“No pain, no gain” is a saying that is often related to
working out. Weightlifters will frequently state it as they get to the top end
of their weightlifting limit on various exercises, such as a bench press or
standing overhead press. However, when trying to achieve your one rep maximum
lift, you are risking the chance of being injured.
Ego lifting is the act of
lifting or pushing too much weight without the conscious effort of keeping form
to boost your ego. It has injured thousands of us in the weight room. Ego
lifting is all fun and games until you tear a tricep or pass out while doing
squats.
If you can remember back to high school Science, your
teacher probably informed you on how muscle was made. In case you slept through
that class, here is a brief lesson to help you understand. When you are
performing strength training exercises, you are essentially tearing muscle fibres.
These fibres start to re-build themselves a tiny bit bigger than they were
before. This is how larger muscles are created.
There are better ways to build muscle without putting
yourself at risk of an injury. One way to achieve this, is to decrease the
amount of weight you are lifting so instead of doing 10 reps, you can do 20
reps. With lighter weight, you are significantly reducing the opportunity for
injury.
Another way, is to use light weights and perform the reps so slow that
they last about 15 seconds in total. Within a short amount of time, your arms
will be trembling from exhaustion. These tips will help you build muscle while
preventing you from becoming another casualty in the weights room.