In response to the cooler, wetter weather many people are working out inside. It’s good to incorporate weights into your health routine since our bones need weight-bearing exercise to stay strong. I found the following article on the Posture Exercises website and it is published here with the permission of the author.
I particularly appreciate his attention to posture. Whenever you exercise with good alignment you reinforce that in your body.
Here are some free bodybuilding tips for those of you who are going to be doing some weight lifting at the gym. Those of you who are interested in posture exercises that can be done at home (without any additional equipment) should check out the Posture Confidence Program. Those of you interested in a complete body building program should check out Vince DelMonte’s Body Building Program.
Before you read about the specific posture exercises, here are some main bodybuilding training tips to keep in mind:
1. Never break form; if you can’t do any more repetitions, just stop. People breaking form to get more repetitions is the number one reason people get injured. Not only that, when you do an exercise with improper form, it is no longer effective. You are only cheating yourself. Do the full range of the exercise in correct form to ensure you get the most from your workout. This is the most important bodybuilding tip of all of them.
2. As a general rule, whenever you are doing an exercise, try to keep correct posture. With these exercises, it is extra important, since these exercises are the ones focused on developing correct posture. Make sure the rest of your body is in a comfortable position as well (feet flat on the floor, chair at a comfortable height, etc.)
3. When exerting yourself, breathe out. When preparing for the next repetition, breathe in.
4. Don’t rush through the exercises or try to get through them quickly. Do them at a controlled pace, focusing on correct form.
5. The ideal amount of repetitions are between 12 and 15, three sets total. It is especially important that you aren’t trying for more weight than you can handle. Your primary focus should be on keeping correct form, and after a while you will develop muscle memory, and it will become more automatic. Once you become comfortable with the exercises and have developed good muscle memory (at least two months), you will start to get a good feel for what weight level is good for you, and whether you should start going for more weight.
6. This tip is hard to explain, but once you are at the gym and start lifting, you’ll understand what I am saying. A lot of back exercises use your arms as a secondary muscle (specifically, your biceps). The goal is to get the focus on the back muscles, so when you do these exercises, try to pretend your arms are an extension of your back. In other words, flex and focus on your back, while pretending your arms are merely levers to get the job done. This is one of the main mistakes a lot of beginners make, and they end up working out their arms more than their back (although you will develop some nice biceps!).
7. Last but not least of my bodybuilder tips, do a warm-up! Nothing makes less sense than starting to lift weights out of the blue. Do some jumping jacks, run on the treadmill, do some shadow boxing, or other warm-up exercises for at least 10 minutes. Some people are very big on stretching, but there is a lot of controversy over how effective stretching really is, and some even believe it does more harm than good. I’m not going to recommend one over the other (and personally I never stretch), but I will say ALWAYS WARM UP!!!
Those are all my tips on bodybuilding. Keep these in mind when you are doing your posture exercises, and you will be well on your way to correct posture and no more back pain!
For simple posture exercises that can be done at home, definitely check out the Posture Confidence Program or the Perfect Posture Program. Those of you interested in a complete body building routine should check out Vince DelMonte’s Body Building Program.
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