STRENGTH TRAINING
At Fortius we want you to get stronger and build muscle, lose body fat and essentially just feel better and look great! Our tried and tested method to achieve this is by combining Strength Training and Energy System Development (ESD).
Strength Training commonly known as weightlifting.
Energy System
Development
commonly known as cardio.
![icons [Recovered]-09.png](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/2381d1_bbde3a44dfe74713a4618964a588b5ac~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_164,h_164,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_avif,quality_auto/icons%20%5BRecovered%5D-09.png)
THE KEY MOVEMENTS
These key movements and patterns form the foundations of your strength training. With practice you will continue to become stronger and progress at performing the following;
SQUAT PATTERN – air squat, goblet squat, front squat, back squat, overhead squat
HINGE PATTERN – traditional deadlift, sumo deadlift, Romanian deadlift, good mornings
LUNGE PATTERN – split squat, forward lunge, lateral lunge, reverse lunge, split jerks
PUSH PATTERN – press up, bench press, military press, floor press, dumbbell press
PULL PATTERN – pull ups, chins ups, bent over rows, T-bar rows, dumbbell pulling
BRACE – plank variations
ROTATION – twisting movements
BRIDGING – glute bridge, hip thrusters
We cover all the bases so you can become a confident and competent Fortius member. No more feeling intimidated in the weights area!
THE FORTIUS EXERCISE CURRICULUM
We believe in teaching and growing our members knowledge and experience- helping them become autonomous in the gym environment. Understand your movement patterns, key coaching points and exercise progressions and regressions through our exercise curriculum;
THE SCIENCE BEHIND YOUR PROGRAMME- BUILDING MUSCLE
Lets look then at how we build muscle in the gym…
No matter what anyone tells you, there are 3 predominant methods to build muscle;
1 MECHANICAL TENSION – lifting heavy weight for only a few repetitions (reps). At Fortius we recommend between 3-8 reps ranging from 70% to 90% of your maximum strength with a minimum of 2 mins rest. If you were an athlete the recoveries would be longer.
2 METABOLIC STRESS – lifting a moderate to heavy weight lots of times to create a huge burn inside the muscle. The muscle BURN is key. We recommend reps of between 8-20 with 60-90 seconds rest with loads approximately 50%-70% of your maximum strength.
3 MUSCLE DAMAGE – creating as much muscle damage as possible, usually from eccentrics. Our coaches will encourage you to work an different tempos in a movement. For example: Bench Press could be 5 seconds down, 2 second pause and 1 second up.
At Fortius we use all 3 methods because they are tried and tested, and we have got amazing results from past to present.
The one thing I will state is that weight training requires skill and lots of practice so you have to be patient. Building muscle takes time so consistency and regular attendance will speed this process up.
At Fortius we use this template by Matt Jordan to help program your workouts:
Or take a further look at the NSCA (National Strength & Conditioning Association) loading charts at the following link:
https://www.nsca.com/contentassets/61d813865e264c6e852cadfe247eae52/nsca_training_load_chart.pdf