Resistance training is one of the most effective ways to build strength, improve endurance, and enhance overall health. Whether you're aiming to sculpt muscle, boost metabolism, or simply improve functional fitness, this guide will walk you through everything you need to know to get started.
What is Resistance Training?
Resistance training, also known as strength training or weight training, involves exercises that require your muscles to work against an external force. This force can come from weights, resistance bands, body weight, or even machines. The goal is to increase muscular strength, endurance, and size through progressive overload.
The Top 6 Benefits of Resistance Training
1. Builds Muscle Mass and Strength
Engaging in regular resistance training stimulates muscle growth, which helps increase strength and improve overall body composition. A study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research found that resistance training can increase muscle strength by 20-40% in just a few months.
2. Boosts Metabolism and Aids Fat Loss
Muscle tissue burns more calories at rest compared to fat tissue, meaning that resistance training helps you burn more calories throughout the day, even when you're not working out. Research in Obesity Reviews suggests that strength training can increase resting metabolic rate by 7-10%, contributing to long-term fat loss.
3. Reduces All-Cause Mortality
A meta-analysis published in The British Journal of Sports Medicine found that strength training is associated with a 21% lower risk of all-cause mortality, independent of aerobic exercise. Those who engaged in regular resistance training had a 24-27% lower risk of cardiovascular disease-related death and a 12% lower risk of cancer-related death. Pretty good return on investment don't you think?!
4. Enhances Bone Health
Lifting weights helps improve bone density, reducing the risk of osteoporosis and fractures as you age. A study in Osteoporosis International found that resistance training can increase bone mineral density by 1-3% per year, particularly in postmenopausal women.
5. Improves Joint Health and Reduces Injury Risk
Stronger muscles and connective tissues support your joints, reducing the risk of injury in daily activities and sports. Studies show that resistance training can alleviate symptoms of osteoarthritis by reducing pain by up to 35% and enhancing overall joint function.
6. Enhances Mental Well-being
Resistance training releases endorphins, which help combat stress, anxiety, and depression while improving self-confidence. Research in JAMA Psychiatry indicates that strength training reduces depressive symptoms by 20-30% and significantly improves cognitive function in older adults.
Functional Training and Movement Patterns
Here at True Fit Training, we focus on Functional training and prioritise exercises that mimic everyday movements and improving strength, stability, and mobility. These movements fall into eight patterns:
Squat Pattern
Squatting is one of the most common exercises in resistance training. Almost everyone will throw some version of a squat into their programming. While squatting to full depth is often portrayed around as a benchmark for functionality, not everyone needs nor would be able to accomplish this glorified position. The true value in the squat is the necessary mobility, stability, and coordination required to successfully complete whatever variation happens to be the best for you. Successfully being able to squat means there is a prerequisite level of ankle, knee, hip, and spinal stability that will carry over into nearly any other goal — both in the gym and out of it.
Muscles That Perform the Squat
The prime movers of the squat are the glutes and quadriceps. Your hamstrings and adductors also play key roles depending on the type and depth of your squat. However, there are many more muscles involved depending on the squat variation which is performed.
Best Squat Exercises
- Bodyweight Squat
- Goblet Squat
- Back Squat
- Split Squat
- Bulgarian Split Squat
Hinge Pattern
Hinging is one of the most essential movement patterns for lifting, playing sports, and general health outcomes. A hip hinge integrates the posterior chain of muscles to produce perhaps one of the strongest and safest positions to produce force. From Olympic lifting, deadlifting, or picking up a young family member, the hinge plays a pivotal role in spinal safety when bending to perform any task.
Muscles That Perform the Hinge
The prime movers of the hinge are the glutes and hamstrings. The full complement of back and core muscles also stabilises the spine throughout the exercise. The latissimus dorsi, trapezius, abdominals, forearms, and muscles of the hands all contribute to the successful execution of loaded hinging. When performed from the floor as a deadlift, the quadriceps also contribute to the initiation of the lift.
