The Right Time

I was in the gym this morning to meet with a client and, as usual, I perused the room to make sure no one was doing anything dangerous.

Really, almost every day, someone is doing something dangerous. Today was no exception.

A guy on the cable lat pulldown machine was pulling the weights down way too fast, then letting them drop when he put them in the reset position. This wrenched his shoulders.

Too many people exercise too little control over the weights they try to lift.

The proper timing for each repetition is five to seven seconds: two to three seconds on the contraction (shortening of the muscles), and three to four seconds on the ecentric motion (lengthening of the muscles). Remember: always breathe out on the exertion.

If you remember only one axiom, let it be this: it's not about how much you can lift, but how much you can lift safely.