Proper weight training is one of the popular ways of building muscle most especially in the arms. Your arms needs to adapt to the stress of the weights which will then form muscle. Here are the things that must be taken into consideration to be able to perform proper weight training:
- Know proper technique. For best results, proper weight training technique is important. If you are not sure that you are doing it right then ask a personal trainer or fitness specialist.
- Perform a single set of repetitions. Most people believe that when you spend hours at the gym, you will be able to achieve better results. But according to researches, a single set of 12 repetitions done properly is as good as doing 3 sets. When it comes to the proper weight, it should be heavy enough that will tire the muscles after 12-15 repetitions.
- Start slowly. If you are just beginning weight training, then start by lifting a few pounds. This is just fine, as you go along the training, you will be surprised at how far you will be able to go. Once you are able to do 12 repetitions easily, then that is that time to increase the weight.
- Take a break. Give your muscles a break, take one whole day before performing weight training again. You can start to workout the major muscle groups in every session twice or thrice a week or you can plan to workout a certain muscle group for each session.
For most people, proper weight training sessions several times in a week are more suitable than extended daily workouts. You can immediately see results by just doing 2 or 3, 20-30 minute weight training sessions every week.
This debate about free weights vs machines has been an ongoing debate on which can provide maximum gains. Free weights are those that you can manipulate three dimensionally because they are not attached to anything. Some examples of this are ankle weights, dumbbells, barbells, medicine balls and the like and the body is also considered as a free weight since we can perform different weight bearing exercises. On the other hand, weight bearing machines are usually seen in the gym that provides several exercise stations like the smith machine or pec deck. This are fixed and you can only do limited exercises using it.
One of the earliest fitness equipments are exercise weights. This equipment is mainly used for strength training. Exercise weights is known to have two derivations which are olympic and standard plates. All fitness gym has this equipment and today is being used not only by men but also women. The weights can either be simply dumbbells or it can be more complex like a machine where weights are attached to it through a pulley.
1. Barbell: This is mainly used by athletes and body-builders which is very effective in building muscle. During olympic games, the barbells used must conform to a standard set by officials. Olympic barbells for men and women differ from each other. Though, barbells used in a gym does not need to conform to these standards.
2. Dumbbell: This kind of exercise weight belongs to the free weight kind. This equipment can either be used in pairs or singles. These exercise weights have different kinds of dumbbells which are adjustable, fixed-weight and selectorized dumbbells.
3. Kettlebell: This kind of exercise weights is not usually seen in fitness gyms though this is used in Olympic games. This fitness equipment looks like a canon ball with a handle which originated from Russia. This mainly targets to improve endurance, strength, balance and agility.
