Story Time~
When I was a student (both in the academic and dance sense), I never really felt the need to “work out” in the traditional gym manner. During high school, ballet was like a part time job for me as I was enrolled in a pre-professional training program. I was in classes and rehearsals around 15 hours a week, and more during performance seasons. On weekdays where I had ballet class, I would come home from school, do some homework, have a light meal, and then drive off to ballet class for the rest of the evening. I would come home around 8 or 9pm, shower, eat another dinner whilst studying or reading, and then go to bed utterly exhausted. My Saturday afternoons were also packed with classes and rehearsals, and Sunday rehearsals were added during high seasons for upcoming performances like The Nutcracker or the spring workshop performance.
During this period of my life, the classes my ballet school offered were enough for my training. Pilates and other forms of dance like modern and jazz accompanied by traditional ballet and pointe training. It wasn’t until after I graduated high school and moved off to college where it began to feel more difficult to stay in shape. In college, I did not pursue a dance degree; I studied an academic subject (in addition, my university didn’t even offer a dance major, only a dance minor). My freshman year, I was not very active and hardly danced at all as I was trying to immerse myself in the big change of university life. I only began dancing on a regular schedule when I discovered that dance classes were offered at my school’s fitness center (for no extra tuition fees)! Since my second year at college, I enrolled in ballet classes at varying levels of frequency based on if I could fit them into my schedule each semester. I also discovered and joined my university’s performing dance group. Weekly rehearsals were added back into my routine as we held a dance production every semester. The production featured student and teacher choreographed works ranging from classical ballet to contemporary and modern dance. I was in good shape then and really enjoyed my uni years exploring other facets of dance movement alongside my talented peers that my previous trainee program didn’t include.
However, during the long summer breaks of college, I would move back home for internships and part time jobs. Without the convenient (and free) dance classes offered at school, I didn’t dance over the summer. To combat falling out of shape, I started going to the gym to try my hand at more conventional exercise. In the evenings after work, my brother (who was also on summer break from school) and I would gym together. He taught me how to lift weights and put me on a beginner workout program for those summer months I was home. It became a routine I looked forward to the workout days as I really enjoyed spending time with my brother and exploring different exercises from the usual ballet steps or pilates / yoga-type of body conditioning.
I would like to say I continued with weight training when I returned to campus for the fall semester, but I never did! It was always back to dance once I got back to school. Nevertheless, I still really enjoyed weight training and always returned to it whenever I wasn’t dancing.
Since moving to Singapore 4 years ago and becoming a full time dance teacher, I didn’t introduce weight training into my fitness regime; I just wanted to dance! But, when I sprained my ankle – a couple of partial ligament tears – last year from overworking (I was religiously taking ballet class every Monday, my only rest day), I knew I had to make a change in my fitness routine. I returned to weight training as a desire to rehab my ankle, but also get stronger in general to prevent future injuries as my body grows older.
Getting myself back into the gym and creating a workout program for myself took a lot of research and experimentation. I’m not a doctor, or a physiotherapist, or even a certified trainer (yet?)… just a dancer that has residual knowledge of the body and access to the internet. Thus, here are some things I’ve learned about fitness and exercise for strength training.
Goals
To create a workout program, you must first think of your goals. As with everything, they should be concrete and attainable. When I first got myself back into a gym schedule, I didn’t really have any goals. Thus, my first couple of weeks back, I was doing some funky exercises that I saw on Instagram that were mostly for show. I wanted to get serious about my fitness journey after a while not seeing any progress so I set goals to hit specific lifts at weight goals by a certain time. I changed my workout regime to work towards my goals. After I made this change, I was progressing much faster; I could see and feel I was getting stronger each week and lifting heavier.
For a beginner, you probably shouldn’t put “bench press 100kg in 4 weeks” as your goal as that is pretty wishful thinking. Your goals will determine your workout program, and also diet. Remember, exercise is only half the equation – diet is extremely important to both weight and fat loss and muscle gain. Check for other resources around the web for more info on dieting to also reach your fitness goals.
