Strength training can be a fantastic addition to your fitness routine and is something you can do at home as well as in a health club or recreation center. While a formal weight-room, equipped with a wide variety of dumbbells, barbells, kettlebells and circuit-training machines is awesome, we can also accomplish a lot with just a few pieces of equipment.

Whether you're at home or at the gym, paying attention to your diet will help you maximize the benefit of your weight training. Proper nutrition sets your body up for performing well during a workout, and optimizing new muscle synthesis in the recovery period.

While the science behind such nutritional strategies can be complex, the basic principles, which we'll lay out for you here, are pretty simple. The two things to pay attention to are: