You might ask, why weightlifting? I’m here to tell you the mental and physical health benefits of weightlifting, and why you should try it, just in time for the summer!

Builds Confidence

Weightlifting feels good! If you’re consistent, you’ll see results fairly quickly, and it is a good confidence booster. When you find something you’re passionate about and good at, it builds confidence. When you work on yourself, and it pays off, that also builds confidence.

Improves Physical Strength

As you lift consistently heavy, you will build physical strength. It allows you to perform other daily tasks as well, while also pushing yourself every time you’re in the gym. When you apply progressive overload, whether it be increasing the reps or weights, this improves your physical strength.

Improves Heart Health and Bone Strength

Studies show that weightlifting has many health benefits such as improving your heart health and bone strength. A study from Harvard demonstrated that 30-60 minutes of weightlifting had a 10-20% lower risk of dying from cancer and heart disease. It can also decrease your blood pressure, and cholesterol, and improve blood circulation, according to Healthline.

Additionally, weightlifting is great for bone development, as it tells your body to essentially rebuild your bones to be stronger when you lift. It also reduces the risk of fractures and whatnot.

Long-Term Benefits

When you consistently lift weights, some long-term benefits include:

• Improve glucose metabolism
• Enhance maintenance of healthy body weight
• Improve cardiovascular risk factors such as blood pressure

Ultimately, weightlifting has many positive outcomes, and speaking from personal experience, everyone should try weightlifting. Other forms of exercise however include jogging, hiking, pilates, yoga, or cycling. Until next time, contact me for more!

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Achieving your goals isn’t easy. It takes a great amount of time, effort and concentration to get the results you want. I’ve been lifting for 2 years now, and I am continuing to grow every day. This is what I was then, and what I am now. So much has changed, but it doesn’t end here.

Read more about my journey on this website, and contact me to learn more!

The post Pitch first appeared on Lifting With Lita.

A common goal of weightlifting is to gain muscle, but how do you do that? Let’s talk about it!

The simple answer is to perform resistance training and consume protein and nutrients, according to this article. This has to be broken down into different concepts of muscle growth.

Rep Ranges

Deciding what your targeted rep range is for various exercises will help you work towards building muscle. This will depend on your goals. Fewer reps of 1-5 are achieved for more strength, the mid-range of 6-12 results in muscle growth, and 12-20 reps are suited for people wanting to build muscular endurance. If you’re in the low rep range, you’ll want to lift heavy weights, whereas there’s room to adjust the weight to be lighter for higher rep ranges.

An example of this is the bench press, such as doing 5×5 (5 sets, 5 reps each). For tricep pushdowns, you may see something like 4×10 or 3×12.

Setting up a Routine

To gain muscle and achieve your fitness goals, you need to have a consistent routine for your exercises. Read this blog I wrote about picking the right workout split. This includes doing the same exercises consistently and applying progressive overload. If you do the same exercises consistently, you will see results and get stronger. In addition, don’t overdo it, a workout only needs 4-5 exercises.

Eating to Gain Muscle

This comes with its challenges, but ultimately the main priority to gaining muscle is consuming protein. The guideline is to consume 0.72 grams of protein per pound of body weight. So you may see someone who weighs 140 lbs consuming nearly 140 g of protein.

You may have heard the terms ‘bulking’ and ‘cutting’, which are cycles of eating that entails eating above or below your maintenance calories. To bulk, athletes may eat up to 500 calories or more over their regular calorie intake, whereas those cutting will eat 300-500 calories below. Both cycles require a sufficient amount of protein to build muscle.

Carbs and fats are important nutrients to incorporate into your diet, though protein should be a priority.

Ultimately, this will look different for some lifters, but everyone should be lifting weights and consuming enough protein to see results in muscle growth. Contact me to discuss more!

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If you’re unsure whether you’re lifting correctly, here are my do’s and don’t’s of lifting!

DO Apply Progressive Overload

You’ll never get stronger if you don’t challenge yourself. You should consistently increase the weight, frequency and repetitions during each exercise whenever possible. It will strengthen your musculoskeletal system. This article breaks it down and explains progressive overload. 

DON’T Egolift to Impress Others

Keeping progressive overload in mind, tread carefully. There’s no point in lifting heavy weight if you are constantly struggling to maintain good form and rep it out. Know your limits, and take your time working up the weight if you need to.

DO Listen to Your Body

While it’s good to push yourself, listen to what your body is telling you. This can apply to exercises that don’t feel right, when you feel you’re too tired to keep going, or if you need a rest day. It’s okay to take an extra rest day if needed. Don’t overwork yourself, and take care of your body, it will thank you.

DON’T Skip Rest Days

I used to want to lift every day, but that’s not ideal. Your body needs to recover to keep going. I lift 6 times a week and rest on Sundays. For others, you may need 2-3 rest days, and that’s fine!

DO Include Cardio in Your Routine

Lifting is great, but so is cardio! Cardio has many benefits such as improving your cardiovascular health and strengthens your immune system. Even walking on the treadmill or going for a hot girl walk outside are great ways to incorporate cardio into your routine.

DON’T Try to Out-Train a Bad Diet

While lifting and cardio go hand-in-hand, you cannot out-train a bad diet. Doing lots of cardio to compensate for your diet will not get you the results you want. Work out, out and eat clean. You don’t necessarily have to restrict yourself either, but don’t solely rely on exercise.

DO the Same Exercises Consistently

Don’t try to switch it up every time you work out. You should maintain the same routine for at least 6 weeks to see optimal results. You can add variations, but you should do the same compound and isolation movements. Sometimes instead of a flat dumbbell chest press, you could do an incline chest press one day instead, which is okay because it’s the same movement. But to apply progressive overload, try to do the same exercises consistently.

DON’T Try to PR Every Time You Lift

It’s exciting to lift heavy weights, but don’t get carried away. Don’t pressure yourself to lift heavier than you need to that day just because you see other people lifting heavier weights than you. Do what feels right that day, and if you do feel ready for a PR, then go for it. But sometimes this can result in ego lifting.

Ultimately, it comes down to the person’s preferences and goals, but these are some ways you can lift “right”. Contact me for more!

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A common mistake lifters make in their fitness journey is not correcting their form. While it doesn’t necessarily have to be perfect, your form should be correct and proper to ensure optimal results and that you’re lifting safely.

Let’s break it down into some of the most common exercises people make mistakes on:

Conventional or Romanian Deadlift

Two types of deadlifts are engaging and fulfilling when done right. A conventional deadlift is a strong compound movement that helps with your overall leg strength and growth. Romanian deadlifts help target your glutes or hamstrings.

Common mistakes here include:

• Not engaging your core
•  Rounding your back
•  Lifting with your back instead of your legs
•  Lifting too heavy

These mistakes aren’t unheard of but should be quickly adjusted and fixed to avoid injury. You also want to achieve optimal results, and bad form will hold you back.

The key to a good deadlift is to squeeze your core, straighten your back, and roll back your shoulders. Maintain a good posture, and avoid relying on your back to get the weight up. For RDLs, there is no need to go all the way down, but rather as soon as you feel it in your hamstrings. Here’s an example of a conventional deadlift:

This YouTube video demonstrates good deadlifting form: 

Dumbbell Shoulder Press

This movement is efficient when done right, but here are some common errors:

• Arms are at an incorrect angle
•  Not lifting both arms at the same height and time
•  Not using a full range of motion
•  Touching the dumbbells at the top

A tip I found on TikTok was to press the dumbbells at a 45-degree angle for better engagement and safer lifting. This is up to interpretation, but I find holding the dumbbells at a 90-degree angle puts you at risk of injury, such as losing your posture and dropping the dumbbells (I have personally witnessed this happen).

Lifting both arms at the same time and height is important, and if you are unable to do that, chances are you need to lower the weight. In addition, make sure you’re pressing using a full range of motion, by pressing to the top and then lowering just above your shoulders. Another thing not to do is to tap the dumbbells together at the top.

This article explains the instructions for this exercise very well, and can also be applied to chest press in some ways.

Barbell Squat

I absolutely hate squats, but I’m implementing them into my routine again, so this is good to know.

Often people make the mistake of:

• Going too heavy too soon
• Not keeping a neutral spine
• Butt wink
• Not engaging core

A main tip is to start with the bar until you perfect the form, then add weights after.

This TikTok gives a few tips for a good squat, and demonstrates good form as well:

Takeaway

Lifting with good form is easier said than done. Some tips to apply across the board are to start with lower weight and engage your core. Ultimately, do your research, and practice until you get it right. It’s better to start slow than to risk injury. Until next time, contact me for more!

