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Exercise Tips for Better Results
- Warm up before you lift
This does not mean to do a complete cardio workout before you lift: quite the contrary, 5 10 10 minutes of light cardio and/or light weights will do just fine!
- Breathing and movements
When you weight train, breathe deeply and rhythmically, and lift slowly both during the upward and downward motions. According to ACSM, participants should avoid using short, jerky movements and try to lift smoothly through a full range of motion. Don't hold your breath. Holding your breath during the exertion movement is bad for your blood pressure. Holding your breath makes your blood pressure rise high.
- Do a warm-up set for each exercise
Your first set of each exercise should be a lighter weight - enough so you can do NO MORE than 12 reps. Subsequent sets can and should increase the weight and reduce the reps.
Lift the weight slowly
- Don't go too fast when you lift the weight. You could throw yourself off-balance and drop it on yourself. The slower the better! You've heard of "superslows"? A good rule of thumb is to take 2 seconds to lift the weight and 2 seconds to lower it.
- Work larger muscles first
Chest, gluts (butt) and quads (thighs) before arms, shoulders, calves
- How many workouts per week and per muscle
Work out each muscle 3 times per week - those "chest on Mondays" legs on Wednesdays, back on Fridays" workouts are nonsense.
- Use proper form
Be careful when performing exercises. Don't swing the weight around. Use slow, controlled movements.
- Cool down
After working out take 5 to 10 minutes to cool down with some light aerobic exercise or simply walk around. This gives your body a change to come back down to normal. Your blood pressure comes back down, and your breathing slows down
- Stretching afterwards
After weight training, be sure to thoroughly stretch the areas you've just worked. This increases blood flow to the area and decreases muscular tension, which helps prevent muscle soreness and joint discomfort.
- Give yourself time to rest between workouts
After working out a muscle group, take 36 to 48 hours to recuperate. Working out more than this, will cause overtraining so that you won't change. This means work each muscle group 3 times per week with a day in between each workout.
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