Lifting weights and working out general is something a lot of people do. Unfortunately, most of them are doing it wrong, and there is a 50/50 chance in my estimation that you are one of these people. I have been working out all my life, in an amalgam of exercises, varying from martial arts to body building. I am a certified personal trainer, have practiced martial arts at a frenetic pace since 1998, learned from some very knowledgeable teachers, and most importantly lived a life of fitness since I could crawl. I have found out what works and what does not Below I will list guidelines, common mistakes most everyone make, and if you have followed my instructions you will notice a tremendous increase in your workouts. I don’t give a rat’s tush what you have been told by any so called expert. Try my tips, then visit this factoid again and sing my praises.
Rules to follow Working Out
1. It is better to do something 10 times right, than 100 times wrong. You should always be cognitive of proper form when doing any workout.
2. Jog briskly, run for 5-10 minutes (the more the better, but 5 minutes minimum!) or jump rope for 2 minutes before any workout. Your blood will get be much more oxygenated and you will have increased blood flow and faster healing time enabling your body to recover that much faster between each set, thus improving your total number of repetitions.
3. Slow Down Your Repetitions-this is probably the most important piece of advice you will ever get, especially for lifting weights-no matter where I look when I go to a gym, I am blinded by bad form. The thing that irks me more than anything is someone doing herky jerky, spastic arm movements, with about a second for each repetition. You should always take at least 2 seconds on the lifting phase and on the way down as well. A lot of people figure out the best way to do curls and bench press is to lift the weight slower, but they neglect to lift the weight on the down phase slow as well, thus robbing them of an additional strength builder. People ask me if I do steroids because my veins are popping out in gruesome fashion when I workout. I tell them it’s because of the slower speed in which I do my reps and it is the truth.
4. Make every repetition purposefully; make the bar level of the bench press, lift the bilateral curls with both hands at the same speed, do the same amount of repetitions for each limb, maintain proper form always, and of course; slow down the speed of the repetition.
5. Proper breathing is essential to a great workout. Holding back air is holding back power. If your holding your breath as you do a rep, or breathing in as you lift.. say a bench press bar, then you need to get your head checked.
6. I am convinced push ups and pull ups are the two best strength building workouts you can do for the body, and you can do them every day without worry of injury unlike the majority if not all of the workouts involving weights.
7. NEVER workout the same muscles group two days in a row, i.e. bicep curls especially-always do every other day when isolating a muscle or small group of muscles. The exceptions are abdominals, and push and pull ups.
8. Switch up your workouts! If you are doing the same exact routine every day, your mind will grow tired from the monotony and the body will soon follow. Never be ignorant in the gym. Try new exercises and vary your routine, shock the body a little with something it hasn’t done and you will build muscles you don’t know exist. These muscles will help the other muscles. It’s all connected folks.
9. Eat protein within a half hour of your workout, the sooner you can feed those thirsty muscles the better.
10. Try the Monkey Man Fast Food Challenge as I have been involved in for almost two weeks now. I ate a slice of Little Caesars pizza the other day after martial arts, and as the piece of leathery trans fat jostled my taste buds I balled the remaining piece of pie into a wad and slammed it into the box. “That’s it, I am quitting fast food for a week”! I declared. That was two weeks ago and nary a chicken nugget has touched my taste buds. Not bad considering I was plucking items off the dollar menu at Mickey D’s on a daily basis like fast food fiend. It was tempting to cheat the first few days, but after a week you feel so much better, it is hard to imagine eating it again. Short story longer, since I have dropped the fast food crud, I have had twice as much energy for my workouts. TRY THE MONKEY MAN FAST FOOD CHALLENGE!
