Exercise With Weights

For too long a time now, lifting weights has only been thought of for male athletes, bodybuilders or meat-heads. Well, times and knowledge have changed-and it's about time. These days, everyone can lift weights regularly and achieve a more capable, leaner and healthier body. There are many ways to perform a weight training program. Depending upon your specific goals, you can scale the type of weight training to your needs and wants. But, some basic principles and rules apply to all weight training for optimal results.

Steps

  1. Make sure to warm up with very light weight for the muscle group you are about to train, maybe get ten easy minutes on the treadmill. This gets blood into the area's connective tissue and muscle, better preparing it for a good session of lifting weights. It would benefit you even further to do a couple light sets of each movement you're about to perform- with weight that will allow you to do 20+ reps with no struggle. This warms up the connective and muscle tissue very effectively.
  2. Practice perfect form. This means not using momentum to move the weight through its normal range of motion. Not only will you get better results and learn to "feel" the muscle contracting and stretching, it is much safer. Momentum tears muscles. Do not let this be you.
  3. Know that the eccentric (resisting phase) of the movement is the most important one and the concentric (pushing/pulling phase) is secondary when it comes to results. Muscles are stretched during the eccentric phase, forcing them to enlarge and get stronger. The same goes for the connective tissues.
  4. Start slowly to allow your body to adapt. You can start slowly by performing a circuit routine or full-body routine, for example a set of ten repetitions of squats, resting for 2 minutes then doing a set of bench presses. Think of muscle as a multi-functional armour for our internal organs and skeletons- it protects both and does a very good job. In addition it burns fat around the clock making you LEANER.
    Weight training is stressful, and much like your skin reacting to the sun. The skin creates pigment to protect from UV rays passing. Weight training creates stress, the body reacts to this stress by creating more muscle to protect against the trauma of the weights. The joints and supportive tissues are also strengthened, making them more prepared to handle stressful loads as well.
  5. Breathe. Inhale on the resistance phase and exhale on the push phase. You need more 02 rich blood to push or pull the weight back to the starting position for another rep.

Tips

  • Use intensity in your training- meaning FOCUS on the set and task at hand. If you want weight training to get you the body you want and you're willing to put the time and effort into it, give 100% to each rep, set and session. It will pay off big. Just make it happen.
  • When done right, lifting can make you leaner by putting more muscle on your frame which eats extra fat- even while you're NOT DOING IT. In essence, it can help you be lazy and enjoy some of your comfort foods more often. (Don't abuse that rule though!)
  • Use supersets. These are sets of two or more exercises combined into one longer set. For example, a set of 20 pull-ups then immediately a set of 20 push-ups. Body weight movements should not be ignored- they are great when making a superset of your choice.
  • Drink plenty of water. Muscles and our bodies are over 70% water and thus you must keep it well hydrated for optimum results. It helps flush out the impurities that won't help you either.
  • Do your cardio after your lifting, this way you can conserve your energy for the weight training and, after all, weight training works while you're not doing it because muscle is the biggest enemy of FAT. Cardio is great, but it only works while you're doing it and too much of it tears muscle down.
  • Give your body time to rest. Usually at least 2 days before you train the same muscle group. The heavier and more intensely you train, the more time you should allow for rest and repair.
  • Use enough weight during your sets. This can be applied to intensity as well, it makes you focus and challenges your body to build more muscle and thus all leads to a leaner body and more calories consumed around the clock. Muscle is metabolically active- translation: It loves to eat excess calories stored as fat no matter what you are doing!
  • Work legs regularly. They are very large muscle groups and will burn many more calories that are stored as fat. Some folks don't like to train legs (after all, it's hard work), but it pays huge dividends when it comes to results.
  • Don't be afraid to challenge yourself- push yourself regularly, use a little more weight as you progress. This means your body is adapting well and is making gains. It all translates to a stronger, leaner you.

Warnings

  • Make sure you are healthy enough to begin any exercise routine. Talk to your MD to find out.

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