Simple Rules to Follow When Beginning A Weight Training Program
by Rico Connor
I see so many people at the gym just going through the motions without really knowing what they are doing. There is a science to weight training. There is a science to weight training. You are wasting your time at the gym if you don’t have any knowledge of what to do. If you practice the four rules below (and combine them with a nutritious diet and a bit of aerobics), you will be will on the way to achieving optimal results for your efforts.
Technique is extremely important when lifting weights. Most of the time, and especially for beginners, you want to get a full range of motion on each and every exercise. You also want to perform your repetitions with a steady, controlled speed (upwards and downwards or in and out) throughout the full range of motion. Proper form is also essential to getting the greatest benefit out of each exercise and in preventing injury. Improper form can place dangerous stress onto some other vulnerable area of your body. As a rule of thumb, you want to keep your back straight or slightly arched for most exercises.
If you can’t perform an exercise with proper form, then reduce the weight. Don’t throw out your back or tear a muscle by lifting a weight you can’t properly handle. It’s not how much you lift – it’s how you lift it. Don’t be concerned about the amount of weight you are lifting. The weight is simply a means to an end. It is simply resistance against which you contract your muscles to make them grow. Try to focus on the specific muscle being worked out (mind-muscle connection), and feel it contracting. Your muscles grow the best when you fully contract them with proper form.
Last but not least, your should perform every exercise with intensity. Intensity is what makes the muscle grow. If you are just going through the motions at the gym, then you might as well not go, because you are not going see any results. For a muscle to grow, you have to damage and physically tear it while exercising. These are micro-tears. If you eat properly and get enough protein and carbs, your muscle grows as it repairs itself. It’s really the last few reps at the end of each set which are the most important. These are the ones that you are just barely able to squeeze out. This is where your muscle is being “damages.” If you whip out a set of 12 reps and do it easily, you will not experience any muscle growth.
On the other hand, that old saying “no pain, no gain” is a load of rubbish. Going to the gym shouldn’t be equated with torture. Belief in that saying leads to over-training and injuries. I don’t want to feel pain the gym – if I do, it means I probably pulled something! There is a big difference in feeling pain, and feeling a sense of soreness in a muscle you worked out the day before. Proper nutrition, stretching and recovery time will repair your muscle and make that soreness disappear.
If, when performing each exercise, you perform them with the above points in mind, you will see great results.
- Proper form
- Steady controlled speed
- Full range of motion
- Intensity
This article was written by Rico Connor. It appeared in the printed edition of Fun&Fit in October of 2003. Rico is the past 2002 Nevada State Bodybuilding Championship Master Winner and has published a book: Total Health for Life: Mind & Body. This article is an excerpt from his book.
