Advantages of Free Weight Training
Range of Motion:
Advantages of Free Weight Training
To build strength, Milo the legendary wrestler of ancient Greece prepared for the Olympiad by carrying a newborn calf on his back every day until the cow was full grown.
Nearby, you can bet there was a woman hauling a 30-lb toddler on her hip who must have been watching and thinking … “muscle head.”
Each of us lifts heavy things as part of our daily lives, be it toddlers, equipment, groceries, or a number of things. Resistance training can make you stronger and these tasks will seem easier.
You don’t have to be an athlete to reap benefits from lifting weights. Anyone who is short of breathe when they walk up a flight of stairs or who just wants to feel and look better can achieve amazing results by adding free weight training to their weekly schedule.
Rage Against the Machines
Free weights or machines? That’s a question that’s often asked. Machines are a safe way to go if you’re new to lifting or are recovering from an injury, but check out the advantages of free weights. While specific weight machines leave out the stabilizer muscle groups (gluts, back, abs) and only allow the user to move the weight from point A to point B, free weights aren’t held in place by anything—just you—and that freedom requires coordination and balance from the core muscles and the bones. That means that the whole body gets involved in the execution of the exercise.
This added stimulus gives an individual the advantage of training movement, not just muscle, since the range of motion more closely mimics the activities of daily life. Since your body is in itself the machine, fitness experts consider free weights superior to exercise machines.
Pumping Iron: A Look at the Equipment
The term free weights generally refers to dumbbells and barbells. (But not babies.) They’re called free weights because they are used in ranges of motion based on the user, and not limited to a machine’s design. The weights are a staple at any club or public gym, and home users find that not only are they an inexpensive way to get in shape, a set of dumbbells won’t take up a lot of room and they are impossible to break.
Dumbbells are constructed of either a single fixed weight, or as a short bar with changeable disks called plates. A complete set of plates for dumbbells generally ranges from 2.5 lbs to 50 lbs each.
Barbells are comprised of a long bar and iron weight plates which range from 5 lbs to 100 lbs. A chrome or stainless steel straight bar is about 4 to 6 feet long and weighs 15 to 22 pounds. (In comparison, an Olympic bar weighs 45 pounds and can hold loads of over 800 pounds.) The plates are slipped on each end of the bar and held on with a clip called a collar.
Free Weight Exercises for Men and Women
Way back in 500 B.C., Milo figured out that the basic concept of progressive resistance training is to start with lighter weights and, as your muscles grow stronger, move to heavier weights. But while Milo hauled a heifer daily, weight training is not something that must be done every day to see progressive results. There are over 400 voluntary muscles in your body and you can stimulate growth in them by doing just 30-minute sessions, two or three times per week.
Design your weight training program to exercising certain muscle groups on one day and the remainder on another, with rest days in between. Use the rest days as an opportunity to get more cardio work in while your muscles recuperate. Aim for one to four sets per exercise, and do up to three exercises targeting each muscle group on their workout day. With any of the sample exercises below, adjust the weight loads and number of reps to your personal fitness goals.
First, the core lifts:
Bench Press: This is the popular exercise to work the chest and shoulders. Lie supine on the bench under the barbell, placing your hands about a foot apart on the bar. Lift the weight off the rack and extend fully, keeping your elbows at a 90-degree angle to your body and not against your sides. Lower the barbell slowly to the start position. Press. Repeat. For variation, shorten the hand distance on the bar to put more work on the inner pectorals and triceps.
Squats: Use a barbell or dumbbells to work on the largest muscles of the body, the gluts and legs. With your feet about shoulder-width apart, hold the weight at chest height, bending the knees and lowering your body down to squat in a parallel position. Then press the gluts together and rise up to the start position. Be sure not to round the back when doing squats and deadlifts as this will put stress on your lower back muscles.
Deadlifts: This exercise begins with the loaded barbell on the floor. With the bar touching your shins, place your hands wider than shoulder-width on the bar and outside your legs. Using a reverse grip, keep your arms straight and back straight, chest out, and thighs parallel to the floor. Lift slowly with arms straight and bar close to the body, rising to stand with the bar is about mid-thigh. Lower the weight slowly to the floor. Great for legs, butt and back! If you’re concerned about injury, you can start with an empty bar or train on lower back and abs strengthening exercises before attempting squats and deads.
Work that core with these exercises:
Good mornings: Stand with barbell on your back and bend over as if bowing to someone. Keep your chin up to keep from rounding your back. Great for the lower back; also works the hamstrings.
Lunges: Stand with the barbell on your upper back. Step one leg out in a long stride, landing on the heel then the forefoot. In the stride position, bend your knees and slowly lower your hips until the knee on your rear leg almost touches the floor. Raise up to the start position by forcefully extending the knee and hip of the forward leg. Switch legs. Your aim is to work until fatigued; when you feel a burn it’s indicating a release of lactic acid. This is a good thing. Lunges are brutal. Works the quads, glutes, hammys and lower back.
Dumbbell flys: Lie supine on an incline bench or flat bench, with a dumbbell in each hand, lift them above the chest with the arms fixed in a slightly bent position and elbows pointing out. Lower dumbbells out to the sides, keeping elbows fixed. Bring the weights back together over your chest in a hugging motion until dumbbells are nearly together. Repeat. Works the chest, with secondary emphasis on the arms.
Now for some secondary lifts:
Biceps Hammer Curls: Hold dumbbells at your sides, palms facing in. With elbows to the sides, raise one dumbbell until forearm is vertical and the thumb faces the shoulder. Lower and repeat with the other arm.
Dumbbell rows: Stand on your right foot and position your left knee on a bench. Bend and place your left hand on the bench. Your back should be flat, head raised and eyes forward. Holding a dumbbell in your right hand, pull your elbow back as far as it will go lifting the weight about to your ribs or as high as you can. Slowly lower the dumbbell to the starting position. Do one set, then switch arms. Great for triceps, shoulders and back.
Triceps extensions: Lie supine on a bench with your head close to the end. Using either one dumbbell or an EZ curl barbell using an overhand grip, press the weight over your head, bending at the elbows with your forearms parallel to the floor and keeping upper arms close to your head. Lower the weight towards the floor behind your head. Press the bar or dumbbell slowly back up to the start position. Repeat.
Other suggested isolating exercises and the muscle groups worked:
- OBLIQUES: side rows with dumbbells
- SHOULDER: lateral raise with dumbbells, overhead press
- BACK: flys (prone reverse & seated reverse), bent-over rows, deadlifts
- TRAPS: barbell shrugs
- FOREARMS: reverse (or overhand) preacher curls with barbell
Learn to perform all free weight exercises in a slow, controlled manner of approximately two seconds on the difficult exertion or lifting phase (while exhaling), and three seconds to slowly return or lower the weight (and inhaling).
Start working out with free weight and bodyweight exercises and you’ll start feeling results within days, and seeing muscle tone improve on your body within weeks. And don’t forget to follow a proper diet, and incorporate some of high intensity aerobics (at least 30 minutes three times a week) for best results.