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What’s the point of a deload week? Since I’m currently doing one right now, I’ll tell you:

What Does Deloading Mean?

A deload week allows your body to recover while exercising at a lower intensity.

What Does This Look Like?

According to Military Fitness, a deload week could include:

• Reduce time
• Lower the weight
• Less sets or reps
• Lower volume
• Reduce intensity of workouts

This might look different for a lot of people. For instance, most of my workouts from this week ranged around 45 minutes. Some days I maintained a lower weight with the same amount of sets I usually do, or I did a max of 3 sets for some exercises. This is what works for me, but maybe something else works for others.

When Is It Time For a Deload?

It depends, but if you are working out consistently, various articles suggest to deload when you are feeling physically exhausted, experiencing plateaus, or you’re nearing the end of a fitness cycle.

This article gives a good timeline depending on how long you have been lifting. For someone like myself who has been lifting for a little over 2 years, I should be doing a deload week every 6-8 weeks. For new lifters, every 8-10 weeks is sufficient.

Why Do You Need to Deload?

In addition to the 1-3 rest days you may take during a normal week of lifting, your body needs to recover physically before you can go heavy again. A deload week is a great way to recover by doing lower-intensity workouts for a week.

Ultimately, you should do whatever works for you! Contact me if you wanna chat more about it!

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If you’re scared of the big three, I’m here to help. The Big Three consists of the squat, deadlift, and bench press. It’s what many lifters do as their main compound movements. You might want to do the same, except you’re intimidated to go to that gym section, or you don’t know where to start. That’s okay, we all start somewhere. And if you’re not interested, I will also provide some alternatives.

Squat

I might be the first to admit, I despise barbell squats. My form sucks, and I intentionally avoid doing them. However, you need some squat variation in your leg workout. If you want to start squatting with a bar, start with the smaller bars used for bicep curls. Start light, and work your way up to 45 lbs. Once you get there, you’re ready for the barbell, which is 45 lbs. Then once again, apply progressive overload and work your way up.

Now, if you absolutely hate squats and don’t want to do them, that’s okay, it’s not for everyone! Try reverse lunges with either the barbell or dumbbells, or bulgarian split squats with 1-2 dumbbells. If you want to replace this compound movement and target your glutes, try barbell hip thrusts.

Deadlift

This movement might look the most intimidating to some, but when you find out what works for you, you might end up liking it. Once again, start light until you get the movement down. Make sure you’re using bumper plates to protect your back, a common mistake when starting to deadlift. You can also choose whether you prefer sumo or conventional. There’s a lot of talk that sumo deadlifts are easier than conventional, which could be true to an extent, but I say, do what you want, and don’t let the gym bros talk you out of it. A key word of advice however, is to be careful, engage your core, and straighten your back to avoid injury. If you find this movement isn’t working for you, stop doing it.

If sumo or conventional barbell deadlifts don’t work for you, try romanian deadlifts, aka RDLs. This can be done with a barbell or dumbbells, however I prefer using dumbbells.

Bench Press

And lastly, my all-time favourite, bench press! I absolutely love bench press, but its natural to feel overwhelmed or nervous when approaching it for the first time. You might feel like you’re being judged for only using the bar, but so be it. Everyone has to start with the bar, and that’s totally fine. Once you feel confident doing 10 reps, try adding 5s on each side, and work your way up. Make sure your wrists are straight, and have a slight arch in your back to protect your shoulders. If you hear mixed opinions about arched benching, here’s an article to put you at ease. People will disagree, but as long as you’re not exaggerating your arch, don’t stress.

If you don’t like bench press, try doing a variation with dumbbells on a flat bench. Another option is to use the chest press machine. Regardless, don’t skip chest because you think it’ll make you look bulky, it won’t.

Ultimately, none of these movements could appeal to you, and that is completely fine. But, you’ll never know if you don’t try. Contact me to chat about it more!

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Hi everyone, I made an Instagram for Lifting With Lita!

To establish my professional self, I chose to focus on a platform that will allow me to reach my target audience and post more casual and informal fitness content! This includes workout outfits, workouts, gym-related content, and more.

I enjoy producing this carefree content, and I’m excited to connect with fellow fitness accounts and aspiring lifters!

Check out my Instagram, and contact me if you want to chat!

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