Weight training offers the body numerous benefits such as improved circulation, improved range of motion, increased strength, strengthened bones and higher metabolism. These motivators, along with an elevated level of self-confidence, are reasons why men turn to weight-training workouts.
Body Weight
If you do not have access to a gym, or you just feel more comfortable working out from home, you can do an entire workout with nothing but the weight of your body. A good home workout can include exercises like standard push-ups, decline push-ups, incline push-ups, chair dips, ab crunches and squats. You will target all of your major muscle groups with these exercises, and you need not pick up a weight. For this workout, do four to six sets of 12 to 15 reps, and work out 3 days a week with 48 hours of rest in between.
Dumbbells
Dumbbells are made out of cast iron, and you hold them in each hand to do exercises. The advantage of using dumbbells in a workout is that you are forced to balance them when you do exercises. This causes more stabilizer muscles to kick in for support. Recruiting more muscle fibers can lead to more caloric expenditure and more overall work being done. Chest presses, lateral raises, one-armed lateral rows, triceps kickbacks, bicep twist curls and walking lunges are examples of dumbbell exercises. A good starting point with this workout is to do three to four sets of 10 to 12 reps, and two to three sessions per week.
Compound Exercises
Compound exercises involve more than one muscle group and more than one joint range of motion. Workouts that consist of these exercises are generally done with barbells. Examples include bench presses, shoulder presses, dead lifts, close-grip bench presses and squats. With this type of workout, you perform low reps and high sets with long rest periods. An example is six to eight sets of three to six reps and 2-minute rest breaks in between. Due to the intense nature of this workout, perform it every 3 days.
Circuit Training
Circuit training is a type of workout that involves stringing exercises together with little to no rest, then repeating the whole series several times. This type of workout can improve your cardiovascular strength, muscle endurance and flexibility. You can incorporate dumbbells, body weight and cardiovascular exercise into this routine. For example, do push-ups, shoulder presses, jumping jacks, burpees, plank lifts, squats and jump rope. Perform 15 to 20 reps and do four or more circuits.
Machines
If you happen to have a bad lower back or range-of-motion issues, you can resort to a workout with weight machines. These allow you to work a focus muscle without having excess stress on other parts of your body. You are in a seated, face-down or face-up position, and there are machines available for your whole body such as a chest press, shoulder press, lat pull-down, triceps extension, biceps curl, leg press, hamstring curl machine and ab machine. You can follow a standard-style regimen with this workout by doing three sets per exercise with 10 to 12 reps.
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