| Lifting weights is an extremely healthy activity. You | | | | you might work your upper body on Tuesdays and |
| burn calories, you very slowly build muscle, you | | | | your lower body on Thursdays, or perhaps legs on |
| condition your heart and lungs, and you certainly will | | | | Monday, chest and back on Wednesday, and |
| look better. And any muscle you build will continue to | | | | shoulders and arms on Friday. Your abs can be |
| burn calories, even when you are sleeping or lying on | | | | worked more often, perhaps 3 times a week or even |
| the couch watching TV. However there are three | | | | every other day. |
| very common mistakes beginners, as well as many | | | | 2) Not working the entire body in a systematic way. |
| advanced folks, make. Here they are and hopefully | | | | You can vary exercises, but make sure you are hitting |
| knowing about them will help you avoid them. | | | | the entire body, and that includes your legs! |
| 1) Overtraining. Your body doesn't build muscle when | | | | 3) Not doing any aerobic work. Aerobic work, whether |
| you train, but rather when you are resting and | | | | running, walking, biking, or using any of the gym aerobic |
| recuperating. If you never let the body rest, you will | | | | machines burns fat efficiently so your muscles will |
| over train and make little if any progress as well as | | | | show and you'll look better. Be sure to include some! |
| feel exhausted and down. Each body part, with very | | | | Even if you make some mistakes, weight lifting is a |
| few exceptions, should be worked no more than twice | | | | healthy activity. If you make fewer mistakes, especially |
| a week. Every body is different, and for many of us | | | | missing the big 3 above, it's even better! |
| once a week per body part is optimal. For example | | | | |