Lifting Weights Heightens Results!

Hi there! HAPPY Monday :D
How are you?! How was your weekend?! Did you have to work or was it relaxing? Did you get in any good workouts and are you eating healthy? Enough of my questions...lol! It's Monday so lets start this week going strong! Even if you haven't been reaching your goals, jump in and start today!! U GOT THIS :D

A handful of people I know have a gym membership but don't use it! I'm surprised to find out that it's because they're intimidated by the weight room ;) Lifting weights has some seriously good benefits!! It increases lean muscle mass, which boosts metabolism and helps torch calories and shed stubborn fat. It also protects you from disease, wards off back pain, and improves the quality of your sleep. Despite all the benefits, some people dodge the dumbbells at the gym.

Today's post is basically a WEIGHT ROOM guide sheet. With the help of top trainers, the payoff will be a leaner, more confident, and hot you! Yes, HOT too!! I don't know about you, but if I'm going to work hard on my body, not only do I want to be healthy, I also want to ROCK in my clothes :D So...the excuses end here! Read the following and use that gym membership that you're paying for every month!!  

HAVE A PLAN
When you enter an unfamiliar situation (the free-weight zone, for example), your body will naturally freeze in place for a moment and only your eyes will move to scan all of your surroundings, explains body-language expert Patti Wood, author of Success Signals: Body Language in Business. This is an obvious physical sign that you're confused. To avoid the deer-in-the-headlights look, decide beforehand what you'll do as soon as you go into the room. For example, make a beeline for the dumbbells. But which ones do you choose? Lifting too much too soon can hurt your form and put you at risk for injury, but reaching for weights that are too light won't get you the fastest or best results. New York City personal trainer Dan Ownes provides a head-to-toe exercise barometer of just-right weights that's perfect for beginners:

- If you're doing...lateral raises
Start with...2.5 to 5 pounds in each hand.
- If you're doing...biceps curls
Start with...5 to 8 pounds in each hand.
- If you're doing...flat-bench dumbbell rows
Start with...12 to 20 pounds.
- If you're doing...chest presses
Start with...12 pounds (body bar) to 45 pounds.
- If you're doing...squats
Start with...0 (body weight) to 45 pounds.

STAY STEADY
The occasional slam of a weight stack is par for the course when you're using resistance equipment like the cable machine or leg press, but making a storm of noise is a classic newbie! And it's more then simply bad weight room etiquette. "Lowering the weight without control can result in injury," says Brad Schoenfeld, owner of the Personal Training Center for Women in Scarsdale, New York, and author of Women's Home Workout Bible. "It can also prevent you from getting the muscle tone you're after, because you don't work through the full range of motion." Lower the weights slowly enough that you can perform every rep of the exercise with good form (and less clanking).

BREATHE EASY
Even seasoned lifters sometimes forget to breathe during a tough move. But it's counterproductive. "You starve the body of oxygen, which forces your heart to work harder," says certified strength and conditioning specialist Josh Kernen, owner of Bridgetown Physical Therapy and Training Studio in Portland, Oregon. Your best bet? Exhale during the major exertion in each move, and inhale while returning to the starting position.

BREAK A SWEAT
Go full-steam, or you might as well go home! A good way to gauge your effort: Monitor how hard you feel like your body is working. It's called your rating of perceived exertion (RPE), and it's usually measured on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being very little exertion (like lounging in bed) and 10 being the max (running away from an angry dog). To build and tone muscle, aim for a RPE of at least 7 or 8 during workouts, says Kernen. "Even if you're happy with your tone, you still have to hit 6 or 7 to maintain muscle mass."

THINK TOTAL BODY
Your muffin top may be the only thing that's motivating you to hit the gym, but it's a mistake to attack just your least-favorite assets. "Spot-reducing exercises simply don't work," says Schoenfeld. Full-body workouts torch fat more efficiently because they build more lean muscles mass, which in turn burns more calories per day. And think about it, wouldn't you rather be rid of all your jiggle?!

What are you waiting for?! Change your clothes and hit the gym :D Lifting weights heightens results! Bring WEIGHTS on!! 
Do you live in my area and have a membership at Fitness 19?! If you do and want help tackling the machines and dumbbells, I'd LUV to meet you there...NO charge! I'm not an employee at Fitness 19, but because you're reading this post AND following my blog, lets meet and MAX OUT your gym time!!

Have a FITastic day!
SEE YOU back here on Wednesday!!