New To Weight Lifting? - Here Are 4 Tips To Streamline Your Workout Program

Many people often wonder how they can begin to look like the gorgeous bodies found on magazine covers. It's very important to understand that no amount of physical activity can give you your ideal body if your exercise program is not also paired with proper nutrition and adequate rest. Truth be told, proper diet and rest are every bit as important as a disciplined workout program and possibly even more important as your muscles can not really develop without lots of rest and the right amount of nutrients. 

If you are new to weight lifting, here are 4 tips you can use to kickstart your workout program and streamline your muscle building efforts:

1. Use Free Weights As Much As Possible - Free weights are generally superior to nautilus machines because free weights target your supporting muscle groups as well as your main muscle group. In so doing, free weights allow you to become stronger and bigger much faster than nautilus machines. At the same time it's not necessary to focus solely on free weights. I do a mix of free weights and nautilus machines because my joints and basic physiology don't allow me exclusively focus on free weights.

2. Periodically Locate Areas Of Improvement - Everyone's body reacts a little bit differently to a given exercise routine. Because of this, it's always a good idea to thoroughly check your physique and locate areas that need improvement. For example, after nearly 6 months of working on my chest I started to notice that my lower chest wasn't appropriately responding to the intensive training. I then had to adjust my workout accordingly to focus more on my lower chest.

3. Experiment And Mix Up Your Exercises - You never know what your best muscle building exercises are unless you experiment and mix up your exercises. Again, not everyone's body responds the same to the same exercises because few people's body's are made exactly the same. 

For example, I used to be extremely strong with squats but I found that my leg muscles weren't growing to my liking and quickly discovered that my lower back and hips were absorbing too much of the stress. I then switched to leg presses and hack squats because they built my leg muscles more effectively without the added stress placed on my lower back and hips.

4. Always, Always, Always Take Precautions To Avoid Injuries - Nothing can harm you and your muscle gains more severely than a serious injury. The exercises that pose the greatest risk of injury are bench press, squats, and deadlift. This doesn't mean that you should avoid these exercises altogether but rather, that you should quickly learn your weight limits, always workout with a partner, and always bring the proper equipment such as elbow and knee restraints as well as a weight belt.

new to weight lifting, beginner beginners lifting programs