10 Tips If You're New To Weightlifting - Part 1

At first glance, weightlifting seems simple, you just find your favorite equipment and start lifting. However, weightlifting is a little more involved than that and there are a few things you’ll want to take into consideration before you get started. If you have the will and the drive to stick to a plan, you’ll be well on your way to accomplishing your fitness goals.

Ideally, if you’re able to get into the routine of regular weight lifting sessions, you’ll see other positive side-effects in your life like improving your diet, sleeping schedule, and generally just feeling healthier and ready to take on the next day! In this blog, we’ll talk about several things you should keep in mind when weightlifting for the first time.

1.) Keep your goal in mind

One of the biggest problems beginners and/or people who are on and off the weights frequently face is that they don’t have a clear goal in mind. I don’t mean goals like, “work out every day for the rest of my life” kind of goals. I’m talking about more specific goals that will keep you concentrated on a specific thing and prevent you from giving up within several weeks or months. This means you need to have a goal that is attainable within a relatively short period of time.

Try, for example, setting the goal that you will be able to do a certain amount of reps with a specific weight without feeling completely exhausted. As long as you set the bar to an attainable level and set a new goal immediately after you accomplish it, you’ll find that it’s much easier to stick to a regular lifting schedule.

Additionally, you’ll want to write down your goals. Not only will this remind you of what your goals are, but it will make you feel like you have an obligation to accomplish them. Remember that every success starts with small steps, so don’t be discouraged if your goals don’t get you to where you want to be. You can revise your goals but should never completely eliminate them.

2.) Have a great attitude

Gaining strength and losing weight is something that takes a lot of time. Often times, people will become discouraged several months in and either give it up or drastically change the way they are approaching weightlifting. This is most likely completely unnecessary and will cause more harm than good.

The difficult thing about exercise, in general, is that if you don’t have a passion for it and just have the goal of staying in shape, it’s really easy to lose sight of why you started it in the first place. However, if you mix up your weightlifting with more exciting and adventurous things, you’ll be able to retain your interest a lot better. Try, for example, planning a camping trip or excursion where you can explore fitness in a new light. This is really refreshing and will give you more of a reason to continue your weightlifting once you return home.

3.) Avoid injury

When you’re injured while weightlifting, it’s much more difficult to get back into the swing of things than if you had just taken several days off. Make sure that before you start, you determine what weight is right for you. And if you’re doing free weights, you need to learn the proper way to do them to avoid injury. It’s not unusual to hire a fitness expert to guide you through the weightlifting process and monitor your progress for your first several months. This will get you on the right track and you’ll feel a lot more confident about your abilities with each exercise.

4.) Set a routine

Many times, people will look at athletes or ultra-fit people and wonder how they got there. To be honest, that answer is entirely different for everyone. Some may have been way overweight, underweight, or had problems motivating themselves to get to where they are today. It’s okay to follow other people's’ workout routines, but you’ll want to make sure that it’s custom fit for you and your situation.

For example, if you’re new to weightlifting, you don’t want to immediately throw yourself into a workout routine that only involves free-weights. Start lifting on weightlifting machines first in order to train your muscles, then move up to free-weights.

5.) Be efficient

Efficiency is key to a great workout and the sooner you implement this value into your daily routine, the better. There’s absolutely no need to spend hours working out every day, just keep your goals in mind and target them every day you start your workout. You’ll also want to divide your days between upper-body workouts and lower-body workouts. Muscles need time to rest so you shouldn’t be working the same muscles every day. It’s more efficient to focus on one muscle group each day, then lay off it the next so that it has time to recover.

At the end of the day, weightlifting is not a simple thing to get into. However, if you keep an eye on your goal and keep a daily routine, you’ll look back on your progress and be proud of everything you’ve accomplished. If you’re looking to buy fitness equipment in Amarillo, don’t hesitate to visit Fitness Specialists today! We have everything you need to get started with weightlifting, plus more! You can contact us here.