General Weight Lifting Guidelines

• Breathing is important! Breath out during the exertion portion of an exercise, generally when the muscles are contracting. If you aren’t sure which that might be, that’s okay. Just be sure you are breathing in during one direction of a movement and breathing out on the opposite direction of the movement… and not holding your breath! Holding your breath during a lift or part of a lift will cause blood pressure to spike. This can be dangerous for certain populations.
• In general, use a steady pace with control. Avoid jerking movements that may cause injury.
• Learn proper technique that works with your body type. You may have to make some modifications or try alternate positions to get the proper muscles engaged.
• Train opposing muscle groups. Avoid just doing pushing exercises (ie. chest press & dumbbell press) without doing pulling (row & pull down)!
• It is an excellent idea to meet with a fitness instructor! There are a variety of ways they can help you: watch your technique, make adjustments, help you design a specific plan, etc.