Routine
Now that we have your goals, let’s talk routine. Before we even get to what exercises to do, you must be able to set a schedule and stick to it. Motivation to even exercise is the actually the most important part of exercising.
As a beginner, don’t jump off the deep end and set a schedule exercising five days a week for two hours as you will probably not stick to it and/or get burnt out very quickly. As a beginner, always start humble and simple: 15 minute walk or jog around the block once a week. If you can stick this out for a month, you’re on the right track.
After a month of walking/jogging, it’s time to take it to the next level with a couple of new options:
Stick to your once a week schedule, but increase how long you walk/jog for from 15 minutes to 25-30 mins
Walk/jog more often to 2-3 times a week instead of just once a week
Add in another 15-20 mins of simple body weight exercises and stretches (push ups, crunches, hamstring stretch) you can do at home after your walk/jog, or on another separate day for two days of exercise a week
Book an exercise class such as yoga or pilates for a second day of exercise (these are body weight and lower intensity classes as to not spook you into doing something too intense)
Dealing with actual dumbbells and other gym equipment can be very daunting, hell even stepping into a gym is quite intimidating! Stick with simple cardio and body weight exercises first to get yourself used to exercising and build the habit of exercising regularly.
If you are ready to push yourself further after feeling confident with your routine cardio and body weight exercises, let’s start working with some real weight. Add some simple dumbbell exercises into your program like curls or rows. Begin with light weight – like maximum 10kg dumbbells. It’s better to lift too light than too heavy and hurt yourself. Finally, after you feel comfortable working with dumbbells over a variety of exercises, join the barbell brigade and get into more powerful exercises that will work out your entire body and get you the strongest you’ve ever been.
Now that we’ve committed to this fitness journey with a regular exercise habit and interest in strength building, let’s get into the details of creating a weight training workout routine.
Exercises
Free weight exercises can be divided into two types: compound exercises and isolation exercises. Compound exercises work multiple muscle groups at once, whilst isolation exercises only target a specific muscle.
Compound Exercise
Barbell deadlift
Push up
Isolation Exercise
Bicep curls
Calf rises
To build a routine, keep it simple. An effective workout should have 4-5 exercises and should focus on compound exercises. Compound exercises are more desirable to build strength as they recruit multiple muscle groups, or in some cases the entire body, at once.
Here are some of the basic muscle groups:
Quads (front of your legs)
Butt/hips and hamstrings (back of your legs)
Chest, shoulders, and triceps (“push” muscles)
Back, biceps, and forearms/grip (“pull” muscles)
Core (abdominals and lower back)
Here are some compound exercises for each muscle group:
Quads – squats, lunges, one-legged squats
Butt/hips and hamstrings – deadlifts, hip raises, step-ups
Push (chest, shoulders, and triceps) – overhead press, bench press, push ups, dips
Pull (back, biceps, and forearms) – chin ups, pull ups, bent-over rows
Core (abs and lower back) – planks, side planks, crunches, leg lifts
If doing a full body workout, you want your program to contain one compound exercise for each muscle group. For example:
Squats
Deadlifts
Push ups
Pull ups
Plank
Sets & Reps
To actually perform each exercise, you will need to break it down into a set with repetitions. A set is a series of repetitions of each exercise you will do with rest in between each set. After completing all the sets in one exercise, you will move onto the next until you complete the workout.
The number of sets and reps is up to you and your goals, but you can use 3-5 sets per exercise, with 8-10 reps per set as a general framework.
Total Exercises: 4-5
Sets per Exercise: 3-5
Reps per Set: 8-10
Total time for workout: aim for 60 minutes
As a beginner starting to lift weight, try for 3 sets with 5 reps first, then add more reps as you get stronger.
