Weight Lifting Techniques

Weight Lifting Techniques

Author: Kevin Forrester

Weight lifting techniques with regards to how the exercise is performed can be a debatable discussion. There are many ways to do an exercise and many different angles to attack each muscle group. Lets just say that as a beginning weight lifter it is best if you performed each exercise with the strictest movements possible. That means that you will be starting with a very light weight and doing the exercise as best that you can without cheating just to get the weight up.

Too many times I’ve seen guys and gals at the gym trying to lift too much weight and sacrificing form for ego. Leave your ego at the door and you will make better gains by doing the exercises properly and allowing your body to speak for itself when you start getting bigger and stronger.

I will list several main exercises and try to give you an idea of the proper form for each exercise. These weight lifting techniques will be a lot easier to understand once you have seen it done and are actually doing it. Just keep in mind that strict form is what we are looking for. If you put your muscles through a full range of motion you will see that they will grow bigger and stronger in a shorter period of time. Don’t waste your time lifting is you aren’t going to do the exercises right. You will only wind up wasting a lot of time and energy for nothing. You will not get bigger. You will not get stronger. You will get hurt.
· Bench Press: Lay flat on the bench with the barbell directly overhead. Lift the barbell off and lower it to mid-chest. Press the weight straight up using both arms equally and not tilting to one side. It is also important that at the bottom of the movement you don’t bounce the weight off your chest to gain momentum.
· Shoulder Press: (Military Press) Seated on the end of a bench grab the barbell at shoulder level and press it straight up. You must control the weight so that it doesn’t throw you off balance. Lower it to the starting position and repeat.
· Squats: I prefer to do squats with the barbell laying on the front of your upper chest and shoulders. With the barbell in position, bend at the knees till you are in a seated position then stand up. Don’t go to far down where it will cause injury.
· Lat Pull Downs: seated at a machine grab a wide handled bar and pull the bar down to shoulder level. I prefer to pause for a count of two and then allow the bar to raise slowly
These are just a few examples and will help you to concentrate on doing the exercise properly. There is one advanced technique which will help you to improve by leaps and bounds in your weight training and that is to bring the weight back to the starting position very slowly. This is called a negative and will have a tremendous effect on how quickly you get bigger and stronger.

Foods That Build Muscle

Foods That Build Muscle

Author: Kevin Forrester


Are there actually foods that build muscle? There are definitely foods that will help you to grow bigger and stronger along with a proper training program. Food alone will not build muscle but will help you to increase your muscle size. If you don’t eat the right foods you can actually prohibit the growth of new muscle.

Our body is a complex organism and it depends on the right nutrients to function properly. By eating a diet mainly of processed foods and sugary treats we are denying our bodies the correct nutrition it needs to perform at it’s best. When your diet consists mainly of these processed foods you will notice an increase in lethargy and obesity. There is no easy way to say it other than if you eat crap you will look and feel like crap.

Our muscles main source of energy and growth producing potential comes from protein. If you are interested in foods that build muscle then you need to be interested in protein. Protein can be found in a number of different food groups and shouldn’t be limited to one or the other. You need to use a varied amount of protein sources so that your body can learn to assimilate these at a much higher rate.

Meat is a good example of a food that builds muscle. It is high in protein and has been the staple of many a body builders diet for a long time. The trouble with relying on this as your main source of protein is because of the harmful effects of eating too much red meat. That is why you need to vary your source of protein. One ounce of meat contains approximately eight grams of protein.

Eggs are another example of foods that build muscle. The best ways to eat these are without the yolk. The yolk is what contains all the bad things we don’t want to eat. So don’t sacrifice the beneficial effects of eggs by eating the part, which will ultimately make us wish we hadn’t.

I supplement my meals with a protein shake, which has about twenty-five grams of protein per serving. It is best if you eat five to six small meals throughout the day instead of the customary three large meals we have become accustomed too. The rule of thumb for calculating the correct amount of protein is to take in one gram of protein per pound of body weight. I believe it would be more accurate to calculate this at one gram of protein per one pound of lean body mass. There are a multitude of other foods that build muscle. The easiest way for you to know that you are getting the right muscle building foods in your diet and doing the right workout routines is to find a program that offers both of these and will help to take the guess work out of your weight lifting program.