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What is a professional weight lifter?
A professional weight lifter is a person who participates in weightlifting events on a regular basis for monetary compensation. The sport is referred known as “weightlifting” because the competitors compete to lift weights rather than to shed weight, as is the case with other sports.
Weightlifters are divided into two groups based on their body weight and height. In male weight classes, the range is from 48 kilograms (105 pounds) to more than 120 kilograms (265 pounds), while in female weight classes, the range is from 23 kilograms (50 pounds) to more than 90 kilograms (200 pounds). The top lifter in each classification under a National Olympic Committee, International Weightlifting Federation, or United States Powerlifting Association is considered to be a professional weightlifter who participates in Olympic weightlifting. Lifters who compete in international events are typically held to a higher standard than those who compete at home.
How to become a professional weight lifter
The first step to becoming a professional weightlifter is to find the right gym. A good gym will have a wide selection of weights and machines, as well as an experienced staff that can help you with your training. You should also check if the gym has any competitions or events that you can participate in.
You should also be sure to get plenty of rest, eat healthy meals, and drink plenty of water each day. It is important to stay healthy while you are trying to become a professional weightlifter so that your body can handle the rigorous training sessions. Even if you are not an athlete, it is important to stay healthy so that you can be around for a long time.
How do I start weight training? The first thing to consider is whether or not you are a beginner. The factors that will determine whether or not you are a beginner are the level of experience with weight lifting and exercise, your age, and your starting fitness level. If you have never been involved with lifting weights before, it is important to start out with a list of some beginner exercises. These are pull-ups, push-ups, bicep curls, tricep extensions, leg raises, and lunges.
What are the best tips for becoming a professional weight lifter?
Some people might think that weight lifting for beginners is an oxymoron. But it is not. In the end, if you are new to the weight room, the entire notion of picking up and putting down heavy objects while maintaining flawless form may appear to require a rather high degree of physical fitness. Learn how to utilize a squat rack by watching the video below. In addition, how are you meant to determine whether the weight you are taking up is too light, too heavy, or exactly right?
Weight lifting, to be sure, might look intimidating—especially if your only experience with it has been from watching the Olympics or seeing sophisticated workouts on social media. The fact is that weight lifting may be useful to a wide spectrum of people, and the practice involves a wide range of exercises that include anything from fundamental motions that replicate everyday activity to advanced power-lifting routines. If you are unsure of how to load weights onto a barbell, or even what to do with the weights once they have been loaded, do not be concerned. Getting into shape for the first time does not imply being thrown into the weight room blindfolded with no knowledge of what you are doing (in fact, please do not do so!). An alternative approach is, to begin with, a gentle and fulfilling procedure, progressing as you get more experienced and confident with it.
Strength training can help you achieve your goals, whether it is to eventually deadlift your body weight, perform 20 push-ups in a row, or simply to become stronger in ways that will benefit your everyday life (think: carrying groceries upstairs, picking up your toddler, or loading luggage into your car—all without straining or pulling muscles).
As Sivan Fagan, CPT, owner of Strong With Sivan in Baltimore, explains, strength training is one of the most effective strategies to keep your body functioning and healthy in the long run. ‘I have seen a difference in my clientele over the age of 80. Having the ability to control your hips, for example, might be the difference between being able to stop a fall vs not being able to stop, falling, and fracturing your hip.”
Here’s another hard reality: Muscle mass might begin to deteriorate in your 30s, even if you exercise regularly. There is no better time than now to begin a weight lifting regimen if you want to increase your strength and keep it as you get older!
Getting into shape for the first time does not have to be difficult—in fact, it can be very enjoyable.
You might as well like The Complete Guide to Resistance Bands Workouts and How They Can Help You Get Fit
Top tips when starting weightlifting
- Begin with your own body weight as a starting point.
That is exactly what, when it comes to weight training, your own body weight is completely irrelevant. According to Hannah Davis, CSCS, owner of Body by Hannah, “strength training is simply the act of applying resistance to your muscles in order to make them work harder.” At some point, you may want to add external weight to your workouts, such as dumbbells or barbells. However, weight lifting for beginners normally starts off with only your own body weight.
“Bodyweight exercises are a great way for beginners to become familiar with all of the main movement patterns in strength training,” says Fagan. “Not only can you get an effective strength training workout using only your body weight,” says Fagan, “but bodyweight exercises are also a great way for beginners to become familiar with all of the main movement patterns in strength training.” In the case of deadlifts, for example, you should first ensure that you understand how to do a hip hinge—pushing your hips and buttocks backward while maintaining a neutral spine and a tiny bend in your knees—before you begin. And, before you ever consider utilizing a squat rack, you should be really comfortable with your bodyweight squats as a starting point.
