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Weight Lifting 101
WHY WEIGHT LIFTING?
What's the one thing that you can do to lose weight, re-shape your body, improve muscle tone, become stronger, fight off osteoporosis, lower blood pressure, etc.?
Weight Lifting! Or as it's also called, Strength...
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Want To Workout Without a Gym
If you are like me, then you will probably know that using free
weights and machines is the fastest and most efficient way there
is to improve your metabolism and strength but for many reasons
these may not be convenient or readily accessible to you.
You may also have no access to a commercial gym, home gym or are
on business trip, but there can be a solution, a strength-
training workout without the need of expensive machines.
As with any exercise, whether you are using your own body
weight, machines or free weights, if the resistance doesn't
increase, your muscles won't be worked to their maximum capacity
and the stimulus these fibres need to grow will be missing.
Exercises done correctly will build the lean muscle and increase
your metabolism in the same way as performing exercises at a
gymnasium, but without the time constraints and associated
costs.
These exercises can be easily done in a bedroom, hotel room, a
park, school yard, ceiling rafters in a garage or in a doorway
and all you have to do is use your imagination. There will
always be a way to add more resistance to your workouts.
Please remember: It doesn't matter where you are working out -
at home, a hotel, or a park - always warm up properly before
beginning your session, and cool down and stretch when you are
finished.
Leg Exercises
Squats -
They build muscle in the thighs, shape the buttocks and improve
endurance. Position your feet about 13 to 17 inches apart or at
shoulder width, keeping the back straight and your head up. If
you want you can use something that will give you some support,
i.e. a desk, bookcase, sink etc.
Now squat down to where the tops of the thighs are parallel to
the floor, hold for a second and then stand up, but don't bounce
at the bottom of the movement, use a nice fluid motion. Always
exhale your breath as you stand up.
Lunges -
Stand straight in correct posture; now stand with one leg
forward and one leg back. Keeping your abdominal muscles tight
and chest up, lower your upper body down, bending your leg
(don't step out too far).
You should have about one to two feet between your feet at this
stage, the further forward you step, and the more your gluteus
and hamstring muscles will have to work.
Do not allow your knee to go forward beyond your toes as you
come down and stop where your feel comfortable (try not to let
your back come forward) then push directly back up. Do all your
reps on one leg then switch legs and do all your reps on the
other leg.
Back Exercises
Chin-ups -
Chin-ups are a great upper body workout, particularly targeting
your biceps, deltoid and lat muscles. Use a doorway chin-up bar,
ceiling rafters in a garage or grab the moulding of your door
frame, position your hands with an under hand grip and hang down
stretching the lats, slowly raise your body until your chin
reaches the bar level.
Pause a moment before slowly lowering yourself back to the
starting position. Don't swing or use momentum to get your body
to the top, just use the target muscles. Doorway chinning bars
remove from the doorway when you are not using them and can be
put up and taken down in seconds.
Bent Over Row -
Take up a position with your right hand and right knee braced on
a sturdy bed or some other flat surface that will provide a good
support. Now pick
up a dumbbell or something heavy that you can
hold onto with your left hand.
Visualize your arms as hooks and slowly bring the dumbbell or
object up to the side of your chest, keeping your back straight,
then lower the weight back down to arms length, no lower, on
extremes, safe form only please.
Concentrate on your back muscles. Reverse the whole procedure
and do the exercise now with your right arm.
Chest Exercises
Push-Up -
The push up is used for building chest, shoulders and arms. Lie
face down on the floor with your hands about shoulder width
apart and keeping your palms turned slightly inward. Now push-
up until your arms are straight, lower and repeat for
repetitions.
To make it more difficult elevate your feet. Try placing the
toes of your feet on a stable, elevated surface such as a bench,
chair or a stair.
Straightening your body, position your hands on the floor at
shoulder width, lower your body until your chest touches the
floor at the bottom, and then return to the starting position in
a nice fluid motion.
Dips -
This exercise can be done between two sturdy chairs or other
surfaces that provide stability. The dip is another great upper
body exercise. It's a compound movement as well and involves
working all the muscles that the push up works.
Keep your head up and body as vertical as possible. For the
beginning of the movement, start at the top (arms fully
extended) and lower yourself until your upper arms are parallel
to the seat of the chairs, hold and then push up to the top of
the movement until your arms are fully extended again.
Keep looking straight ahead and don't bounce at the bottom of
the movement.
Adding Weight
Although the simple weight of your own body is enough resistance
to provide an effective workout we need progressive overload
(added resistance) to become stronger.
So all we need to do is add some weight wherever we can find
some. Because there are no metal plates and fancy machines to
use it doesn't matter because the body doesn't care where it is
as long as it's receiving resistance of some kind.
You can use heavy books clasped in your hands. You can buy some
cheap weighted dumbbells or ankle weights. A weighted vest will
also allow you to add resistance for both chin-ups and push-ups.
Try to buy one that will let you remove and add weight as you
see fit. Also a backpack filled with books can be perfect for
most of the exercises and is a cheap alternative.
How about a couple of buckets and fill them with a certain level
of water? As you get stronger fill them with more water. This is
perfect because depending on the exercise, all you need to do is
to increase or decrease the amount of water in the buckets for
the required amount of resistance.
To wrap things up we know that using free weights and machines
are the fastest and most efficient way there is to gain lean
muscle and strength, but by performing the exercises in this
article you'll find that they will provide you with the same
benefits as going to a gymnasium but without the ongoing costs
and time constraints.
About the author:
Gary Matthews is the author of the popular fitness eBooks
Maximum Weight Loss and Maximum Weight Gain. Please visit
http://www.maximumfitness.com right now for your 'free' weight
loss or muscle building e-courses.
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