4. Light Easy Weightlifting

 

Light easy weightlifting is the secret to burning fat, growing your muscles and transforming your body.

 

To feel good, you have to work out nice and easy.  Weightlifting using either free weights such as dumbbells and barbells, or exercise machines, can produce amazing results.  But most people do not get these results for one simple reason:  they try too hard!  They think, wrongly, that they must use heavy weight and strain themselves to get results.  Nope.  Lighter weight produces more muscle gain.

 

Progressive resistance, i.e., increasing weight as you get stronger to make even further gains, does make sense.  But most people start out way too heavy, and increase the weight by too much too soon.  They never develop their muscles properly so they get stuck at a plateau, trying harder but going nowhere.

 

Lifting heavy weights stresses your joints, ligaments, and tendons.  It compresses the tissue surrounding your muscles, cutting off circulation of blood and other vital bodily fluids.  It hurts for a reason.  Don't do it.  It doesn't work.  Once you really understand this you will already be in the top 5% of people in the gym in terms of knowledge.  Then it will be a simple matter of time before you surpass the other 95% in physical fitness.

 

If I had to lift weights the way I see most other people trying to do it as I look around the gym, I think I would just quit and never go back.  Maybe that's why the faces change so often.  Every year in January a whole batch of new faces show up.  These people are all excited about getting into shape, which is good.  Sadly, they don't have a clue how to go about it, and the so-called personal trainers who are already in great shape and are usually exercise junkies, give them advice that would be fine for themselves, but which just drives the new people right out of the gym after a week or two, writhing in agony.  They are sore for days, and only recover completely after several weeks of beer, pizza or ice cream in front of the TV.  Maybe next year they'll try again, after they forget how much it hurt and something gets them psyched up for another round of self-abuse.

 

They could have succeeded if they hadn’t tried so hard.  Anyone can achieve remarkable results by using light weights and intentionally lifting less than they are capable of, striving for a flush of circulation through their muscles, a slow comfortable relaxing workout that makes them feel good while they are doing it.  If you are in doubt about the correct weight to use, always err on the side of under-lifting.