10 questions to which every strength athlete should know the answer

Those who want to Weight training often find themselves confronted with rules and facts that initially tend to overwhelm them rather than help them gain knowledge. Accordingly, in this article we would like to answer ten questions that are rightly asked extremely frequently, especially by beginners.

Question 1 - How long does muscle soreness last after training?

Answer: It depends.
The admittedly somewhat vague and unsatisfactory answer is explained by the fact that the duration of muscle soreness following a workout depends on a wide range of variables. Basically, sore muscles are microscopically small tears in the myofibrils, i.e. the components of the muscle fibers, which are caused by the stretching stress that occurs during training. Muscle soreness therefore always occurs when the muscular structures are overloaded by an unusual or unusually high stress stimulus. How long the muscle soreness lasts therefore depends on the fitness level or training routine. However, muscle soreness is in no way an indicator of the effectiveness of the training, as it is actually an injury that prolongs the regeneration process. Due to the fact that the inflammatory substances found in the micro-tears are only released into the surrounding tissue with a time delay, the actual muscle soreness is only felt 12-24 hours after the end of the exercise at the earliest. As a rule, sore muscles subside within 1-3 days. In rare cases, however, it can last up to seven days after a particularly hard workout.

Question 2 - What should I eat after training?

Answer: Protein
Of course, it's not quite that simple, because your body obviously doesn't need just any proteins and carbohydrates in order to actually trigger the regenerative processes effectively. The best way to ensure that your body can start repairing damaged muscle structures and replenish glycogen stores immediately after training is to consume a post-workout shake for around ten to twenty minutes. This should consist of 0.5 grams of whey protein per kilogram of body weight and a good gram of maltodextrin per kilogram of body weight. The reason why quickly digestible carbohydrates such as maltodextrin should be included in your shake is that they help your body to transport the proteins into the muscle cells more quickly by releasing large amounts of insulin. In addition, the carbohydrates prevent valuable proteins from being used proportionally for energy production.

Whey protein

Question 3 - Can I compensate for a poor diet with hard training?

Answer: No. Of course not.
This question actually answers itself when we consider the fact that a good two thirds of training success, regardless of whether it is about building muscle or losing fat, depends on nutrition. It is therefore obvious that athletes who do not pay any attention to their daily diet are wasting a large part of their training time, as an excess of calories is not converted into muscle mass but into stored fat. Of course, you also burn a lot of calories during training. But in reality, the total is much lower than you might think. Accordingly, even if your goal is to build muscle, you must make sure that you eat sensibly in any case.

Question 4 - how many repetitions should I do?

Answer: That depends entirely on your training goal.
The key factor in determining the number of repetitions you should complete per exercise is the time your muscles are under tension during a set, as this determines which muscle fibers are primarily used. If your goal is to work towards the greatest possible increase in strength, you need to target the so-called FT muscle fibers. The best way to do this is to keep the muscles under tension for 20 seconds using an appropriate training weight, which corresponds to a maximum of five clean repetitions. If you are mainly aiming to build muscle, the load time per set should be 24 to 48 seconds, which corresponds to a repetition range of 6 to 12 repetitions, as in the example above. You should proceed in a similar way if you want to improve your strength endurance. Here, a load duration of 60 to a maximum of 100 seconds (15-25 repetitions) is considered effective.

Question 5 - Do I need to do cardio training to lose fat?

Answer: No
Of course, you are completely free to do cardio training, especially as it has numerous benefits for your body. However, you don't have to sweat for hours on the treadmill or cycle ergometer to lose fat. All you need for fat loss is a moderate calorie deficit, which you can achieve not only through exercise, but also quite simply through your diet. However, if you enjoy endurance sports or want to improve the performance of your cardiovascular system, there is absolutely nothing to stop you from doing so. The increased energy turnover through cardio training also has the advantage that you can eat more than would be the case if you only wanted to achieve your energy deficit by reducing your energy intake. This should make it easier to achieve lasting success, especially for people who are notoriously hungry.

Question 6 - Should I train to muscle failure with every set?

Answer: No
You should always challenge your body during training, but not permanently overstrain it, as this will sooner or later lead to injuries and performance plateaus. Accordingly, it is not advisable to perform every single set until muscle failure. Instead, you should control the training intensity intelligently so that the load varies from time to time and your body has the opportunity to adapt the muscle and connective tissue to the stress. Consequently, you should only complete a workout series every four weeks, during which you train to absolute muscle failure. Otherwise, it makes sense to stick to the rule of thumb that only the last set of the last exercise for a particular muscle group should be performed until muscle failure.

Question 7 - How often should I change my training plan and why?

Answer: That depends on your level of training.
Unfortunately, it is a fact that too many beginners follow the training plans of professional or even advanced athletes, so that they change their training plan far too often, which simply means that they are unable to reach their optimum performance potential. Beginners in particular should concentrate on a training program for at least three to six months before thinking about completely throwing it overboard. However, this does not mean that individual exercises should not be replaced. For experienced strength athletes, on the other hand, the body adapts relatively quickly to stress stimuli, so it makes sense to vary the training program at least slightly every three to four weeks.

Question 8 - What are the best exercises to build strength in general?

Answer: Squats, deadlifts, shoulder presses, bench presses...but
In principle, it is a very good idea to integrate as many exercises as possible into your training plan that involve as much of the skeletal muscles as possible in order to increase your physical strength. Conversely, however, you should also be aware that every chain is only as strong as its weakest link. So if, for example, your shoulder is significantly weaker than your chest and triceps, you will be treading water even with a complex basic exercise such as the bench press. Despite all the encouragement for basic exercises, such deficits must be identified and eliminated with the help of isolation exercises. However, this does not change the relevance of the basic exercises in the slightest.

Question 9 - How long should my training last?

Answer: 30 - 40 minutes
To make one thing clear from the outset, this time is not the time you spend in the gym, but the time frame in which your muscles are actually under tension. Setting a fixed time for your stay in the gym makes very little sense due to the fact that you often have to wait different lengths of time for equipment. However, it is important that your muscles are always stressed for around 30 - 40 minutes.

Question 10 - How many calories should I consume per day?

Answer: It depends.
There is no general answer to this question, not least due to the fact that age, weight, height, activity level and genetic characteristics influence the final calorie consumption. However, various online calculators that take all relevant variables into account can help you to calculate your individual calorie requirements, at least approximately.