By Faaris, Fitness Trainer EnergyOne Gym, Yishun

1. Learn and Maintain Proper Form

It is important to learn the proper form, a key part of injury prevention, especially when you are just starting out.

Starting with the wrong form from the start will result in improper habits, which will be difficult to break over time.

Don't hesitate to seek help from a personal trainer who can advise you on what exercises to do, or provide guidance on pick up the proper form.

Perfecting the proper form is one of the most important things in one’s fitness journey, there could be risk of sustaining an injury or difficulty obtaining desired results otherwise.

2. Never Forget to Stretch

Stretching helps to reduce soreness and reduce the risk of sustaining an injury. It will also boost your range of motion, so your body will benefit more from the lifts you have completed.

Before starting your workout, be sure to do warm up such as dynamic stretching, paying attention to all primary muscle groups.

After completing your workout, remember to cool down so as to allow your muscles to relax.

3. Perform Major Lifts First

Any exercise that makes use of more than one muscle group (compound movement) should come first before those that involve a single muscle group. This is because compound movement requires more energy to complete.

Compound movements include bench press, military press, deadlift, bent over row and squats.

4. Eat before and after your Workout

You have to eat the right kind of food before and after your workout as it plays a vital role in how effective your muscle building workout will be, also how quickly your body recovers after the workout.

Make sure you make an effort to eat food that are filled with protein and carbs as they make a world of difference in your workout and recovery journey.

5. Combine an handful of free weights exercises with weight machine exercises

Weight machine exercises are a great way to start before progressing to weightlifting, It helps to maintain a proper form.

In order to get the best of both worlds, combine some of the free weights exercises with weight machine exercises.

For example, using a chest press machine before bench press can remarkably increase your level of comfort while doing the bench press, as you would have obtained “guidance” from the machine.