How to Progress Safely in a Strength Training Program

So you have bitten the bullet and jumped right into a strength training program. You have seen the light: you know and accept that weight training helps you increase muscle mass, improve your bone density, and is better for you overall. You have decided the weights are friends, not foes, and lifting is now your life. But you are also smart and sensible. You do not want to do something silly like go straight for the heavier weights and end up injured. 

So, what can you do? What steps must you follow to make safe progress?

1. Goal setting

Always, always start with goals. What are they? Are they clear? Are they achievable? Most of all, are they smart? or S.M.A.R.T? Are they specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound? Are they outcome-based or behavior-based? Be clear in defining your fitness goals. 

Why should you do this? Having clear, defined fitness goals that are defined according to the SMART framework helps get rid of the guesswork out of your plan and provides you with a focus. Think laser vs scattershot. 

2. Set up a benchmark 

Before you get going, you need to learn where are you at. This is the baseline. It is not a test or a judgment. It is merely the starting point. How do you do this? By getting your strength coach to assess you carefully and make a note of your current fitness level. How is your endurance? How long can you run, and how fast, without gassing out? How many squats can you manage in a minute? How deep is it? Are you tight in the hips? 

What happens with this is, that by doing different exercises and making a note of your baseline, your starting position. Now, your coach has concrete data to measure and track your progress. This, in turn, helps gauge if the program is working for you or not.  

3. Pay attention to form

Before we start any kind of workout at the Quad, before we even put our hands on a (kettle)bell, we run through the form check in our heads. Are we standing the right distance from the bell? Deep breaths, shoulders back and down, rib cage tucked in, and so on. There is a litany we run through. Why? It helps to get you in the right frame of mind so you are engaged and present in the moment. You are focused, you have proper form, and your technique is on point... all this to ensure you do not injure yourself. 

When you lift weights, even when the weight is relatively low, you could potentially injure yourself if you don't pay attention. Or act cavalier with it, with a "eh, it is only 8 kilos!" Respect the weights, respect the form and head in the game, and your body will thank you.

4. Choose a well-structured exercise program

One that pays adequate attention to upper body, lower body, and core, paying attention to all major muscle groups to build muscle strength. Whether you use weight machines, free weights or resistance bands is immaterial. Does the exercise program suit you? Does it fit your goals?  Workout programs these days are easy. No really! Just spend 15 minutes on Instagram or TikTok searching for fitness topics and you will find some influencers promising you a free workout plan if you respond to their content. They get engagement - result! - and you get a free program! Fantastic, right? Not so much. 

Your exercise program will work for you only if it is tailor-made to suit your purpose, and your fitness goals, keeping your specific needs in mind. Any new program will work initially as after all, doing something as random as 25 jumping jacks every 60 minutes will also give you some gains as you are moving your body, bringing your heart rate up. But a well-structured exercise program must do more work. It must work with your existing medical conditions. It must adhere to the basic principles of a well-rounded program format. It must utilize compound exercises and compound movements and have specific exercises to address your concerns.  This is why you must do your research well in selecting a certified personal trainer or strength coach.

5. Progressive overload and the art of slow yet steady progression

Progressive overload training is something that many ignore or mishandle. Some trainees get comfortable handling a particular weight class, for example, and do not want to move up in weight. Or try the progression of a movement pattern. Why fix something that ain't broken, right? But good things happen when you get out of that comfort zone. When you gradually increase the tension you are training under (example tempo squats) or go up in the weight class, you will start seeing positive results.

The keyword here is gradually. That is key to avoiding injury. 

6. Never skimp on rest 

Rest - be it the few seconds of rest you grab between sets - or the day or two you give your body to revocer you go in for another strength workout, is just as vital as your training. You put your muscles and joints, tissues and cells under stress while working out. These tissues tear and need time to recover. Sore muscles need rest before they can bounce back. 

By rest we don't mean being horizontal for 48 hours after your training session. Active recovery, when you do gentle movement to keep your muscles and joints juiced even as they rest from the rigours of the previous day, is what we are talking about. Spend some quality time with a foam roller and do self-myofascial release. Do slow and delebrate stretches to stretch out those overworked muscles. The objective is to help your body recover enough to go back to it and rest days are super important for that. 

