Free weights like dumbbells and barbells play an essential role for professional bodybuilders, but workouts with weights can also improve everyday fitness for normal men and women. People who lift free weights typically perform better during aerobic workouts, carry less body fat and are able to maintain independence throughout the later stages of adulthood. Consult your doctor before beginning any new exercise regimen.
Free Weight Benefits
While some athletes lift weights attached to machines common at gyms or fitness centers, free weights --- or movable weights like barbells and smaller hand weights --- offer a higher level of convenience. The weights can be purchased inexpensively and allow you to work out whenever you choose, either indoors or outside. Free weights are a form of strength training, or exercise that builds muscle through resistance. Doctors often suggest strength workouts to patients who need more muscle mass, which naturally fades during adulthood. Regular free-weight repetitions strengthen your muscles and bones and lessen your likelihood for joint injury and conditions like obesity and diabetes, the Mayo Clinic advises.
Your First Workout
Experts, including those at the TeenHealth website, recommend starting your first weightlifting workout with five minutes of slow aerobic activity that warms your muscles, such as bike riding. Begin your lifting with a free weight that allows you to comfortably perform between 12 and 15 repetitions and aim for one set of each activity. Add more weight once you can lift a barbell or dumbbell more than 15 times without exhaustion. An ideal workout lasts between 20 minutes and an hour. A few minutes of light stretching immediately following your workout --- when your muscles are still warm --- helps minimize soreness.
Correct Technique
Proper weightlifting technique ensures you gain the most benefits from your free-weight workouts. Always maintain a straight back during lifts and breathe normally rather than rapidly. Lift in a steady, controlled manner and decrease your challenge level if a weight causes you to jerk or drop the weight quickly at the end of a repetition, the Merck Manuals Online Medical Encyclopedia recommends. The best workouts build each of your major muscle groups, including the legs, shoulders and abdomen. Ensure that you build with balance, or strengthen the front and back of a muscle like the shoulder. Ask a trainer at the gym for advice if you need help structuring a workout.
Sustained Success
You'll likely notice strength improvements within a few weeks of your first free-weight workout, although resist the urge to overtrain to gain muscle faster. Aim to lift no more than three days each week and keep your workouts at least 24 hours apart in order to allow your muscles to heal. Keep your shoes on --- even during home workouts --- as traction protects you from slipping during heavy lifts. Seek your doctor's approval before starting any lifting activity.
References
- American Council on Exercise: Free Weights vs. Strength-training Equipment
- Mayo Clinic: Weight Training: Do's And Don'ts Of Proper Technique; Nov. 21, 2009
- FamilyDoctor: Weight-Training and Weight-Lifting Safety; December 2010
- Merck Manuals: Starting an Exercise Program; September 2007
- Mayo Clinic: Strength Training: Get Stronger, Leaner, Healthier; June 30, 2010
- TeensHealth: Strength Training;May 2009
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