Basic Weight Lifting Exercises...
Try these basic weight lifting exercises to create a foundation for your comprehensive weight training routine.
9 out of 10 times when I meet with a prospective personal training client, I realize that they've often skipped vital steps in creating a solid foundation for their weight training program.
More often than not, it is their ability to engage their core stabilizers (the muscles that stabilize the spine and the hips) that is lacking.
Without that deep core stability, we often see compensations in movement that not only prevent men and women from seeing results, but that can and often do lead to injury.
In beginner weight training, the great thing is that barring any major injuries, creating a solid foundation is as easy as mixing in the core exercises that you see below.
My clients and I have found great success in starting off with bodyweight exercises coupled with flexibility exercises before progressing into advanced core exercises.
If you've been working out consistently for awhile, you may find that mixing in lower back exercises into your routine at the beginning of your weight lifting program will be most beneficial.
You may also find that you'll want to avoid any sort of weight lifting accident or blooper that some fitness professionals have seen.
Bodyweight Core Exercises
A favorite of my clients' for weight lifting women and men is a lower back exercise - the straight leg bridge.
It is a staple in our program to find a cure for lower back pain.
To perform this beginner core exercise, start by lying on your back with your legs straight and heels together on the edge of a step.
Trainer's Tip: you can use a stability ball, a step, a bosu ball, medicine ball or several other variables to vary the intensity of the exercise.
With the ankles and knees relaxed, lift the hips toward the ceiling while keeping the neck in a comfortable position.
Our aim will be to hold this position for 1-minute.
You should feel the lower back muscles first, followed by the glutes and the hamstring muscles.
In weight lifting programs for beginners, we'll think about mixing this in for two complete sets of 1-minute each.
For those of you in the advanced weight training group, we'd begin to think about increasing the intensity through tempo changes and challenges in stability and/or movement.
Basic weight lifting exercises and weight lifting tips like these can help you avoid plateaus in your weight training program.
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