For how much weight to start with, go lighter. Then trial and error for each exercise to find your desired weight. You should increase the weight if you can get through each set without struggling on the last 1-2 reps. The weight is too heavy if you are sacrificing your exercise technique in order to get through your set and can barely get through 5 reps. Finally, rest for 1-2 minutes in between each set.
Going with the above example of exercises, here are the recommended sets/reps for beginners:
Barbell squats: 3 sets of 5 reps
Barbell Deadlifts: 3 sets of 5 reps
Push ups: 3 sets of 10 reps
More reps as this is a body weight exercise
Pull ups: 3 sets of 10 reps
More reps as this is a body weight exercise
Planks: 3 sets, 1 minute hold each
Keep the same amount of weight until you feel like it has become too light – that means you are getting stronger! Again, as a general framework, you should increase weight every week by the following amounts:
Upper body: 1-3kg+
Lower body: 3-5kg+
However, if increasing the weight is too difficult on the next go around, don’t worry. Try with the same amount of weight but with more reps. On the very last set, try to do one more rep than previously or as many as possible – this is called go to failure. AMRAP/go to failure will help bridge the gap to lifting heavier and create more muscle endurance. For body weight exercises, there is no weight to increase so we need to make the exercise more difficult in addition to more reps. For example: one legged squats in replace of normal squats.
Types of Workouts
For beginners, start with a full body workout, 3 times a week. This is a perfect plan as you can schedule it Monday-Wednesday-Friday or Tuesday-Thursday-Sunday with rest days in between. Alternatively, you can workout everyday if you switch your workout to a muscle group targetted one. This means each gym session focuses on one particular muscle group whilst resting others. Muscle group workouts will usually contain a combination of compound and isolation exercises for each session. For example, squats, leg extension, lunges, and leg press for a quad workout, then the next day switch to arms.
You can also try circuit training to mix things up. For normal workouts, you will perform all the sets of one exercise before moving to another with rest in between. In a circuit, you will do one set of every exercise right after another with no rest. Then repeat the circuit for as many usual sets you do. This will really build your stamina as it adds some cardio into your training and will get you exercising in a different manner!
Speaking of cardio, don’t forget to add it into your routine as well as stretching. Light cardio can be added to the beginning of your workout to get your muscles warm. Careful not to do cardio for too long or else you can fatigue yourself even before you start lifting. More intense cardio can be added after weight lifting to burn everything off. In addition, light stretching can help loosen the joints before you hit the weights as well. However, most of your stretching should occur at the very end of your workout to cool down your body.
Sample Full-Body Workout (60-90 mins, 3 days a week)
Let’s complete the sample workout example from above with our warm up and cool down:
Warm Up
Light cardio – 5-10 mins of the treadmill or elliptical
Light stretching, rolling out with foam roller if have
Core warm up with crunches or plank
Weight Training
Barbell squats: 3 sets of 5 reps
Barbell Deadlifts: 3 sets of 5 reps
Push ups: 3 sets of 10 reps
Pull ups: 3 sets of 10 reps
Planks: 3 sets, 1 minute hold each
Cool Down
Lunge stretch for hip flexors and quadx
Butterfly for hips
Downward dog for hamstrings and shoulders
Cobra for abdominals and back
Every workout, make sure you write down your exercises, sets, and reps so you know where to pick up with where you left off. Compare yourself to your previous workout to track your progress and make sure to focus on getting stronger with heavier weight, more reps, increased difficulty of exercises, etc. Soon you’ll be the best version of yourself in no time!
TL;DR
Isobel’s anecdote about fitness
Before you start, set real and attainable goals
Start simple and make exercise a habit by just doing walks/jogs
Progress into strength training with body weight exercises, then dumbbells and barbells
Focus on compound exercises for each muscle group, but isolation exercises can be great complimentary exercises especially for weaker parts of the body
Progress by increasing the weight, reps/sets, or moving on to more difficult exercises
Switch things up with circuits and make sure you do your cardio and stretching
Track this progress by writing your workouts down
Get strong and feel good~
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