Weight Lifting Techniques – Get Your Technique Right Or Suffer The Consequences

What kind of instructions were you given when you started lifting weights? Or maybe you are like so many of us, you went to the gym, started lifting, and never had any instruction. Using the proper weight lifting techniques can make the difference between quick strength gains, being stuck on a plateau, or even risking injury. Here are a few critical items you must include in your weight lifting to get the best benefits, and remain safe.

  Breathing – How do you breathe during your lift? If you are like many lifters, you hold your breath while you push up against the weight. Your face turns bright red, and is painted with pressure. The place the real pressure is building is in your heart and blood pressure. You need to breathe out while you lift, and inhale while you return to the start position. Use your muscles to form a firm foundation, not a pressurized chest full of air.

Selecting The Proper Weight – Choosing the proper weight is based on two criteria. If you are working to build mass, you will be doing sets of approximately 8 reps. When you are working to reduce body fat and get cut, you may bump your reps up between 12 to 15 reps per set. In both cases, select your weights where the last rep is the last rep you can do. Some trainers recommend you go a little lighter, but unless you push your muscles to the maximum, you will not get maximal results. The other main criteria, choose your weights so you can achieve the next one of our weight lifting techniques.

Lift with Perfect Form – How do you lift now? Do you twist, turn, arch, and go all over to place to force out the reps? The real power of weight lifting comes when you use perfect form for every rep. You need to focus the lifts into the muscles you are training, not divert the effort all over your body. On the bench press keep your back flat on the bench, do not use your legs for leverage, focus the lift into your chest, feeling the chest muscle contracting pulling in your arms lifting the weight. This type of isolation and perfect form forces the muscle to work, adapt, and grow in strength and size.

 Use Balanced Lifting – This ties in with perfect form, but is often overlooked when doing single leg or single arm techniques. You do not want to develop one side of your body to be unbalanced with the opposing side. If you have a weaker arm or leg, use weights appropriate for the weaker side, and work it extremely hard to have it catch up to the other side. Do not keep increasing weights on the strong side, unless the weak side has caught up.

Avoid Over Training – How often are you lifting? If you are working your chest every day, or even every other day, you are probably over training and slowing your results. Split your body into workout groups and give each body part two to three complete days of rest before hitting it hard again. Your muscles need to recover and rebuild before you work them again.

Weight lifting techniques are not all about which particular lifts to use, it is just as important to follow the proper methods of lifting. If you do not get the proper rest, use perfect form, and breathe during your lifts, you will risk damaging your body, and slowing your progress.

The Atlantic Club Articles and Info Home