Weight lifting techniques with regards to how the exercise is performed can be a debatable discussion. There are many ways to do an exercise and many different angles to attack each muscle group. Let's just say that as a beginning weight lifter it is best if you performed each exercise with the strictest moves possible. That means that you will be starting with a very light weight and doing the exercise as best that you can without cheating just to get the weight up.
Too many times I've seen guys and gals at the gym trying to lift too much weight and sacrificing form for ego. Leave your ego at the door and you will make better gains by doing the exercises properly and allowing your body to speak for itself when you start getting bigger and stronger.
I will list several main exercises and try to give you an idea of the proper form for each exercise. These weight lifting techniques will be a lot easier to understand once you have seen it done and are actually doing it. Just keep in mind that strict form is what we are looking for. If you put your muscles through a full range of motion you will see that they will grow bigger and stronger in a shorter period of time. Do not waste your time lifting is you are not going to do the exercises right. You will only wind up wasting a lot of time and energy for nothing. You will not get bigger. You will not get stronger. You will get hurt.
- Bench Press: Lay flat on the bench with the barbell directly overhead. Lift the barrel off and lower it to mid-chest. Press the weight straight up using both arms evenly and not tilting to one side. It is also important that at the bottom of the movement you do not bounce the weight off your chest to gain momentum.
- Shoulder Press: (Military Press) Seated on the end of a bench grab the barbell at shoulder level and press it straight up. You must control the weight so that it does not throw you off balance. Lower it to the starting position and repeat.
- Squats: I prefer to do squats with the barbell laying on the front of your upper chest and shoulders. With the barbell in position, bend at the knees toill you are in a closed position then stand up. Do not go to far down where it will cause injury.
- Lat Pull Downs: located at a machine grab a wide handled bar and pull the bar down to shoulder level. I prefer to pause for a count of two and then allow the bar to raise slowly
These are just a few examples and will help you to concentrate on doing the exercise properly. There is one advanced technique which will help you to improve by leaps and bounds in your weight training and that is to bring the weight back to the starting position very slowly. This is called a negative and will have a tremendous effect on how quickly you get bigger and stronger.