Weightlifting for size and strength: The Basics
For all those new to weightlifting, this should give you a BASIC understanding of the major factors involved and a general idea of how you need to manipulate them. It should by no means be considered the be all and all. You should be doing your own reading into the topics of training and nutrition. Everybody is different and some things work better for others, the only way to figure this out is trial and error, coupled with listening to your body.
I have even been so kind as to bold the pretty important bits.
If you cannot be bothered reading this, and it may be slightly lengthy, please do not waste other peoples time asking questions that you could have looked into yourself in a couple of minutes. Go grab your pink dumbbells and rock out to Enrique in the corner.
There are three basic components to increasing your size and strength: training, nutrition and rest.
Training
General training advice for beginners
Keep it SIMPLE. Focus on compound movements. Be consistent, don't skip workouts cos you can't be bothered, make it routine. Learn the technique behind them first, then gradually increase the weight as you are able. Aim to beat some point of reference from your last training session, this could be weight used, reps achieved or amount of babes who look at you while getting huge. I don't give a shit. But you need to make some sort of progress. This is not simply for progress' sake, however. If you have to cheat a little to get that rep/weight? Stick with it a little bit longer, till you get it right. You have done GREAT by exerting yourself that little bit more to get it done, but don't move ahead of yourself and get injured. Make sure you have eaten before you head to the gym. Make sure you get some form of protein/calories in your system within a reasonable period of time after you have finished.
Compound Vs Isolation movements
You should be focusing on COMPOUND movements. These are...
