Weight Training Tips

Weight training is a type of strength training that utilizes added weights to directly increase strength. There are a number of special equipment to engage specific muscle groups and movement types, and you will find that most athletes have weight training on their training regimen.

The basic principle of weight training is controlling the amount of added weight, the number of repetitions, the number of sets, the tempo, and exercise types to increase your muscle strength, size, and endurance. Every person is different, and this means that the amount of weight, number of repetitions, and the number of sets should be in accordance with what you are able to handle, and how much muscle mass increase you are looking to achieve.

There are different kinds of equipment for strength training, to name a few are the dumbbells, barbells, kettle-bells, pulleys, and weight machines. Weight training can also make use of the body’s own weight, with exercises like push-ups, pull-ups, sit-ups, chin-ups, and leg-ups. As with any exercise, the absence of appropriate precautions and proper execution may result in injury.

There should always be good form maintained during weight training. A good form doesn’t mean you should look good while doing so, but to perform these exercises with the appropriate muscle group, and not transferring the weight to another muscle group. When the exercise is nearing its end and the level of difficulty is the most challenging, there is a great temptation to cheat and use poor form to use other muscle groups to assist the exhausted muscle group.

Cheating ourselves not only defeats our purpose of exercising, but may result in injury as well. One example of this is straining our neck to move up during push-ups that may result to neck injury. As usual, a person must stretch and warm-up before and after exercise. A person who has properly warmed up will have more strength and stamina since blood has flowed to the muscles.

One should also pay attention to breathing while weight lifting. The tendency of holding one’s breath while at the peak of lifting the heavy weight limits the amount of oxygen supplied to the muscles and the brain. This decreases performance and to an extreme may cause black-outs or even a stroke. Professionals advise that one should exhale on effort and to inhale while relaxing their muscles.

You should also pay close attention to hydration. Not being thirsty does not mean the body is hydrated enough. One should drink more than 10 glasses of water a day, even more during days of exercise. If one relies on thirst alone to be aware of their body’s water level, the body may already be dehydrated by that time.

Two types of weight training are isolation exercises and compound exercises. Isolation exercises isolates or restricts the movement to one joint only. On the other hand, compound exercises utilize more than one muscle group at once, and includes the movement of two or more joints. Most of the common daily tasks are compound exercises, like pushing, pulling, and lifting. For most people, isolation exercises often feel unnatural and hard to maintain.

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