Sure, you know that lifting weights can be good for you. Resistance training can preserve and protect your bones and muscles — which is especially key for women, who lose bone density at younger ages than men, a loss that accelerates during and after menopause. But even if you’re well aware that cardio — while wonderful — won’t completely cut it when it comes to overall fitness, you might be intimidated by weights. After all, how do you start? How do you even know you’re doing it right? And how do you avoid an injury that could leave you sidelined on the couch?
Instead of avoiding those questions and retreating back to our trusty treadmills, we reached out to personal trainer Holly Rilinger. Not only does she train Katie, she’s been lifting for ages. “At a very young age,” she tells us, “I knew I wanted to play professional basketball. Little did I know I was only going to be five foot four.” Realizing she needed an edge, she started strength training. “When I was 13 years old, I started lifting weights in a very serious way,” she explains.
“I would go to the YMCA and be on the ‘boys’ side of the gym, with the barbells and dumbbells,” says Rilinger. “I learned how to back-squat, deadlift, and leg-press, because that was all tethered to a dream of mine. I trained through high school and then college, when I played professional basketball. When I stopped playing pro basketball, I started personal training. It’s been part of my life now for almost 40 years.”
Given her expertise, Rilinger is the perfect person to help any beginner get started. She filled us in on some crucial tips, and even offered us a program that can make the whole experience simpler. (More on that below.) In the meantime, here’s how to get going — and get buff — via a strength-training routine even the most devoted cardio-heads will fall in love with.
Katie Couric Media: What’s the first thing somebody should do before beginning a weightlifting routine?
Holly Rilinger: No matter what age you are, start with the basics, by figuring out the right form for each exercise — you can find tons of examples of them being performed correctly on YouTube. It’s also helpful to understand the basic physiology, meaning which exercises are best for which muscle groups. Find a trainer that you can learn from, so you can safely and confidently start to lift.
How can you ensure your form is correct, to prevent injuries?
Ideally, you’d hire a personal trainer for three sessions to kick things off. Obviously if you have the financial means to hire one you can work with all the time, that’s great — but let’s face it, a lot of people don’t. If you work with a trainer for a few sessions, they can correct you, tell you where to place your feet, maybe even film you doing your reps so they can show where your form needs improvement. Also, know who the really good trainers are. It’s very easy to get a personal training certification, but most times, if you ask around in your community, you can find out who the best trainers are.
How should a beginner figure out how much weight to lift, and when it’s time to increase that amount?
First, make sure you’re doing the exercise properly. Take, for example, a squat: Are you doing it with a full range of motion? Are you doing it pain-free?
Then it’s about assessing how you’re feeling at the end of a set of 10 or so reps. Imagine I told you to do 10 reps, holding a 20-pound dumbbell, and then I asked, “How many more reps do you think you could have done?” Those are called reps that are “in the bank.” If you have more than three reps left in the bank at the end of your set, then you should increase the weight you’re holding.
It also goes the other way: If I told you to do 10 reps and at 7, your form starts to crack a little bit, or you can’t get full range of motion, then that’s an indication that you should go down in weight.
As a beginner, I wouldn’t even focus on going heavier for the first month. If I’m having a brand-new client do a bench-press, their arms are probably going to be all over the place. They can’t even control the weights, because their body’s figuring out a new movement pattern.
For the first four weeks, instead of increasing weight, I typically work with a client on doing more reps, so their body can learn how to do these movements, and learn what it feels like to hold that kind of weight. You’re making that mind-muscle connection — feeling your chest do the exercise, and exhaling as you do the movement. Then, a month in, you don’t have to think as much about the movement pattern anymore, you’re just doing it. That’s when you can start to add some weight.
What are the most common beginner mistakes and how can people avoid them?
Number one is not using heavy enough weights as you progress. If you look at a man or a teenage boy, they’ll go to the rack and probably pick something too heavy — they’re overly confident. But women are so concerned about not hurting ourselves that we underestimate our strength. So if I have somebody come in and they say, “I always use 10 pounds,” well, that’s not quite right. Then I’ll ask the number of reps they’re doing per set, and which muscle groups they’re using. Because if you’re using your biceps, your numbers will be far different than when you’re using your legs. So really pay attention to what exercises you’re doing, and if you’re really getting enough resistance to actually have a training effect.
The number two thing for beginners to be aware of is prioritizing strength over skinniness. Luckily, I get more and more women coming in lately and saying, “I want to be strong,” as opposed to “I don’t want to bulk up,” which I used to hear all the time. There’s a saying that I love — especially as a woman in midlife who’s lifting weights — that “the fear of bulking up is like buying a Porsche and being afraid of becoming a NASCAR driver.” There’s so much that goes into really bulking up like competitive weightlifters do — it’s not just going to happen by accident.
The number three mistake I see is not adding plyometrics, aka exercises that involve your muscles producing maximum force in short bursts, to build power. Plyometrics are a really great way to build bone density, and there’s currently more than 200 million women in the world with osteoporosis. So we’re really facing an epidemic. Plyometrics are as simple as jumping rope, jumping in place, broad jumping, or jumping up onto a plyo box. Definitely add some plyometrics to your training routine.
How many days per week is realistic and effective for somebody who’s new to lifting?
The great thing about strength training is that it’s been around for a long time; the scientific evidence that backs its efficacy isn’t new. And there is a certain amount of volume that you need every week to build and maintain muscle mass. At a minimum it would be 10 sets per muscle group each week — between 10 to 16 sets would be the sweet spot. If you’re looking at full-body workouts, that number would ideally be spread out between three to four workouts a week.
If you’re lifting weights once a week, you’re going to be so sore after every workout, because you’re not getting enough “volume” of lifting to change or maintain your muscle mass. So that three to four times a week number is a real sweet spot, where you’re getting just enough training volume to make a difference.
But you don’t need to overdo it. I know people who work out six days a week, but most people just don’t have time to do that. There’s diminishing returns, too, because you’re not getting enough recovery time. What’s happening physiologically is that we’re lifting weights to break down muscle fiber, and then we’re eating enough protein, because it’s a building block to help build muscle back. And the real “magic” is actually happening when you rest. If you’re never taking a day off, then you’re also doing yourself a disservice.
What if you need regular guidance but don’t want to hire a trainer?
There’s a lot of apps and programs out there, including Blueprint, my program — we do workouts with you, including a livestream one where we can actually watch your form and tell you to get your feet a little bit wider or whatever. If someone’s just starting out, those little adjustments are going to be so important to set up your foundation for everything that you do afterward.
Want even more instruction? Rilinger created Blueprint, a virtual 21-day strength training program, specifically for women in midlife. And she’s offering a special discount for KCM readers — use code BPI99 at checkout for $20 off the Blueprint I program.
