4 Weight Lifting Tips

I started lifting weights again and it feels great. I have lifted weights off and on since college and have picked up a few things that I thought I would share. 

1. Negative Can Be Positive

In order to present my tips I first have to explain one thing. In weight lifting, each exercise has a positive and negative motion. The positive motion is when you exert. On bench press, the positive motion would be when you push the bar off your chest. The opposite of positive motion is obviously negative motion. Negative motion, on bench press, would be when you lower the bar to your chest. 

Positive motion always seems the most difficult but negative can actually work your muscles more. Sometimes when you hit a wall at a certain weight level a purely negative workout (with a good spotter) can help you break through.

2. Breathe!!!

Breathing is really important in weight lifting. Grunting, contrary to popular belief is not, but rather it is the fact that grunting is kind of a way of exhaling, which is similar to breathing and thus is more helpful than not grunting but less helpful than actually exhaling. Anyway, always exhale during positive motion (when you exert effort) and inhale during negative motion. You don’t have to inhale and exhale each time but never inhale during positive and never exhale during negative. 

3. Vary Your Speed

Related to the motions and breathing is timing. Typically, positive motions should be half the time of their negative counter parts. On bench press, this would mean slowly lowering the bar to your chest (3-4 seconds, negative motion), followed by a burst of power to raise it back up (1-2 seconds, positive motion). 

To sum up the first three, inhale during negative motions, and do them slowly (think balance) and exhale during positive motions and do them quickly (think power). 

4. Bigger to Smaller

Always, always, always work larger muscles first and work your way down to smaller muscles. Take your legs for example: first work out your quadriceps and hamstrings, then work out your calf muscles. If you work out your calf muscles first, you will not be able to properly work out your upper legs. The same is true with ams vs. chest/back. Do your chest or back first, before working out your biceps or triceps. 

My Workout Schedule

I do not have set days or set exercises that I do, but rather have set muscle groups that I rotate through on whatever days I end up working out. I always work out chest with triceps, back with biceps and legs with shoulders. In each workout I start with the larger muscle group and work to the smaller ones. I also try to do abs 3 to 4 days a week. Abs can take a beating, typically.

So why am I not ripped and a physical specimen? I believe I just dished some good advice, but I am pretty undisciplined at following it for more than 3 months in a given year. The other 9 months? I use them to make up for all the hard work during the 3 good months. :)