Whether you choose to come into LIV Fitness Center in Dublin, CA, or use our fitness app and workout at home, we provide help. We work with people of all ages and levels of fitness. One of the hardest types of training when people first start is strength or weight training. Most people are comfortable with aerobic training, since they know how to walk or run, but fear they’ll pull a muscle or build up too much bulk with weight training. Here’s a beginner’s guide to weight training to help you get through the first few hurdles.
Make sure you have the proper form first.
One of the most important parts of weight training is learning the proper form. It can help prevent injury and maximize the benefits. Start weight training by working out slower with lighter weights and focus on your form. Once you’ve achieved the right form and your body automatically does it, you’re ready to increase weights or repetitions.
Don’t worry about looking like the incredible Hulk, especially if you’re a woman.
Women tone muscles, they don’t build bulky muscles when they first start. In fact, for a woman to bulk up it takes special training and in many cases extra help from diet and sometimes pharmaceuticals. For men, it also takes special training, but is far easier due to the difference in hormone levels. Toning muscles means doing more repetitions with lighter weights. Using lighter weights with more repetitions also burns fat and can increase flexibility as it builds muscle mass. It adds less stress to the joints.
Don’t forget to warm up your muscles.
A few minutes of warming up exercises should be part of every exercise routine, even if it’s not strength training. When you warm the muscles, it’s easier to move correctly and increases the circulation that prepares the muscle groups for more difficult moves later. If you’re working the upper body, do warm up movements designed to increase circulation in the upper body. Don’t forget cool down exercises after you’re finished.
- What you eat, how much you sleep and whether you’re adequately hydrated also play an important role in building muscle tissue. You need the nutrients to build muscles, sleep to heal muscle tissue and adequate hydration to maximize your effectiveness when you workout.
- Never do strength training on the same muscle groups two days in a row. Your muscles need 48 to 72 hours between sets to heal the micro tears that ultimately cause more muscle tissue to form.
- Weight training burns as many calories as aerobic training, but primarily from fat, not muscle tissue. The more muscle tissue you have, the more calories you’ll burn 24/7, since muscle tissue requires more calories for maintenance.
- Eventually, your workout will become easier. That’s because your level of fitness has improved. In order to make progress, you need to create a different workout that’s harder, add more repetitions or use heavier weights.
For more information, contact us today at LIV Fitness!