While aerobic exercises can help improve the health of your heart and encourage your body to burn excess fat, resistance exercises such as weightlifting provide additional health benefits. A strength-training program that includes free weights can help you shape and tone your muscles while increasing your strength and stamina. Consult your doctor before beginning a strenuous weightlifting routine, especially if you have suffered an injury or have health conditions.
Benefits
Strength training provides numerous benefits. Working out with free weights can help you control your weight, develop strong bones, sharpen your focus and increase your stamina, and may reduce symptoms of chronic conditions such as depression, obesity and arthritis. Free weights allow you to perform a variety of exercises without requiring a large investment for specialized equipment and training tools.
Considerations
When selecting free weights, consider what types of exercise you want to perform. Free weights come in two basic types: Long bars, called barbells, allow you to add weight plates to adjust the amount of resistance, while dumbbells have shorter bars with permanent weights on each ends. Both barbells and dumbbells allow a variety of exercises that help you focus on individual muscle groups in your upper and lower body. Choose bars that provide a comfortable grip. Select a variety of weight plates that allow you to make necessary adjustments easily and safely.
Methods
Begin your weight-training program using light weights until you feel comfortable with the correct form and posture. A personal trainer can help instruct you on the correct form for various lifts. The types of exercises you perform and the amount of time you spend lifting weights depends on your fitness goals. While single sets of 12 repetitions can help build strength and tone muscles, increasing your muscle mass may require additional effort. In order to build muscle mass, you must continually challenge your muscles by lifting enough weight to make your final repetition difficult to complete. Bodybuilding requires adding small increments of weight as your muscles adjust to the weight lifted.
Precautions
Like other sports, weightlifting can cause injuries and accidents. Reduce your risk of injuries by using a spotter when performing squats and bench presses. Warm up with a few minutes of brisk walking or calisthenics, and then stretch your muscles before you lift. Hydrate yourself --- especially during strenuous lifts that cause heavy sweating --- eat sensibly and get adequate rest.
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