The Secret to Toning Up Your Muscles!

Most people think that it's all about lifting heavy. That if you want your muscles to tone up and get stronger, you have to keep lifting more and more weight. Well, certainly the amount of weight that you lift is important. But it's only one of the components of weight training. Today I want to tell you about what may be the most important component of all: good form.

Without good form, you risk injuring yourself with those heavy weights. In fact, you can injure yourself with light weights, or even no weights at all! With good form, you can maximize the potential for gain with each and every repetition. With good form, you can tone up those muscles and make them stronger without taking a chance with your joints. Don't you want to protect your knees, your shoulders, your back?

So, what exactly is good form? It's being able to focus inward and pay attention to several elements of lifting all at one time. It's constantly scanning your body as it moves through each repetition, making subtle -- or even major -- corrections during your reps. It's all of these things:

• Posture
• Core Stability
• Breath Control
• Timing
• Proper Use of the Tool
• Engaging the Primary Mover First
• The Range of Motion for Each Repetition
• Working Through the Complete Muscle Mechanism

OK, so now you're asking yourself, What's all that trainer-babble mean?

Each time I post, I'm going to talk about one of these components. Today, let's take a good look at your POSTURE. Is your posture good, bad, or ugly? You want good posture, don't you? Here's how to get it:

• Stand up with your feet hip distance, both feet straight ahead.

• Pull your belly button in to your spine. This does not mean that you "suck it up." If you put a finger on your belly button in the front, and a finger on your spine directly behind it, when you pull your belly button in tight enough, the two fingers will come closer to one another. Nothing else in your body moves when you do this. Keep that muscle contracted as you lift. It protects your lower back just like a belt that's been cinched real tight.

Have you ever seen a power lifter using a weight belt? He is imitating the muscle within you that goes around your waistline. You have your very own weight belt built right into your body! All you have to do is remember to use it.

• Put your hands on the top of the pelvic crests (the highest point on each side of the front of the pelvis). Push the pubic bone forward by pressing into the pelvis with your thumbs. It should move forward 1-2". You'll notice that your knees break when you do this! This is how you protect them while you lift! Keep a soft bend at the knees -- never lock them out!

OK, now your lower body is in good form, but the upper body needs some work, doesn't it? Let's start with the shoulder bridge. Most people are kind of hunched forward, with rounded shoulders. Did you know that you look ten pounds lighter when your shoulder bridge is where it's supposed to be? Don't you want to look ten pounds lighter?

• Put your arms up like goal posts -- you know, Touchdown! That's right, arms sticking directly out from the shoulders, at shoulder height, then bending upward at the elbows -- like goal posts. Do you feel that contraction between your shoulder blades? Keep it. It's supposed to be there all the time. That means the muscles that are holding your shoulder blades in posture are now doing their job. Your shoulder blades should feel like they are straight up and down, not tilted in any way. Flat on your rib cage behind you.

• That probably leaves your head sticking out, huh? OK, so let's put it where it belongs. If you were to move your chin straight back in toward your Adam's Apple, your head would be sitting right on top of your rib cage. Remember, move it straight back in. Not up. And not down. In.

You'll feel all the muscles in the front of your neck working now. Your head will be centered directly over your rib cage. Your rib cage is centered directly over your pelvis. You have a soft bend at the knees. All of your joints are now protected and it is now safe to lift weights.

It feels kind of funny, doesn't it? Kind of stiff and not normal? Go look in the mirror. See for yourself how much better you look. If you practice this all day long, correcting it constantly as you go through your day, you may even notice that some of your muscles get sore! That's a sure sign that they're working! Imagine how much stronger they'll get just by correcting your posture all day!

Some of the best places to practice it are in the car (start looking at the other drivers and you'll see some of the worst posture around), while at the computer, while watching TV.... all of the places where you're thinking about something else. If you can monitor your posture while you type, you can do it while you train, too.

Come back soon for CORE STABILITY! You want strong abs, don't you?