Weight Training Tips and Articles

Cardiovascular Training For Fat Loss

  If you follow a weight training routine you likely want to build some muscle to look in shape. However, to get into optimal shape you can’t neglect cardiovascular training to lose body fat. If you add muscle size you surely don’t want an extra layer of fat covering up all of your hard work.

  Cardio exercise can be performed many different ways. The most popular forms of cardiovascular exercises are running, biking, and jogging. All three are great for getting rid of that extra body fat. The only problem with running or jogging is the beating your joints may take. If you have knee or lower back pain you may want to avoid doing them too much. However, if don’t have any joint problems, running or jogging will help you burn body fat quickly. Bicycling is great cardio exercise, though you won’t be moving your upper body much while doing it.

  Doing cardio workouts on an elliptical machine is a great alternative to the usual cardio exercises. You can work out on an elliptical machine and not have to worry about your joints taking a beating. Most elliptical machines also have arm handles allowing you to move your upper body as well as your lower body.

  Boxing style workouts with a heavy bag, speed bag, and jump rope are another great form of cardiovascular exercise. Do some 3 minute “rounds” with each training apparatus to get a great aerobic workout. Boxing workouts are great upper body cardio workouts, though you’ll want to be careful not to overstress your shoulders and elbow joints. If you are bored with normal cardiovascular workouts, give boxing workouts a try.

  If you’re new to aerobic exercise you should try to do 3 or 4 30 minute workouts at first. Eventually, you should try to do 45 minute cardio workouts 5 times a week, switching what kind of exercise you do regularly to avoid hitting a plateau. For the best results you should do your cardio first thing in the morning or after weight training when your muscle glycogen (stored carbohydrates) is depleted. If you do this you’ll be burning fat instead of carbs when you’re exercising.

  If you are weight training and doing cardio training to help lose body fat you must be careful to avoid overtraining. Doing to much may actually cause you to lose muscle and slow down your metabolism. Experiment with how much aerobic exercise you’re doing and if it affects your weight training to find out what works best for you.

Triceps Weight Training Workouts

  Many weight trainers tend to focus primarily on their biceps when they’re trying to build bigger arms. However, the triceps do make up more of the upper arms muscle size, so you need to do at least as much, or more, exercises and sets for them than you do for biceps. Strengthening your triceps through weight training will also help you get stronger on chest and shoulder exercises.

  The most popular triceps weight training exercise is the tricep extension. You can do triceps extensions many different ways - standing or seated (also known as french presses), lying (also known as skull crushers), or with cables and weight training machines. The variety of ways you can perform tricep extensions allows you to constantly change your triceps weight training routine and hit the muscle from many different angles.

  Close-grip bench presses are another great exercise for the triceps if you perform them correctly. You’re better off not lowering the weight all the way to your chest when you do close-grip bench presses because you could hurt your wrists. Stopping the weight a few inches above your chest will still hit the triceps hard.

  One great triceps exercise that is rarely performed is the reverse-grip bench press. Reverse-grip bench presses are basically bench presses done with an underhand grip on the bar. This exercise does take some time to get used to the movement, but is very effective for adding size to the triceps through bench pressing (you really don’t feel reverse benches as much in your chest muscles if you do them right). The secret to targeting the triceps with reverse-grip benches is to use a wider grip and lower the weight to about the point where your chest and abdomen meet. Be very careful when you first try this exercise in your triceps weight training routine - it will take a few weeks to get used to.

  Cable pressdowns with a bar or a rope are great exercises to do towards the end of your triceps workouts. Don’t go too heavy, and make sure to get a nice muscle contraction at the bottom of each rep.

  To finish your triceps routine off you should do a couple of drop sets with tricep extensions or cable pressdowns. Another great triceps workout finisher are supersets of lying tricep extensions followed immediately by close-grip bench presses with the same weight.

Sample Triceps Routine:

Triceps Extensions (however you want to do them): 2-3 sets

Close or Reverse Grip Benches: 2-3 sets

Different kind of Triceps Extensions: 2-3 sets

Triceps Pushdowns: 2-3 sets

Drop sets or Lying Triceps Extensions/Close-grip Bench superset: 2 sets

Abdominal Workouts

  If you’re into weight training one of the most important muscles groups to train are the muscles of the midsection, especially the abdominals. Like with the lower back muscles, having strong abs will help support your body when you’re lifting heavy weights. Training your abs will also help you get that six-pack look when you get rid of extra body fat.

  Your abdominal workouts should include crunches, leg raises, and twisting sit-ups on a declined bench. If you do your crunches on a workout ball you’ll get a nice stretch at the bottom of each rep, which you won’t get if you do them on a bench or on the floor. Leg raises should be done while sitting on the edge of a bench or on an apparatus that allows back support so your body doesn’t sway back and forth while doing them.

  When you do abdominal exercises like crunches and sit-ups you need to either put your hands at the sides of your head or fold your arms over your chest. Placing your hands behind your head may force you to pull on your neck. There’s no need to pull on the back of your head when you’re training abs.

  The sets you do during an ab workout should be done with higher reps with no, or very light, weight. The abdominals are muscles that you don’t actually want to add a lot of size to as this will give you a blocky appearance. Keep the reps high and strive to get a good burn in the abdominal area.

  When you train your abs you should do some training for your obliques as well. The obliques are the muscles on the sides of the midsection that are covered up by love handles on many people. Do side bends with light dumbbells or cables to work the obliques with high rep sets. Like with the abs, you don’t want to gain too much actual muscle size in the obliques.

  Abdominal training can be done more often than training for other muscles groups because the abs recover very quickly. If you want, you can do some ab training during almost every workout since it’s hard to actually overtrain them. Trying a new abdominal exercise may make you sore at first, but your body will quickly get used to it. Frequently change the way you do your ab exercises so you don’t hit a plateau.

  Abdominal training workouts, along with the right diet, will put you well on your way to getting those ripped abs you’ve been dreaming of.