 1 Rep Max (1RM)?

Your 1 Rep Max (1RM) is the maximum amount of weight you can lift for one repetition with proper form.

It’s not just about ego-lifting or showing off—1RM is used as a benchmark to structure your workouts. Different training goals (like building strength, gaining muscle, or improving endurance) use percentages of your 1RM to determine how heavy your sets should be.

Here's a basic breakdown:

Should Beginners Test Their Max?

In short: No. Testing your true 1RM by lifting the heaviest weight you can for just one rep is not safe or necessary when you're starting out. It requires solid technique, experience, and often a spotter.

Instead, stick to the principles covered in this post. Focus on the technique and getting familiar with exercises, rest well and mainly stick to it. No sugarcoating it, its gonna be hard. But eventually it will pay off. Believe me.

Stay tuned and remember this, "Either you want it or not, the choice is yours"

Jacob.