9 Cardinal Sins Of Weightlifting
People tend to place their hands behind their neck and then yank their arms to bring their head up rather than using their abs when doing crunches. This common mistake often results in neck strain.
Solution: "Do not do the crunch with your hands behind your back," suggests Connolly. "Instead, cross your arms in front of your chest and hold your torso, neck and head in strict alignment. Your back will elevate to the lumbar spine region, which is exactly what you want." Lifting your torso (and not just your shoulders) off the floor will give you a lower abdomen workout as well. You can also vary this by adding oblique twists.
Sin #8: Skipping the warmup
"If you are lifting significant weight and you don't warm up," says Hunter, "it will be harder for you to lift because your muscles won't be ready. You will also increase your chance of injury."
Solution: "Do a general warmup before you start lifting, by using a cardio machine at a moderate level for at least four or five minutes," says Hunter. Then do a specific warmup for each of the exercises, starting with about 10 reps of 25% of the weight you intend to lift, and then moving to 50%, before you do your real workout. "So for example, if you are going to do 10 200-pound squats, start by doing 10 squats using 50-pound weights, and then 10 more squats using 100-pound weights. And then go to your workout (three sets of 8 to 12 reps)," says Connolly.
Sin #9: Being wimpy with weights
If a weight is so heavy that you have to jerk, bounce or swing to get it to the top of the movement, it's too heavy. "But on the other hand," says Hunter, "if you can do 20 or 30 reps, your resistance is too light and you are wasting your time. You're not getting enough resistance training to increase muscular endurance or muscle size."
Solution: "The setting should be chosen so that your muscle fatigues by the last repetition on the number you choose to do," says Connolly. "For example, if you do sets of 12 reps, the 11th and 12th rep should be a struggle, after which you need to rest two or three minutes before you can do another set of 12. This takes a little playing around to determine the initial weight," says Connolly. "When you are able to do 15 reps at that weight, it's time to increase the weight."
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