Hot answers tagged weightlifting
28
Your goals and your current level of progress determine the number of sets and reps.
Possible Goals
Training for strength, power, endurance and hypertrophy all require a different number of sets and reps:
Strength (how much your muscle can move) is best developed with 5 or less reps. Strength is expressed in how much you can lift one time, so the closer ...
17
"That muscle."
There's a classic quote about the power clean, attributed here to Charles Staley, that applies to your question:
"You know when you run down the field, catch the ball and then hit a defender? It works that muscle."
The deadlift works all the muscles. However, it's not quite the same as the running-jumping-hitting-the-defender ...
14
So the big hubbub surrounding bodybuilding and one hour is the hormone cortisol. This is going to be a bit long-winded, but bear with me.
What's cortisol and why is it important?
Well, first we need to know a little bit about how muscle tissues work in an anaerobic state. (An anaerobic state is where you're working so hard your body can't supply oxygen ...
9
Yes! Squatting -- as part of a proper regimen of exercise, eating and rest -- can lead you to lift huge weights, improve lung capacity, or reduce body weight. The squat exercises the body's largest muscles and is one of the most basic functional movements. Until the invention of sitting toilets, squatting was a daily necessity for all humans even into old ...
9
Between this post and the prior one asking for 5x5 squat help, I strongly recommend seeing a qualified personal trainer and also your Dr. for a physical prior to any more exercising. Based on your posts, you're overweight, out of shape and do not have a background in weightlifting, this is a combination that could get you SERIOUSLY injured. Stop, get a ...
9
While your abilities are still below lifting 160kg on any given weight, and you are performing the major powerlifting movements (squats, deadlifts, bench press, overhead press) then there isn't a major advantage one over the other.
However, there are reasons why you would opt for Olympic plates:
Standard bars are roughly 1" diameter, but there is enough ...
9
The first really strange thing about your results is your squat number. It is unnatural to be able to curl more than you can squat, and that's putting it mildly. Squats are probably the most important single benchmark of general strength and if you can't get your squat to go up at 20kg, you should just focus on unlocking that piece of the puzzle.
To be ...
9
The Benefits of Increasing Cumulative Work
As Jonathon Sullivan notes in his discussion of the work of McBride, Haines, and Kirby in The Year in Strength Science 2011, warm-up sets may (or may not) contribute to development of maximum power:
if you train to actually increase your weight on explosive lifts, won’t you also be training your 60% lifts long ...
8
This tip won't help for getting the first plate on, but for subsequent plates you can roll the bar-with-first-plate onto another plate (even a 5 or 10 will work) that's laying flat on the ground. This will give you just enough clearance to load on more plates without having to lift the bar.
As for that first plate, you might be able to just rest the plate ...
8
I stopped benching alone because I didn't trust this method to be enough, but I used to leave off the plate clips. That way, if I get stuck, I can tip the bar to one side and slide the plates off with a huge crash. It would probably damage the floor and/or the plates, but I would be able to get up. I never had to implement this strategy.
Any system that is ...
8
It would have to be a multi-pronged approach, but to cut to the chase the answer is "neither". I'll get in to why in a bit. First, you'll need to attack the problem from multiple areas:
Get your diet in order: at least get the total calories and macros where they need to be
Prioritize weight-loss: your goal is to preserve lean mass not increase strength, ...
8
Joe Micela's Minimums and Maximums
One of the foremost problems in my own strength training is that my strength work often gets pushed around by other athletic and social endeavors. I frequently find myself in a workout without the capability to hit the numbers as scheduled.
At the moment I've simply reduced total lifting volume, and that’s fine. Another ...
8
Preference
I collar my squats, deadlifts, and overhead presses just because it annoys the heck out of me if the plates slide around even an inch or two. The noise and the asymmetry irritate my aesthetic preferences.
With squats, only once have I seen the plates move more than an inch or so, and it was a good indicator that my set had been sloppy. However, ...
8
Pick a goal
Why do you want to lift? To look good, to be healthy, to improve athletic performance, to win a bodybuilding competition, to challenge yourself? Your goals determine the kind of lifting you'll want to focus on. I'll assume that you want a basic combination of health, fitness, and looking good.
Beginner weightlifting
Any beginner program should ...
7
The purpose of deadlifting is to get stronger at lifting things off of the ground. Since objects may be at different distances from the ground, you benefit from lifting from different heights. Competitive deadlifters might focus on the height of the bar with olympic weights, but that distance is arbitrary otherwise.
Lowering height develops the back muscles ...
7
I would be a little anal about the issue and argue that deadlifts from lower than "official" or standard height are more accurately called deficit deadlifts, and deadlifts from higher than that height are closer to rack pulls, which are a partial movement. These are both fine exercises, but they create additional complexity.
A higher start means you can ...
7
I can assure you that with proper form it is safe, provided you take the proper precautions. I just squatted 200kg without any spotters a couple weeks ago. Deadlifts are less of a challenge, because it is easier to drop the lift.
Use safeties with your squat rack (like these)
Practice dumping the bar on the safeties with a weight you are confident you ...
7
Footage would be great. I have to re-correct this in my squat form periodically. There can be a number of issues that contribute to it:
Bar too high or too low on the back: pushes out of the optimal bar path, and can cause excessive leaning.
Knees traveling too far forward: pushes the hips up and the upper body forward.
Weak upper back or core: unable to ...
7
"I'd rather fail a rep than have a rep be half-me, half-you, so please only help me with racking and unracking. Give me a sec if I have a hard time with a rep--I'll shout for help if I need it. Thanks, chap." Big friendly grin.
If they screw it up by "helping" with a rep anyway, and I think I'm going to need their assistance again in the future, I'm the ...
7
The good news is that there is more than one way to achieve your goals. That means that you can have two answers that vary within a certain degree and they will both be right. In short, there is no "best". The related question that @Informaficker linked to in his comment applies to this conversation.
It's also important to understand that many successful ...
7
Weight lifting gains come from progressive overload, where "muscles are overloaded by attempting to lift at least as much weight as they are capable." (Exercise Physiology: Human Bioenergetics and Its Applications) In other words, muscle gains come from constantly pushing your muscles to adapt by increasing the load (i.e. reps and weight) you place on them. ...
6
Are you also tracking your body fat percentage and waist circumference? If so, was there a change?
If your weight goes up but your body fat percentage and waistline are decreasing then you are on the right track. Your weight increase would then be a reflection of increased lean muscle mass.
However, if your weight goes up and your body fat percentage and ...
6
Mark Rippetoe is adamant that the deadlift is not a squat with the bar in your hands. That said, I've used box squats for checking my squat pattern. I find a bench, stool, or box such that when my butt hits it, I've just broken below parallel. I just tap the box and come up. There are versions where you pause for a second before rising. The idea is to be ...
6
According to the Nutrition and Bodyweight section in chapter 8, you should stay on the recommended nutrition program (admittedly a bit vague; I wish he had devoted more book space to this topic) for at least 3-4 months.
The fat guys should be approaching 20% by now as well, since their diet has been about the same since the beginning; but their ...
Only top voted, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible
