Many people are intimidated by the experienced-looking weight lifters throwing huge weights around at the gym. But luckily, many resources are available for first-time weight lifters to help you develop a workout schedule to build muscle in a healthy way. In addition to doing weight-lifting exercises, you should also try to do cardiovascular exercise at least five days a week for a minimum of 30 minutes.
Muscle Groups
Gold's Gym's guidelines for first-time weightlifting advises choosing one exercise that involves one pushing or chest press unit, one pulling or lat machine unit, such as the row or lat pull-down and one leg press unit. From these recommendations, you can pinpoint three muscle groups to think about, and add in a fourth group, the abdominals and core muscles, to get started. Or, you can think of muscle groups in terms of the front of your body (pectorals, biceps, quadriceps, shin muscles and abdominals) and the back of your body (laterals, triceps, back muscles, hamstrings and calves). Thinking of these groups can help you avoid working out a particular muscle group too frequently.
Frequency
Gold's, as well as most strength training advisers, note that you should strength train on opposite days; typically, weight-lifting routines are every other day, though elite athletes, such as the professional distance runners of Team USA coached by Terrence Mahon, work out with resistance training for 30 minutes on a daily basis, according to an interview featured in "The New York Times." If you choose to work out every day, ensure that you are giving the specific muscle groups you target 36 to 48 hours of rest and recovery before you stress them again with weightlifting.
Duration
The average strength-training workout will be between 30 and 45 minutes. Experts at Gold's Gym advise that for each repetition, you allow two to three seconds on the push and another two to three seconds on the return, and notes you should perform this motion for between one and three sets of 10 repetitions each. You should be resting for 45 to 60 seconds between sets. Aim to do six to seven different exercises plus 10 to 15 minutes of abdominals and core exercises each time; if you stick to this routine, working out two or three times a week should get you on the road to building muscle.
Challenging Yourself
Remember that to improve, you'll need to constantly challenge yourself. According to the President's Council on Fitness, the principle of progression holds that improvement only comes when you increase the intensity, frequency and/or duration of whatever activity you're doing, over time, to improve. So while you may not be changing the amount of time you spend in the gym, over the weeks, you should work on altering the number of repetitions or the amount of weight you're lifting; this will help ensure that you keep making your muscles stronger each time you hit the gym.
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