- Ensure that your form is flawless.
In order to lift a weight properly, you must ensure that your form is flawless before you do anything else. Because of the epidemic, however, receiving real-time feedback on your form became far more difficult to achieve. You may feel more comfortable scheduling an appointment with a personal trainer (if your budget allows it) to go over the fundamentals of different strength training moves now that many gyms have reopened (and, hopefully, are adhering to safety measures to keep their members and staff as safe as possible).
For those who are unable to attend in-person training sessions, several personal trainers now offer virtual sessions. If you decide to take it that way, make sure the trainer is able to capture your form from a variety of angles so that it may be more accurately replicated in real life. In a squat, a person’s form might appear perfect from the front, but if you ask them to show you their side view, you will notice that their body is tilting too far forward, explains Fagan.
According to Fagan, a personal trainer can assist you in mastering the fundamental movement patterns that serve as the foundation for many of the workouts you will be performing. The fact that they will be able to offer real-time modifications to your form means that you will be better equipped to continue securely.
Online instructions may assist you in learning what a decent motion should look like, and working out in front of the mirror (or videoing yourself on your phone) can assist you in making sure you are performing it correctly if a personal trainer is not ideal for you. Holly Roser, a certified personal trainer and the proprietor of Holly Roser Fitness in San Francisco, recently spoke with SELF about her career and personal training.
- Make a financial investment in equipment.
While it is important, to begin with, bodyweight exercises, you will ultimately want to include weights into your weight training program. Although it was difficult to find weights online during the coronavirus outbreak, they have slowly begun to re-appear on the market as the outbreak has wound down.
In Fagan’s opinion, dumbbells are the most user-friendly weight choice for novices, especially if you can locate them. This is true even more so than kettlebells or barbells, which need a greater learning curve to use effectively and securely, according to Fagan. Aim to have three sets total: a light set, a moderate set, and a heavy set (perhaps, 5 pounds, 12 pounds, and 20 pounds, she says). The purchase of an adjustable set of weights is another alternative. If you know you will need access to greater weights in the future, this can save you a lot of room in the short term.
Other types of non-weight equipment (which are typically simpler to come by than actual weights) might be useful for mixing up your workout as well as adding variety. According to Fagan, this includes items such as tiny bands, looping resistance bands, sliders, and suspension trainers (such as the TRX).
- Stretch and warm up your muscles before you begin.
A thorough warm-up is an essential component of every efficient strength training session. One effective method of accomplishing this is by using a foam roller to stimulate your muscles. “Foam rolling helps to loosen up tight muscles, allowing them to function the way they were intended to,” adds Davis. According to studies published in the Journal of Sports Medicine, using a percussive massage gun (such as a Theragun) can also assist your muscles in a warm-up before an exercise.
In addition to a static warm-up, a dynamic warm-up is a vital element of your pre-workout regimen since it prepares your muscles for the job they will be doing and helps you enhance your range of motion. A dynamic warm-up is simply a series of modest movement patterns that are performed to prepare your muscles for the job they will be performing later. The ability to dive deeper into your squats and completely extend your arms during biceps curls is enhanced by increasing your range of motion, which results in greater muscle activation and better outcomes overall.
- Schedule frequent workouts—but do not overdo it.
Undoubtedly, one of the most difficult aspects of beginning a novice strength training regimen is determining when and how frequently you should be exercising. The most important thing to remember is to start slowly. Start with two days a week for two to three weeks, then gradually increase to three days a week, according to Davis.” “Ideally, you should strength train three to five days per week, but you should work your way up to that number gradually—starting out at five days per week may be too much for your body to handle.” In fact, one of the most prevalent problems Fagan says she sees with folks who are just starting out is doing too much too fast.
It is more successful to design weight training for novices by treating each session as a total-body day, rather than breaking it up into individual muscle groups, according to Fagan. That means you will be doing a little bit of everything throughout each exercise—some lower-body training, some core routines, and some upper-body work—which will help to keep your workout varied and interesting. If you are performing total-body workouts three days a week, you may ultimately add a bonus day when you concentrate on certain regions of your body where you want to gain greater strength.
These workouts should not last for an indefinite period of time, either. According to Fagan, they should be limited to 40 minutes. (See SELF’s suggestions for total-body workouts for more inspiration.)
Getting in some cardiovascular exercise on days when you are not weightlifting is also beneficial for your general health. “I follow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommendations for aerobic exercise, which are 150 minutes of light-to-moderate work or 75 minutes of high-intensity work per week,” Davis adds. At the end of the day, choosing the correct combination of workouts will be determined by your personal aim.
- Use the proper amount of weight when lifting.
While it would be really convenient if there was a universal beginning weight for everyone, the truth is that it truly depends on your present strength, the type of exercise you are performing, and the number of repetitions and sets you want to complete a particular action. The number of repetitions of each set should be between 12 and 15 when starting out, according to Fagan. During your first month of strength training, you should aim to complete one to two sets of each exercise, at a moderate intensity. “Once you begin to feel stronger and those sets become a little easier,” she explains, you may increase the number of sets performed each exercise to three per activity.
You should keep in mind that various exercises will demand differing weights since some muscle areas (such as your glutes) will be naturally stronger than others (such as your triceps), so it is beneficial to have a little bit of variation in your workout environment. This might contain a light, medium, and heavy set of dumbbells, as well as a kettlebell or two, and possibly a barbell in the near future. The weight for each exercise should be chosen such that it feels heavy enough to challenge you without being so heavy that your form is compromised.
Noam Tamir, CSCS, owner, and CEO of TS Fitness in New York City, recently told SELF that you should consider utilizing a rate of perceived effort scale to establish whether the weight you are using is appropriate for your level of fitness. On a scale from 0 to 10, where 0 represents sitting on the sofa and 10 represents the most effort you can maintain for only a few seconds, you should aim to finish your set at an 8. If you have already reached an 8 and you still have four repetitions left in your set, you will probably want to go down in weight to make up for lost ground.
According to Tamir, it is also critical to ensure that you get enough rest in between sets. Maintaining a 1:2 work-to-rest ratio (for example, 40 seconds of rest if it took you 20 seconds to finish your set) might assist ensure that you have recovered sufficiently to complete your next set. It is important to feel pushed at the end of your sets, but the aim is not to maintain your heart rate during the whole workout, as it is when you are doing cardiovascular
exercise.
- When you are just getting started, keep doing the same movements every day.
According to Davis, while seasoned lifters may opt to perform a new exercise every day over the course of a week (and then repeat the same motions the following week), there is no need to follow this sort of regimen while you are just getting familiar with your movements. Additionally, it will remove some of the guessings from your daily routine for a period of time.
Keep to the same fundamental movements two to three times a week to develop a foundational level of fitness and strength, advises Davis. “Why make things more complicated if you do not have to?” “By repeating the same workout but increasing the weights as your strength increases, you can achieve excellent results.” Even more importantly, this will assist you in mastering the movements rather than moving on to new exercises before you have mastered the previous ones. Even if you do not have access to bigger weights, you can still make a workout seem more difficult by following these strategies for making it feel more difficult without adding additional weight.
- If at all possible, squeeze in a post-workout stretch.
It is time to stretch it out now that you have mastered the training portion of the workout. (Do you know how to pronounce ahh?) According to Davis, stretching when your muscles are warm can assist increase your flexibility, not to mention that it feels fantastic after you have worked hard.
Plan on a 5-to-10-minute cooldown period after your workout, which should include dynamic stretches or stretches that require some movement, according to Jennifer Morgan, DPT, P.T, CSCS, an Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center physical therapist who specializes in sports medicine. As a result, the blood supply to your muscles is increased, which helps with healing. Another wonderful option for post-workout recuperation is to use a massage gun if you happen to have one sitting around.
- Listen to your body and take rest days when it tells you.
It is quite OK to have a bit sore. As a result of DOMS, or delayed onset muscle soreness, your muscles may feel achy or fatigued the day after a particularly strenuous exercise session. While strength training, you are inflicting tiny injury to the tissue that will be regenerated as a result of the exercise; this is how muscle is built. However, you do not want to be so painful that you can not exercise the rest of the week, so if your soreness lasts more than a few days, it is a warning that you are probably doing too much, too soon.
Keeping in mind the importance of giving your body a break, rest days are essential to any weight lifting regimen, whether you are a novice or a seasoned veteran. “If you constantly break down muscle without giving it a chance to repair and grow stronger,” argues Davis, “the muscle fibers will not have a chance to repair and grow stronger.”
At the end of the day, you must concentrate on how you are feeling. “Pay attention to your body,” Davis advises. “It will notify you when it requires a day off.” As a general guideline, Davis suggests taking a day off if your reported discomfort is greater than a 7 on a scale of 10 or above. You might also try a different body area or a milder activity, such as yoga or Pilates, to see what works best for you.