The Best Way to Increase Weights
Avoid Wrist, Elbow, & Neck Pain
To build strength and maintain muscle mass (which is crucial!), you need to gradually increase the amount of weight that you lift.
If your muscles aren’t challenged, they’ll stop adapting.
And here’s the kicker: after age 30, you can lose 3-8% of muscle mass per decade without proper stimulation.
This decline speeds up after age 60! 😱
This leads to sarcopenia — age-related muscle loss that impacts strength and daily function.
The good news? It’s preventable with strength training!
But wait a second.
Before you start slinging around those heavy dumbbells, let’s make sure your training doesn’t cause more harm than good.
JUST ONE THING
Raise your hand if you’ve ever experienced tension, pain or soft tissue injuries from lifting weights!
Your JUST ONE THING to Increase Weights Without Pain:
Be a Smart Weight Lifter
If you increase your weights too quickly, it could backfire by putting certain muscles and joints at risk of injury, making you too sore. Ouch!
When you can easily finish all of your reps (6-12 reps), and still feel like you could have done about 5 more, you’re ready for heavier weights.
One particularly vulnerable area for women when lifting weights is their upper body - the neck, shoulders, elbows and especially the wrists.
If you’ve ever experienced achiness, tension and tendinitis-like pain in your wrists, elbows, shoulders and neck, you’re not alone.
Ensure these vulnerable areas stay safe by following these simple tips for weight lifting.
3 Tips For Relieving Wrist Pain When Lifting Weights
- Use different gripping styles throughout your workout so the same muscles don’t get over-fatigued.
- Alternate between weighted exercises and bodyweight only exercises.
- Avoid “death gripping” the weight - instead practice holding it as lightly as possible with a simple “hook” grip.
Extra Tip:
For any upper body exercises, take a deep breath and let your shoulders relax before you begin. You can even hold your mouth open a bit to make sure your jaw is not clenching. Excessive shrugging and clenching when doing arm exercises is very common, but may lead to more neck and shoulder pain later.
Did You Know...
- You’ve selected the right weight if you can complete all of the prescribed reps of an exercise with great technique, but could only do 1 or 2 more.
- The best sets and rep ranges for building muscle mass are 2-4 sets of 6-12 reps per exercise.
- When increasing weights, upper body movements may only be able to increase by 1-2 pound increments, whereas lower body movements may be able to increase by 5-10 pound increments.
Until next week... Be strong
