Things That Every Beginner Weightlifter Should Know

Strength training programs are designed to induce hypertrophy and activate muscle growth. Weight lifting, being one of the exercises in strength training, involves lifting free weights such as barbells or dumbbells and weight machines either in a competition or as an exercise. According to research carried out by the United States Department of Labor, 8.9 percent of U.S citizens engage in weight lifting, making it the second most popular athletic activity.

As a new weight lifter, you should know that there are two standard lifts; the snatch and the clean and jerk. The former is a single-movement lift from the floor to an extended position, while the latter is a two-movement lift that begins from the floor, moves to the shoulder, and ends in an extended place.

Being a beginner can be overwhelming because there are several eye-catching activities to engage in. Some of them include- the Hex Bar Deadlift, Single-Arm Dumbbell Row, and Back Squat. Your focus should be on starting with foundational exercises. This means that you have to focus on activities that develop your entire body and not just a part.

Compound movement exercises are a way to fully develop your body because these exercises train more than one muscle group and the other parts of your body. Also, compound movement exercises build muscle mass, expand muscle size, and develop body strength.

For instance, engaging in a single set of barbell bench presses will help develop your entire chest, shoulders, and triceps concurrently. However, it would help if you avoided isolation exercises such as the quadricep extension because these sets of exercises solely improve one part of your body.

Further, it would help if you stuck to the basics. This means that you do not need advanced weight training methods such as drop sets, supersets, and cheating reps because your body may not cope with the intensity of these exercises. Maintaining a proper form when exercising is a way to stick to the basics because it will reduce your risk of sustaining an injury. To do this, you should engage in proper warm-ups before exercising and always remember to breathe while weight training, to mention a few.

Overtraining occurs when you engage in too much physical activity without resting, and it is dangerous because it will drain your energy and negatively affect your performance. Therefore, you should rest each week because that is when your body gets to repair.

Also, your muscle growth occurs a day or two after training. So, depriving yourself of rest is equivalent to getting blood out of a stone. Weight training aims to experience body development, and skipping cheat days hinders it.

Nutrition has equal importance as your training. So, minimally processed foods such as lean proteins and complex carbs are the best for weight training. Lean proteins like turkey, fish, and egg build your muscles, while complex carbs such as green leafy vegetables give you the energy to burn while training.

Further, it would help to hydrate regularly and whenever you experience thirst. As stated earlier, it takes a day or two after each training for your muscles to develop. In other words, muscle development is a gradual process and not an overnight miracle. So, it would help if you were patient while being consistent.