Weight Training Blog

There are many lifts that gym-goers don’t do because they have either forgotten about them, or they don’t want to do them because they hurt. The truth is they hurt because they work, and they work because they’re good. (When done correctly, of course)

Pull ups are certainly on the list of forgotten lifts. When was the last time you saw someone do several sets of pull ups during their back routine? If you’ve only been hitting the gym for a few months, then the answer is probably never.

The reason why people probably never do pull ups is because they don’t have the upper back strength to complete one repetition and therefore have never had the desire to see if they can even do them in the future.

You may be thinking since you do lat pull downs you don’t need to do pull ups, but in reality, there’s nothing like doing a conventional pull up. You’re using more stabling muscles when doing a pull up, which is one of the main reasons why they are so much harder to do than pull downs. You can also cheat more easily when doing a pull down by leaning back, causing the weight to gain momentum.

Lat pull downs are a great way of prepping your upper back to do multiple pull ups. Do yourself a favor – At least once a month replace your beloved lat pull downs with several sets of pull ups and thank me later. Before you know it in six month’s time you’ll be able to grind out several sets of pull ups in one back session.

Although not perfect form, here’s something that may make you want to give pull ups a try next time you’re in the gym and due to hit back:

We’re nearing the end of the year, and that means that it’s just about time to start thinking of New Year’s resolutions. Many begin the new year by setting out to lose weight, or “get more fit” (How do you monitor your progress towards that goal, anyway?).

Personally, I’m way ahead of things. I’ve already been thinking of my goals for 2011, and one of them on my list of things to accomplish this upcoming year is to achieve a deadlift of 500 pounds while keeping my body weight under 200 pounds.

Here’s a good tip when setting a goal for yourself – whether it’s in the gym or in your personal or professional life. You need to make sure the goal is finite and progress towards the goal can be monitored easily. Having a goal of “becoming more fit” isn’t a good goal. You’re setting yourself up for failure, in fact. In stead, setting a goal such as “I am going to bring my body weight down from 180 to 160 during the course of the year” is a much better way of making sure you stay on the right path towards reaching your goal.

I will be sure to post some weight loss tips in the coming weeks for those of you who are setting out to lose weight this year.

So the two words “gym” and “sanitation” have probably never been used together in the same sentence before. I’ve seen some pretty dirty gyms in my time – from my old high school’s weight room which looked like it was stuck in the 1970s, or the YMCA back in New Jersey where I used to live that looked like the weights haven’t been touched in 10 years.

A buddy of mine recently got pretty sick and had to take a long break from lifting because of something he got from the gym. He was so sick in fact that doctors actually had to cut stuff out of him. It turns out he had MRSA, but has sense gotten better.

So that got me thinking, what could people do to lessen their chances of getting sick while at the gym? So here it goes:

• Wash your hands
  Probably the most obvious, but also the most over-looked: Wash your hands after you’re done working out!
  Also, be nice to others and wash your hands after using the bathroom. Besides, by washing your hands really well, you’ll also be getting rid of any lotions and oils that may have been on your hands – This will give you a better ability to grip the bar when things get heavy.
• Wipe down equipment after each use.
  I know I might get a lot of crap for saying this, but after you’re done using a piece of equipment, make sure you wipe it down afterwards. Most gyms will supply mild soap solutions to use, or even give you baby wipes to wipe equipment down with.
• Don’t eat in between sets.
  This should be common sense, and it goes hand-in-hand with the first bullet point, but don’t eat in between sets. Not only is it nasty, but what the heck are you doing? Are you that hungry that you can’t wait to get out of the gym? Did you forget to eat before coming to the gym? Why are you even lifting if you didn’t eat anything?
• If you have a fever, stay home.
  As a rule of thumb, if your body temperature is 100 or more, do everyone a favor and stay home. At that point your body needs more than just some extra fluids and chicken soup to get better. You need a decent amount of rest and the only way you’re going to get that is by staying out of the gym. You’ll make everyone else happy by doing so too. Look on the bright side, by taking a few days off from the gym your body will feel better rested and able to move more weight when you return.
• Wear different clothes
  This is something I only really see done in the gym that I frequent in my home town and I don’t know why it’s done or even allowed for that matter. But when going to the gym, wear appropriate attire and change out of it before leaving and going home.  Don’t go into the gym wearing a long-sleeved button down dress shirt (What?) and jeans and then leave wearing the same thing.