How to Work Out With Weights - 9 Guidelines For Beginning
Many people find walking into an exercise gym for the first time intimidating.
You want to get into better shape but you don't know exactly where to start.
Except for that one obvious beginner in the corner working with a professional trainer, everyone seems to know exactly what to do.
You don't want to hire anybody, at least not yet, you just want to get familiar with weight lifting exercises and become more comfortable with them.
Major Muscle Groups One place to start is to think about your major body areas or muscle groups.
Keep in mind that most weight lifting exercises for the upper body stress the arms and many of them also involve the shoulders.
Most back and chest exercises will also work the arms and shoulders to some degree.
Therefore, work your back and chest before getting to your shoulders.
Your shoulder exercises will also work your arms somewhat so leave exercising your arms for last.
You can fit your abs in anywhere though opinions vary sharply about this.
Some people like to start with their abs.
I like to work my abs either after my shoulders or wherever I want to give my arms a break, or sometimes first, to get my core warmed up.
You can also work your legs in anywhere or reserve a separate day just to work your lower body.
Some people prefer a more involved approach to weight lifting exercise and like to work just a few muscle groups per workout.
Many variations exist along these lines yet they quickly become too involved and advanced to squeeze in here.
I just want to give you a quick overview and a few tips about how to get started.
Nine Basic Guidelines Nine basic weight lifting exercise guidelines to keep in mind as you're starting out are: 1) Start out with light weights.
Go easy and carefully so as not to hurt yourself.
An injury early on may sour your attitude toward working out.
2) Respect your own body, your ultimate teacher.
If some theory or advice you've heard conflicts with what your body tells you, trust your body! 3) Wait two days to measure your results, to recover, and to see how sore you feel after every workout.
You won't know the impact of your last workout for two days.
Then you can see how you feel.
Don't exercise two days in a row when starting out.
4) Watch others as they perform their exercises and try to focus on those people who seem to have good form.
They'll often have good muscular development as well.
5) Ask questions of the people who look like what you'd like to look like, not other beginners.
If you find this difficult you can also ask the trainers that work for the gym some questions.
6) Whoever you ask, be sensitive to their body language as they respond.
Are they just being polite? Do they know what they're talking about? Does it feel as if they don't really know what to tell you? Be quick to accept they don't have the answers you're looking for.
Just because they know how to do it doesn't mean they can teach you how to do it.
7) Don't do heavy free weight exercises without a spotter - some friend or exercise partner to watch and help out if you need it.
A useful alternative here is to use some of the exercise machines available at a commercial gym.
Some people prefer free weights to machines but machines have the distinct advantage of increased safety for those starting out.
I will often use a machine with heavy weight if I'm working out alone and I have no one available to keep an eye on me.
8) Don't stop learning.
We invariably have more to learn, improvements to make, and new insights to gain.
9) Rather than competing against others with different backgrounds, histories, needs and objectives, compete against yourself and gradually try to top your own previous results.
Now go have fun, create the body you've always wanted, don't get hurt, and welcome to "the club".
You want to get into better shape but you don't know exactly where to start.
Except for that one obvious beginner in the corner working with a professional trainer, everyone seems to know exactly what to do.
You don't want to hire anybody, at least not yet, you just want to get familiar with weight lifting exercises and become more comfortable with them.
Major Muscle Groups One place to start is to think about your major body areas or muscle groups.
Keep in mind that most weight lifting exercises for the upper body stress the arms and many of them also involve the shoulders.
Most back and chest exercises will also work the arms and shoulders to some degree.
Therefore, work your back and chest before getting to your shoulders.
Your shoulder exercises will also work your arms somewhat so leave exercising your arms for last.
You can fit your abs in anywhere though opinions vary sharply about this.
Some people like to start with their abs.
I like to work my abs either after my shoulders or wherever I want to give my arms a break, or sometimes first, to get my core warmed up.
You can also work your legs in anywhere or reserve a separate day just to work your lower body.
Some people prefer a more involved approach to weight lifting exercise and like to work just a few muscle groups per workout.
Many variations exist along these lines yet they quickly become too involved and advanced to squeeze in here.
I just want to give you a quick overview and a few tips about how to get started.
Nine Basic Guidelines Nine basic weight lifting exercise guidelines to keep in mind as you're starting out are: 1) Start out with light weights.
Go easy and carefully so as not to hurt yourself.
An injury early on may sour your attitude toward working out.
2) Respect your own body, your ultimate teacher.
If some theory or advice you've heard conflicts with what your body tells you, trust your body! 3) Wait two days to measure your results, to recover, and to see how sore you feel after every workout.
You won't know the impact of your last workout for two days.
Then you can see how you feel.
Don't exercise two days in a row when starting out.
4) Watch others as they perform their exercises and try to focus on those people who seem to have good form.
They'll often have good muscular development as well.
5) Ask questions of the people who look like what you'd like to look like, not other beginners.
If you find this difficult you can also ask the trainers that work for the gym some questions.
6) Whoever you ask, be sensitive to their body language as they respond.
Are they just being polite? Do they know what they're talking about? Does it feel as if they don't really know what to tell you? Be quick to accept they don't have the answers you're looking for.
Just because they know how to do it doesn't mean they can teach you how to do it.
7) Don't do heavy free weight exercises without a spotter - some friend or exercise partner to watch and help out if you need it.
A useful alternative here is to use some of the exercise machines available at a commercial gym.
Some people prefer free weights to machines but machines have the distinct advantage of increased safety for those starting out.
I will often use a machine with heavy weight if I'm working out alone and I have no one available to keep an eye on me.
8) Don't stop learning.
We invariably have more to learn, improvements to make, and new insights to gain.
9) Rather than competing against others with different backgrounds, histories, needs and objectives, compete against yourself and gradually try to top your own previous results.
Now go have fun, create the body you've always wanted, don't get hurt, and welcome to "the club".
