Weight Lifting Regimen

A good weight lifting regimen is critical for improving strength and physique. Resistance training has proven to be superior to cardio in burning fat, despite popular theory.

That's not to say that cardio isn't important. However, you definitely want a good weight training routine as well.

What's the best one?

There are tons of regimens online and in magazines. Because of this, it's very easy to get confused when trying to pick the right one. Here are five tips to get you started in the right direction:

#1) Focus on squats, deadlifts and bench presses.

These three will make the biggest difference for improving your muscle tone and overall strength. The reason is, they target so many different muscle groups.

Whole body exercises are far superior to single muscle. If your entire regime were to include just these three, you would still see outstanding results.

Make sure to perform each on separate days.

Many people make the mistake of doing too much on one day and taxing their body. Giving yourself time to rest is critical.

For this reason, make sure that each of the major exercises you focus on is done on separate days. That's not to say you can't do other workouts along with the primary one. Just make sure the major three are on different days. A sample schedule would be squats Monday, deadlifts Wednesday, and bench presses Friday.

#3) Do not go to failure

Failure training is very popular today, and it's where you do one set to the point that you cannot do another. However, this is not the best way to gain strength or muscle tone.

When you go to failure, you are basically exhausting your muscles. When you leave at least one rep in the bag per set, you are able to do more total reps, even if the amount per set is smaller. Also, you are able to do each rep with higher intensity, which is very important.

#4) Go all out on each rep

Vigorous workouts have proven to generate a better hormonal response than lazy exercising. The reason is, they enact the fast twitch muscles. These are the muscles responsible for strength gaining and muscle physique improvement.

Your slow twitch muscles are just for endurance, and will have little impact on improving strength or physique. In other words, go all out!

It's a known fact that the fast twitch muscles are generally only able to go for eight to ten seconds. For this reason, keeping your sets short and vigorous is the way to go.

#5) Lift heavy weights

Heavy weights generate a greater hormonal response than light weights. You would see far better results from lifting 300 pounds 5 times than 50 pounds 100 times.

#6) Get the technique right

Squat and deadlifts in particular are very dangerous. When done incorrectly, they can seriously damage your knees and back.

In other words, make sure you know the right technique before starting. You might want to set up a session with a personal trainer if you are unsure. It is better to be safe than sorry.

The bottom line: a weight lifting regimen is of the best ways to improve strength, burn fat and get a ripped physique. Implement these six tips and you will see results shortly.

For other weight lifting tips and routines, please visit us at Absolute Fitness Resource.