Best Hinge Exercises
- Deadlift
- Romanian Deadlift
- Kettlebell Swing
- Glute Bridge
- Good Morning
Horizontal Push Pattern
Horizontal pushing isn’t actually something most people do every day. In that way, it’s the most you’ll-only-do-this-in-the-gym move of all the patterns on the list. Unless you’re a lineman in football explosively shoving someone out of your way, it’s unlikely you’ll engage in this pattern daily — except at the gym.
That said, horizontal pushing exercises such as the barbell bench press are a performance metric for many sports as a surrogate for upper body strength. It’s also necessary for competitive powerlifters and a great chest-builder for those chasing a particular upper body aesthetic. While a horizontal push may be the least likely to be called upon in real-world scenarios, a powerful upper body is a high-value commodity in many sporting situations.
Push exercises strengthen the upper body.
Muscles That Perform the Horizontal Push
A horizontal push involves flexion of the chest, triceps, and shoulders. The width and angle of your grip can influence which muscles dominate horizontal pushes — think about the difference between performing a close-grip push-up (tricep-focused) and a standard push-up (chest-focused).
Best Horizontal Push Exercises
Bench Press
Push-Ups
Dumbbell Chest Press
Machine Chest Press
Cable Chest Press
Horizontal Pull Pattern
The biggest horizontal pulling benefits are promoting postural and shoulder health in everyday life. Many people experience a forward-rounded shoulder posture from using handheld technology or sedentary keyboard-heavy desk jobs.
When combined with pec and anterior delt stretching, horizontal pulling can go a long way in rebalancing this hunch. This isn’t to say that horizontal pulling doesn’t show up elsewhere. Rowing itself is an entire sport and can be used as a physique-builder and cardiovascular tool all at once.
Muscles That Perform the Horizontal Pull
The horizontal pull draws on the muscles of the upper back to pull your arms alongside your body. Similar to the horizontal push, muscles that perform the horizontal pull are greatly influenced by the grip orientation and degree of abduction (elbow position) of the arm.
Best Horizontal Pull Exercises
Bent-Over Rows
Seated Cable Rows
Inverted Rows
Dumbbell Rows
T-Bar Rows
Vertical Push Pattern
The vertical push is an extremely underrated movement pattern as it is often more difficult and therefore considered less gratifying than the horizontal push. With that in mind, to successfully push vertically means successfully pairing overhead strength and stability with shoulder health.
In addition to giving you more powerful shoulders for the gym, strengthening the overhead position with vertical pushing has a dramatic carry-over to everyday life. Reaching or lifting objects overhead can put many rotator cuffs at risk — however, much of this risk can be alleviated with a modest investment in vertical push training.
Muscles That Perform the Vertical Push
Pushing overhead will largely draw on the deltoids as the prime mover. But perhaps more importantly, it requires a strong and stable rotator cuff to safely perform. As the arm ascends higher overhead, the shoulder stabilisers are more and more challenged. By extension, a vertical push will also involve the serratus anterior, trapezius, and rhomboids.
Best Vertical Push Exercises
Overhead Shoulder Press
Push Press
Arnold Press
Handstand Push-Ups
Cable Overhead Press
Vertical pull Pattern
Similar to the vertical push, the vertical pull boasts a ton of shoulder health benefits. While the vertical push will end in a fully-overhead position, the vertical pull starts there. This means that the muscles required to stabilise the shoulder and initiate the pulling exercise are in their most compromised position at the start.
In order to safely execute overhead pulling, the correct load must be selected and often helps to enhance shoulder stability. While the vertical pull draws on the back musculature to actually complete each repetition, your rotator cuff muscles are often put on trial to initiate the movement.
Muscles That Perform the Vertical Pull
The muscles activated in a vertical pull can shift significantly depending on the grip (how your hands are positioned on the bar) and hand placement (how wide or narrow your hands are).
Let's break it down:
Overhand Grip (Pronated): Emphasises the lats, traps, and rhomboids, with less biceps involvement.
Underhand Grip (Supinated): Focuses more on the biceps and x, while still engaging the lats.
Neutral Grip (Hammer Grip): Activates the biceps, brachialis, and lats, with less shoulder strain.
Wide Grip: Targets the upper lats, traps, and rhomboids.
Narrow Grip: Emphasises the lower lats and biceps.
