How To Get Stronger In The Weight Room

Proper use of a weight room can make it easy to get stronger in a relatively short amount of time. While basic strengthening exercises like push-ups and chin-ups can be performed without equipment, access to a variety of kettle bells, dumb bells, barbells and exercise bands can make your program much more diverse and provide better results.

Step 1

Stabilize your body. If you are just starting out on a muscle-strengthening routine, it's important to prepare your ligaments and tendons for heavy loads before jumping straight in to power lifting. The National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) recommends performing exercises for two sets of 15 to 25 repetitions in an unstable environment. An example of an unstable environment would be to lay on a stability ball, rather than a bench, while performing dumb bell chest presses. These sessions, which should last about an hour and be done three times a week, strengthen the entire body.

Step 2

Strengthen your body. After one month of stabilization training, your ligaments and tendons are ready to handle heavier loads. Perform one set of a stabilization exercise immediately followed by a strength exercise, says the NASM. Strength exercises use heavier weight and have only eight to 12 repetitions. These are performed in stable environments. For example, perform 20 repetitions of a dumb bell bench press on a stability ball and then immediately do twelve push-ups.

Step 3

Build muscle size. After one month of strength exercises your muscles will be ready to focus on building increasing size. Perform four sets of eight to 12 repetitions with two minutes of rest between each. An example of this type of workout begins with bench presses and seated rows, then moves to squats, seated shoulder presses, seated preacher curls and hamstring curls.