Weight Loss Spotlight

Weight Training Guide

Weight Training Guide to Build Muscle for Women!

Weight training requires technique and skills just like any other sport. There are several different aspects involved in lifting weights that you would need to pay attention to. Some knowledge of anatomy and biomechanics of the human body is definitely helpful for better performance.

Weight Training Guide Tip I

Weight training is based upon the principle of overloading the muscle to make it stronger. Weight training is also sometimes referred to as resistance training.

Weight Training Guide Tip II

There are different biomechanical movements involved in weight training or resistance training. They are pushing, pulling, pressing and lifting, as listed in our women's fitness weight training guide.

Weight Training Guide Tip III

Always start training the big muscle groups first when you lift weights. Then finish off the weight training session with the smaller ones such as arms, shoulders and calves. The reason you want to start with big muscle groups like legs, back and chest the amount of energy the require from your body and the amount of oxygenized blood your body has to provide the muscles. You might be too exhausted in the end of the work out to train energy requiring exercises like squats or leg presses for your legs. The oxygenized blood has to be pumped all the way from your lungs down to your leg muscles and back up to your lungs again which takes a lot of sustained energy for your body to accomplish while working out.

Weight Training Guide Tip IV

When working out with weights, the first and most important thing to remember is to use proper form for a full range of motion for the muscle as well as for your own safety. The best way to learn to work out right is to hire a qualified personal trainer when you start out. Using equipment and machinery that you have no training at could result in you injuring yourself. R.O.M stands for Range Of Motion and describes the exercise motion from start to finish. If you don't apply a full range of motion to your exercises, your muscles might end up getting shorter and you will lose your flexibility in your joints and ligaments as well as in the muscle per se.

Weight Training Guide Tip V

Always warm up for 10-15 minutes on any cardio equipment to prevent injuries and to ensure the muscles are warm enough. Stretching your muscles before, during and after your weight training session is as important as the weight lifting itself. Stretching is injury preventive and increases your flexibility at the same time. When you start lifting weights you might get stiff and your flexibility could decrease if you don't make it a habit to stretch.

Weight Training Guide Tip VI

For safety it is recommended that you use weight lifting gloves when working out with weights to prevent the weights from slipping out of your hands or you losing the grip when pulling or lifting. If you lift heavier weights you might want to use a pair of lifting straps to make your workout even safer. By locking the weight in your hand with the straps, there is no risk for you to drop the weight out of your hand and down on your foot.

Weight Training Guide Tip VII

Don't make the volume of your workout too big. The sets, reps and weight are the three variables you have to experiment with as far as finding the right workout volume that fits your fitness goals, strength and energy level. Don't change more then one of these three variables at the time though. For example, if you change the repetitions then don't change the number of sets or increase the weight at the same time. This way you have more room to keep changing your workout routine which is the only way to keep getting results from your weight training.