Best Vertical Pull Exercises
Pull-Ups
Lat Pulldown
Chin-Ups
Neutral-Grip Pull-Ups
Cable Pulldowns
Lunge Pattern
The lunge is a fundamental unilateral lower-body movement pattern that mimics real-life movements like walking, running, and climbing stairs. It involves stepping forward, backward, or to the side, lowering the body, and then returning to the starting position. This movement pattern is extremely important because it improves single-leg strength and balance, increases lower-body muscle activation, enhances flexibility and mobility and strengthens stabiliser muscles, thus reducing injury risk.
Muscles That Perform the Lunge
Lunges primarily work the quadriceps, glutes, and hamstrings, while also engaging the adductors, calves, and core for stability and balance.
Best Lunge Exercises
- Forward Lunge
- Reverse Lunge
- Side Lunge
- Curtsy Lunge
- Walking Lunge
Carry Pattern
The carry pattern involves loaded carries and weighted movements that improve grip strength, core stability, and full-body endurance.
Muscles That Perform the Carry
This movement engages multiple muscle groups, including the grip muscles, which help in holding the weight, the core muscles, which stabilise the spine, the shoulders and upper back, which assist in posture, and the legs, which provide the necessary propulsion for movement.
Best Carry Exercises
- Farmer’s Carry
- Suitcase Carry
- Overhead Carry
- Rack Carry
- Bear Hug Carry
Rotation Pattern
The ability to twist and rotate is a recurring movement pattern in everyday life. Shoveling snow, reaching across your body to grab something off the counter, or any number of real-world tasks draw on the ability to rotate and twist. Without proper technique, many muscles and joints may be put in extremely compromised positions. Too often, however, rotating and twisting gets minimal intentional focus during training.
Muscles That Rotate
Different muscles can be put on trial depending on the specific rotational exercise or task. Rotational movements are often discussed as primarily core exercises but remember that the core is not the only mover involved. As a general rule, the hips and shoulders are also involved in most twisting exercises.
Best Rotation Exercises
Rotation and twisting exercises can be thought of in both a training or sporting context. Explosive change of direction in sport, such as a football player cutting on the field, is one example of twisting or rotating that can be applied as a training drill. In a more isolated context, cable woodchoppers or kettlebell windmills also challenge rotation and twisting capacities.
In the gym, this movement pattern is often trained against itself, anti-rotation exercise are very effective at strengthening the integrity of this movement pattern.
These are some of the most effective rotation and twist exercises:
Cable Woodchopper
Kettlebell Windmill
Pallof Press
Side Plank
Bird Dog
Sample Full Body Workout
A well-designed full body workout should incorporate each of these fundamental movement patterns at least once during the workout. The good news is, exercises in any of these movement patterns can appear in warm-up drills, main lifts, accessory exercises, and even cardiovascular training.
With that in mind, the greatest advantage these movement patterns have is the durability to fill any role necessary within a workout. You’ll perform some of these movements loaded and some unloaded; some with free weights and machines and some with just your bodyweight.
A full-body workout that incorporates at least one exercise from each fundamental movement pattern follows:
Front-Foot Elevated Split Squat: 2 x 10 per leg
Goblet Squat: 3 x 10
Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift: 3 x 10
Standing Single-arm Dumbbell Press: 3 x 10 per arm
Single-arm Lat Pulldown: 3 x 12 per arm
T-Bar Row: 3 x 10
Push-up: 2 x as many repetitions as possible
Kettlebell Windmill: 2 x 10 per side
Final Thoughts & Next Steps
Resistance training, especially functional resistance training, is one of the most effective ways to build strength, improve mobility, and enhance overall well-being. By focusing on movement patterns that translate directly to everyday life, you not only develop stronger muscles but also improve coordination, balance, and injury prevention.
This guide provides a comprehensive understanding of resistance training and how to get started, but everyone's fitness journey is unique. If you’re looking for personalised guidance and a tailored approach, I’d love to help you!
Book a free initial consultation with me today, and let’s build a plan that works for you!
Additionally, be sure to check out my other blog posts for more insights on strength training, mobility, and fitness tips to further enhance your journey!
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