Is it possible to lift weights too much

Two quality sets with great form and high intensity is worth more than four sloppy sets. Furthermore, your form will probably suffer. The Fix: Instead of heading over to the weight rack right away, try starting with body weight exercises. For example, start with squats or leg lifts instead of using a machine. For the squat, start with your feet as wide as your shoulders, pull your naval in towards your spine, and bend the knees.

Press down through the heels to press yourself back up to standing. Start at a lower weight like 30 pounds and work on getting the form right. Once you feel comfortable, then you can start increasing the weight on the machine. For your upper body, practice holding planks instead of using dumbbells to work your arms and back.

Although, this is the one scenario where beginners may want to start with weights. Ideally, Alai recommends a balanced combination of weights and body weight as the optimal way to get stronger. If planks or other body weight exercises for your upper body seem too challenging, then start out with light weights and arm exercises. Start with lower weight like 3- or 5-pound dumbbells and focus on doing more reps at less weight.

For example, instead of grabbing a pound dumbbell for bicep curls and doing 10 repetitions, grab the 5-pound dumbbells and do 15 reps. Often times with too heavy of weights, you can begin thrashing the arms and pulling the elbows away from the sides because the weight is too heavy to properly control. Keep your form in check by exhaling on the exertion as you curl the weight up and inhaling on the release as you lower the weight back to the starting position.

Many of our daily positions encourage us to hunch forward. Sitting at a desk at work, texting on the phone, playing with kids, etc. The Risk: Not only will your body be imbalanced, but according to Tylicki, this can also leave other muscles weak and de-conditioned. For example, lat pull downs, cobras and planks interspersed throughout your workout are a great way to start. Essentially, if you don't use them, you lose them. Based on Wolff's law by German surgeon and anatomist Julius Wolff, your bones will adapt to the stress that they are placed under read: load , so by gradually increasing the load, your bones will adapt to withstand more stress.

Resistance training can become detrimental if you're overdoing it or if you don't address any muscle imbalances , Brathwaite says. Lifting weights every day, especially the same muscle groups and joints, can lead to muscle overuse injuries. In fact, muscle overuse injuries, like biceps tendinitis , don't just happen from repetitive movements. They can happen from training too frequently and improperly loading the joint.

If you move too quickly into a heavy load without proper warm-up and progression, you can risk injury," Lettenberger says. Lettenberger also advises working with a certified trainer to ensure that you're lifting weights with good form and are addressing any imbalances that might lead to injury.

Ultimately, whether you should lift weights every day comes down to your goals and what muscle groups you're targeting. Training the same muscle groups every day simply doesn't allow for adequate recovery. Split routines, where you train different muscle groups on different days, are great for this. If you don't, you run the risk of an injury or a plateau. Lifting weights every day can exacerbate the overall impact on your body, making it harder to adapt to the strain.

Fitness Training How To Gain muscle. Claire Hsing is a physical therapist with a passion for mountain sports including running, climbing, and skiing. Tiffany Ayuda, CPT. Tiffany Ayuda is a New York City-based editor and writer passionate about fitness, nutrition, health, and wellness. Tiffany is also a certified personal trainer through the American Council on Exercise. When she's not writing or breaking up a sweat, Tiffany enjoys cooking up healthy meals in her Brooklyn kitchen. Lifting weights every day is safe if you train different muscle groups and allow your muscles to recover.

Video of the Day. If you have single-sided pain, you're also healing and recovering, he adds, but you should allow extra time to heal and it may be worthwhile to seek additional help to hasten this process. Did you not run 26 miles with that side as well? The injury is likely the imbalance that a biomechanics specialist can diagnose and correct. Choosing a workout over time your family, work obligations, or social outings on a consistent basis are signs that you may be hyper-focused on exercise.

This is not always a bad thing, but if you find yourself becoming obsessed with scheduling that next workout, you may be headed towards an unhealthy addiction. Many of my clients bend over backwards to make sure they follow a workout program exactly, only to discover that over the course of a few months they get burned out, sick of dedicating all of their time to exercise, and decide to throw in the towel.

This all or nothing mentality — either all in or all out — is setting yourself up for failure. Rest days are an important part of every training plan! On the opposite end of the spectrum, viewing exercise as a last priority can cause you to push too hard when you do finally get in a workout.

Our minute HIIT workout is a great way to get a big bang for your exercise buck without overdoing it. If you find yourself dreading workouts, take a step back and ask yourself why. Are you pushing yourself so hard that they aren't enjoyable?

Or is it the activity itself that doesn't excite you? The legs become strong but also very tight and over time this leads to pains and strains because the runner, most of the time, does not spend the appropriate time that is needed to stretch the muscles that are pounding the pavement. Over time the muscles become so tight that they begin to stress the joints.