Before you imagine yourself easily lifting 50kg dumbbells every week, as soon as you sign up for a gym membership, it's important to get into certain habits right away. When lifting weights, injuries are often caused by impatience with heavy lifting, or by poorly controlled posture and movements. OKR offers advice on what to do to establish your routine and kick-start your strength training program.
A warm-up is essential.
Lifting weights correctly means using proper posture and movements, maximizing repetitions, and performing exercises slowly and intelligently to avoid accidents. Therefore, it is important to properly prepare your body.
In your routine, warming up is essential before lifting weights.
This will help activate the circulation of oxygen in the blood, relax your muscles, warm them up and prepare them for lifting heavy weights.
- To begin, you can do a few sets of classic push-ups and sit-ups. Also, break up these sets with a short rest, then increase the number of repetitions on subsequent sets. Do two to three sets of each.
- To finish your warm-up, stretch properly, especially your arms. This will loosen your muscles and tone your body before you begin your workout.
Start gently.
First of all, when you're at the gym, get some support when you're first starting out. It's important to master your movements to lift weights in the best possible conditions. A gym coach will be able to show you the right movements and correct your exercises if necessary.
Then, when you begin your strength training session, don't be afraid to start with a small weight. Make sure you don't encounter any difficulties during your first exercises. You gradually increase the load between each set until you find the ideal weight that will suit you to perform multiple repetitions and improve.
=> Effective exercise doesn't necessarily mean lifting the heaviest weight possible, but rather knowing how to maximize repetitions. To build muscle, it's better to lift less weight more often.
Increase the number of repetitions.
It's best to go gradually. For example, you can prepare your session based on the principle of pyramid sets . This exercise consists of gradually increasing the number of repetitions performed per set or the total number of sets:
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Start with a set of ten before resting. Then do a set of 15, rest again, then 20 before going back down the pyramid.
Depending on your progress and how easy it is to perform the exercises, you can then increase the weight over the weeks.
Recovery.
Don't neglect the cool-down phase. You can focus on a cool-down phase with other exercises you enjoy or repeat the same sets you did during your warm-up. Stretch again, but slowly, to reduce the likelihood of soreness and injury.
To remember
- Ask a coach for advice on proper movements and good posture.
- Don't neglect your warm-up.
- Start with an easy-to-lift load.
- Maximize repetitions. It's better to lift less weight, more often.
- Don't lift weights that are too heavy. You risk injury and your training will be counterproductive.
- Always practice with a spotter. Never lift weights alone. Make sure you always have someone nearby who can keep an eye on you and give you a helping hand if needed.