7. Dial in your diet 

80% diet and only 20% workout - this is equation for fat loss. Even if your goal is to get stronger, it won't happen without your body getting the essential nourishment it needs from your food intake. You need a healthy diet rich in proteins, carbohydrates, fats, essential vitamins and minerals to aid in cell and muscular repair, and growth. If you are doing heavy lifting or HIIT- style intense work, your body would need plenty of carbohydrates to fuel its cells. You'd also need around 2 grams of protein per kilo of bodyweight every day to gain muscle definition and growth. 

Of course, hydration is key. Water is so, so important to keep you hydrated, for cell health and repair and to replace the loss of the water and salts lost due to sweat. 

8. Track your progress

This is the other half of setting up a benchmark. It is all nice and good getting your baseline. But it is of no use if you do not keep track of how you fare. Your training log is the all-important record that contains data regarding your workouts, the different exercises you do ever session, the amount of weight you move, the kind of movements you perform, the number of sets you perform per exercise, your rep range - all these provide valuable data points that give an accurate picture of the scope of your resistance training program and what can be expected from your body. 

This not only helps gauge how well your program is working but also help troubleshoot when the results don't turn out the way you hoped. This will help pinpoint why something didn't happen and point you in the right direction. 

9. Listen to your body 

You live in your body and you know it best. So pay attention to it. Sometimes we might not feel like doing something but blindly pushing through might only end in injury. Instread, check in with your body. Is it sending any signal to indicate pain or unease? Is that soreness you feel due to overusing that group of muscles in the recent session or could it be something serious? 

How soon are you able to recover? Is it taking you much longer compared to before? I learnt about my Hashimito's disease by learning the levels of extreme malaise and fatigue I was feeling after doing my weight lifting program. Had I not listened to my body and decided to plod on, instead of slowing down and finding out what was wrong with my body, I would be in much deeper 

10. Be consistent 

Be consistent with your strength training routine. No matter how good your coach is and how perfect your program, if you are not diligent and consistent with it, it will not bear you much fruit. Regular, persistent efforts over time will yield results. Not the flash, the trending, the "I did this and 32 days later, got my eight-pack abs and you can do it too" snake oil commercials. 

Just trust the process, put in the work and close your eyes and ears to all the noise out there. Consistent, persistent efforts will bear fruits. Consistency is the secret sauce to success. 

11. Never stint on warm up and cool-down routines 

You are a pro! Warm up and stretching after is for the noobs, right? Let's see what happens when we do a simple 5 minute warm up routine before starting your strength training exercises. Your body - muscles, tissues, joints - wake up and get more blood flow, literally warming them up, making the muscles and joints more supple and flexible. Your range of motion increases. Your muscles become less stiff. Your heart rate kicks up a notch. Now when you start your routine, you can do so on warmed muscles, without risking injury. 

Similarly, your post-training stretch helps bring your heart rate down. Your muscle tissue and your entire body has been put under enormous stress by your session and the cool-down routine slowly releases the stress, so that there isnt any lactic acid buildup in your muscles, causing stiffness and soreness later.  

12. Don't get swayed by the flash 

When you sign up for a new program, when you draft your goals, you think of looking like X or Y, who is probably at the top of their game. The social media influencer who waxes lyrical about the easy-peasy full-body workout she did for only 3.5 days before she started seeing results. Or the one where drinking a concoction of a few kitchen staples mixed with the holy trifecta - ginger, turmeric and Himalayan pink salt - just melts all the fat in your middle in the blink of an eye. 

If you have done your homework in signing up with a good strength coach or a certified personal trainer and they have given you a program tailor-made for you, that's all you need to put your trust in. Be consistent, show up for yourself and the results will soon follow. Random isolation exercises clobbered together from the Internet will only make you regret your choices. 

Bonus 13. Do not go overboard

Whichever type of strength training you get into, it pays to remember one important fact: too much of anything is bad for you. Do not ignore your everyday activities in your pursuit of strength training sessions.  Better results are not achieved by going overboard. That is how you run the risk of injury. 

Instead, practice moderation. The trick is to hit the sweet spot - not going overboard, not slacking off but hitting the balance just right. Your exercise routine is a part of life - a good part, but not the whole. 

Your fitness journey is for life. It is neither a marathon nor a sprint. The objective of all these muscle-strengthening activities is to bulletproof your future. So you can get down on the floor and play with your children and grandchildren. That you have strong bones and excellent muscular endurance to last you for life. That you enjoy good muscle tone and good range of motion regardless of age. Isn't that a great way to live life?