Here are a few weight lifting tips to help you maximize your muscle-building workouts. These tips apply especially to beginners looking to gain muscle mass, but could also benefit more experienced strength trainers. Although I'm confident that this advice can potentially play a big part in skyrocketing your gains, I believe the most important step in your journey will be to learn to listen to your body.
WEIGHT LIFTING TIPS FOR BEGINNERS
- Find an atmosphere you'll be comfortable in. If the gym in your local area is too crowded or for some reason is an environment that you think may de-motivate you, then work on building a home gym. Most traditional weight lifting exercises are performed by using basic free weights (meaning a pair of dumbbells, or a straight barbell) and / or a reclineable bench. This makes it affordable to workout and still be in the comfort of your own home.
- Before beginning your weight lifting session, make sure you take a few minutes to visualize the workout that lies ahead. Know which exercises you'll be performing and imagine how you'll look and feel through each one. Most gym goers would not rank this tip very high in terms of importance, but I can assure you that if you do not set clear goals, then you'll be lost in the gym and it'll show in your physique.
- Natural trainees should avoid heavy lifting because all it does is greatly increase the risk of injury (which could end up being permanent). At most, use moderately-heavy weights if your goal is to gain muscle mass. You want to work your muscles, not your joints. Getting a great pump should be at the top of the priority list when weight lifting. This can easily be done using good form and consider lighter weights relative to what most people with the same goal are using.
- Have someone with at least a few years of experience with weight training there to spot you the first few times you perform a new exercise. Whether it's a buffed friend of yours or a gym instructor, it's always good to have someone show you proper technique for each exercise. You can learn a lot from having a trainer personally mentor you through even a couple of weight lifting exercises. They'll usually be able to provide you with information on number of repetitions to perform, speed at which each repetition should be performed, how long to rest in between sets, etc. There are a few basic principles to follow when weight lifting and they apply to almost every traditional bodybuilding training exercise. You'll soon understand that these basic principles when applied to a well-executed exercise … extremely lead to maximum results.
- A beginner to weight lifting should not exceed 1.5 hours of training. For the muscles to grow it's important to train on a consistent basis, but it's also crucial not to over-train when in the gym. A beginner to weight lifting should perform no more than 3 exercises for smaller muscle groups (like the biceps, for example) and no more than 5 exercises for larger muscle groups (like the legs, for example). You should feel energized through your workouts, and never exhausted.
I hope that these 'Weight Lifting Tips for Beginners' give you a better understanding of working out as related to building a muscular physique.