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Weight Lifting

Categories: Fitness

You know that you need to add weight-lifting to your workout routine but you may not be sure which routine is best.

Just like any other time you start a fitness program, you'll want to start out slowly.

First, you'll need to start with one or two sets of eight to 12 repetitions. If you're older, injured or unsure of your strength you can do 10 to 15 reps with less weight. When you can lift a weight eight to 12 times and it gets harder to lift during the last rep, you'll want to add a little weight and decrease the reps.

Even if you're a seasoned weight-lifting veteran, alternating the workouts is key. You shouldn't do arm workouts and shoulders exercises on consecutive days. You should avoid working on legs consecutively, too. It's important to vary how you're focusing on strengthening different muscles. For instance, you may want to start by isolating the shoulders. At your gym you can do an overhead press, lateral raise or front raise to work on this body part. Start with two sets of eight to 12 repetitions.

Other parts of this workout might include strengthening the chest via the bench press, chest press machine or push-ups. You can work on your back as well in a seated row machine. To build your biceps you can work on bicep curls, hammer curls and concentration curls using hand weights. As for the triceps? You can do tricep extensions.

As you alternate days to work on your lower body, you can try squats, lunges, leg-press machines, deadlifts or calf raises. As for the abdominals, there are always crunches, oblique twists and pelvic tilts.

If you begin your weight training regimen at your health club, the fym should have staff to supervise and answer specific questions.

Now that you've got your weight-lifting routine set, check out That'sFit's cardio workouts.

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