New Year already started and it is very obvious that everybody will begin to have this dream of shedding those extra kilos and becoming fitter for the coming New Year. It is definitely a trend, isn’t it? And whether you are someone who is just starting to think about working out or if you’re looking to just add more strength training to your regular cardio routine, then weightlifting is something that you must consider but it is not that simple to understand its effects on your body. We are saying this because there is quite a lot of equipment that is involved – you need to learn how to use it, for example, resistance bands are one such equipment. It can confuse you, it can worry you, and you might start doubting that you do not have strength to use them.
Weightlifting can really appear very intimidating especially if you are a social media hook and you enjoy seeing people doing deadlifting which is almost lifting weight that is double their weight. Always remember that when you are starting weightlifting, you need to start small! You do not have to go at the goal from the very first day it self. If you want to squat super heavy with weight, then you might need to begin a strength program that is sober and will help you reach your goals. It will also help you get stronger as well. Several medical experts say that strength training can be considered as one of the top ways to assist your body to stay functional and also remain healthy for the longest time. And we feel that it is ideal for you to start your strength training or weightlifting program in your 20s because in your early 30s your muscle mass begins to decline.
So, let’s have a look at some of the weightlifting information that you must not have come across anywhere on the Internet and also provide you with some tricks that you might not know.
Benefits of Weight Lifting
Weightlifting comes with quite a number of health benefits, some of them are:
- It will boost your joint health! Weightlifting, along with multi joint movements such as lunges or squats counteracts all the long hours spent with hunching in front of a gym or a steering wheel. Weightlifting will help open up your hip flexors and this will help you stay clear and away from developing back problems.
- It helps build endurance! They say that weightlifting is considered to be most effective when it is done continuously instead of resting between each set. For example if you are performing a pushing exercise like a bench press and you immediately follow it up with a pulling exercise, for example dumbbell row – it will help build your endurance. The whole idea behind this is that when one set of muscles is working the other side of muscles is resting.
- It pumps the metabolic rate of your body! Weightlifting heavily boosts metabolism. That is you continue to burn your calories at a very high rate throughout your day even when you are asleep. And if you come by weightlifting with a clean diet, then you will see exceptional results in terms of your body and its health.
- It will enhance your performance if you are a sportsperson. When you practise strength training programmes, especially the sport specific ones then when you are on the field performing your sports your performance will be great. It might be very hard for you to believe but a couple of generations back, there were few basketball, baseball, and even soccer players who would regularly lift weights while training for their sport games.
- It will make your bones denser! They say that lifting heavy weights will keep you away from osteoporosis. As we age we begin to lose muscle mass and or bone mass as well and this whole is especially true when it comes to women. If you practise weightlifting and strength training your muscles will become stronger and bigger and since bones form the framework that supports muscles, naturally bones will also become stronger.
Tricks For Weightlifting
Always begin with your body weight: if you are going to explain strength training it simply translates to using resistance in order to create tension and work within your muscles. All weightlifting involves using external weights but when it comes to beginners it’s very important to understand that weightlifting can also mean your own body weight too!
- Prep your muscles before you begin: The correct warmup is very crucial for strength training to be effective after workout. Always begin by waking your muscles up from a foam roller. Foam rolling helps to loosen up the tight muscles so that they work and perform better when you do your strength workout. A dynamic form of warmup is another crucial part of your pre-workout routine – preps your muscles for the workout that they are about to get exposed to and also helps the muscles increase the amount of work they can do.
- Ensure that you have a good body form: even now not all gyms are open and even the ones that are you will have to feel comfortable to go there. It is very important to get feedback when you are working out, therefore we recommend that you have a personal trainer or anybody else who can assist you and ensure that you are performing your workouts in the right body form. Hiring a personal trainer will help you master those basic movements which form the foundation of the many exercises that you will perform during a strength training program. Even taking help from a virtual trainer will be beneficial in more than one way.
It is completely fine to feel a little sore after your workouts. But if your muscle feel achy for a prolonged period of time, then this is your body trying to signal to you that it needs some actual rest. Schedule your workouts in a manner that it will not take a toll on your body’s health. It is always important to understand the thin line between doing a good work out and doing an over workout.