Fitness Tips

Boost Your Strength with These 8 Workout Tips

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So you’ve seen the guys at American Family Fitness gym a lot of times, and you’re wondering: how do they build up the strength to lift all those weights? Aside from good diet and regular exercise, it also helps if you change the approach to your strength training and challenge yourself some more.

Change Things Up

If you have been doing a specific set of lifts for a few weeks now, try changing things up for the next couple of weeks. So if you’ve been focusing on the bench press, switch to an incline press. Doing this is going to change the stress level your muscles experience and lead to greater strength development. By the time you get back to your regular lift, you’re going to feel stronger and be able to lift heavier weights.

Move Fast

One of the secrets of powerful weightlifters is by accelerating weights, be they light or heavy. When you move fast during your training, you force your body to move more muscles, and the more muscles that get involved, the greater the force production and the stronger you get.

Do the Squat

Squats are regularly done by power lifters and with good reason: it builds up strength and allows you to work on your weak points and increase your power. There are different types of workouts you can do such as back squats, front squats and more, but the key is to incorporate it in your strength training as it’s going to help.

Breathe Properly

Always exhale while you’re in the contraction movement, as holding your breath is going to help your body produce more energy so you can lift weights with optimum force. Breathing is such an important part of strength training, yet people tend to forget about as they are caught up in the process of lifting weights. If you don’t want to run out of gas while working out, pay attention to how you are breathing.

Use Maximum Power

Working out while going through the motions is a waste of time, and it applies to strength training as well. If you are going to lift weights, you need to do so with all the physical power you have. Lift with force and strength as that is what is going to build power.

Power lifting is all about combining strength and speed. Learning how to use acceleration without compromising performance or technique is the key to stimulating your body into activating more muscles and working them out at the same time. If you have been wondering why people with similar physiques have different force levels, it is due to the way they use speed and force while lifting weights.

Don’t Forget to Do Warm Ups

Warm ups are important for exercise because it gives your body time to be flexible and loosen up before you start the workout proper. The same rule applies when lifting weights. Start your warm ups on the bar and do some light lifting and stretches as well.  While the urge to just go and lift 350 lbs. is strong, resist it and focus on warming up a little as that is going to help you in the long run, plus it keeps fatigue at bay.

The amount of time needed to warm up varies per individual, but 10 minutes should be enough for most. Remember, don’t take shortcuts with your warm ups because they are an integral part of your routine and prevents injuries.

Be Prepared Before Hitting the Gym

What we mean by this is your body must have the fuel and energy to do those workouts. You should be on a protein rich diet and consume plenty of complex carbs as well. It’s also going to help if you take glucose before working out as it’s going to provide an energy boost.

A word about diet: you need to eat lots of food to gain mass and energy, but that isn’t as excuse to indulge in sweets and other foods with simple carbs. Make sure diet outs emphasis on complex carbs and protein as well as some fats too.

Take Some Days Off

If you have been unable to lift weights like before, it could be as simple as being tired. There is such a thing as training too much, and this isn’t going to do you any good. How many days off is best? Doing full body strength training 4 times a week is enough, and it’s essential you rest so your muscles can recover and grow. By resting, you’re allowing your muscles to heal and grow at a faster rate.

As you can see, building strength involves more than just lifting weights, as a systematic approach needs to be taken. Do this and you will be on your way to getting in the best shape of your life.