Maybe it's a bit of ego. Maybe some people think it's a badge of honor to work through the pain. But I'm telling you now: If you get injured, stop lifting that particular body part until you've completely recovered. Continuing to lift when you're injured just exacerbates the problem - and it can lead to a greater injury (perhaps one that requires surgery).
Adding Weight Too Quickly
You should seek to improve your lifts every time you hit the gym. This means eking out a couple extra reps on the same weight you did last week. Or you can add weight to the bar and start doing your sets with this heavier weight.
However, some people add weight too quickly. For example, they'll add an extra ten pounds. The problem with that is you usually can't jump up in weight that quickly. If you try to lift it, you may injure yourself. You'll probably use bad form (often by "swinging" the weight), which doesn't help you develop and define your muscles the right way.
Your best bet is to add weight slowly, such as in 2.5 pound increments. Depending on the lift, you may be able to add five pounds at a time. But if you do, keep an eye on yourself to make sure you're maintaining good form.
Avoiding the Power Lifts
I've mentioned this a few times throughout the lessons: You should be doing big lifts for big muscle groups. These "big" lifts include deadlifts, squats, the bench press, barbell rows, chin ups, leg presses, and the shoulder press.
Most guys are happy to do bench presses (sometimes excessively). But there are plenty of guys who hate the big leg lifts like squats and deadlifts... so they skip them altogether. If that's you, suck it up and start doing the lifts. Otherwise you're going to end up looking unbalanced.
Neglecting Strength
Chances are, your goals are probably mainly aesthetic. That is, you want to look better. But in order to develop these muscles so that they look better, you need to train for strength. For example, if your tricep muscles are so weak that they're impeding your bench press, then the end result is that you're not going to be able to fully train your pectoral muscles.
The solution? Work on strengthening up ALL your muscles:
Strong triceps will help you with chest exercises.
Strong shoulders will help you with chest and back exercises.
A strong core will help you with most compound lifts.
Strong biceps will facilitate your back lifts.
A strong back will help you leg lifts (and vice versa).
A strong grip will help you improve performance on a variety of lifts, including back exercises, bicep exercises, etc.
If you're weak in one area, then do weekly isolation exercises to improve strength on those individual muscles. Once you do that, you'll see your strength and definition improve on the big muscles!
Gary.
Gary C-
OPTIMAL STRENGTH
http://www.assassinbody.com/
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