Weight Training Tips for Beginners
By DFR staff member Julie
Chapman
Here are our top six basic weight training tips for beginners,
especially those who are weight training at home. These tips will
set you on the right track and help you to get the best out of your
weight training sessions, whether you’re using
hand weights, bar
bells, dumbbells, medicine balls or tins of beans.
1 – Warm Up
Five or ten minutes of anything that gets your heart pumping and
literally warms you up. Try to move all parts of your body – if
you’re marching on the spot to get going, pump and swing your arms.
Dancing to some good music is a great way to warm up, and has the
added benefit of putting you in a good mood.
2 – Be Smooth
Aim for smooth, flowing, continuous movement when using weights.
Fast, jerky or uneven movements will put unnecessary strain on your
muscles and could result in injury.
3 – Breathe Freely
Don’t hold your breath. Your muscles need a constant supply of
oxygenated blood, by denying them that you risk broken blood vessels
or even a hernia. It doesn’t really matter at which point of an
exercise you breathe in or out, the important thing is to breathe
freely throughout the exercise.
4 - Focus
To ensure you are working your muscles in the most effective way
it is important to focus on what you’re doing. If your mind is
elsewhere it’s easy to fall into bad form or forget to count
repetitions. One set done properly when you’re paying attention,
will be more beneficial than two sets when you’re not.
5 – Choose the right weight
You should choose a weight that you are comfortable with, but
that will work the muscles i.e. you should be able to feel the
muscle working, but not so heavy you have difficulty lifting it
smoothly. General rule: use a weight that tires the muscle(s) out
within 8-12 repetitions.
6 – Do One Set – Slowly
Unless you are a serious body builder, you don’t have to do
multiple sets of each exercise to get good results. In fact research
has shown that, for most people, optimum benefit from weight
training can be gained with just one set of 8-12 repetitions of each
exercise, done slowly, with correct form.
7 – Balance your weight training workout
Work all your major muscles and muscle groups — abdominals, legs,
chest, back, shoulders and arms. Exercise opposing muscles in a
balanced way — for example, front of legs as well as back of legs.
8 – Rest and Recover
Your muscles need 48 hours to recover after a weight training
workout. During this period the muscle development you are training
for takes place – each time you work them out your muscles should
come back that bit stronger. You need to allow the time for this
muscle recovery and should leave at least 48 hours after working a
muscle before you work it again.
9 – Don’t Overdo It!
Don’t get carried away during your first session and do lots of
reps with heavy weights. This is especially important for beginners
who have no experience of weight training – you could end up very
sore! Use your initial sessions to practice getting your form right
with fairly light weights. Once you’ve mastered the moves you can
move on to heavier weights.
10 – Get a Book
Get a good weight training book, one that has good photographs
and descriptions of the exercises, and that also explains the
physiology of weight training. The better your understanding of
what’s going on, the more you’ll get from your weight training. For
beginners I’d recommend
Weight Training for Dummies and
Strength Training for
Women.
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