Lisa Hilinski: Know, respect your body's limitations for weight lifting

Exercising on your own is tough sometimes, especially when first starting out. You see other people at the gym doing all kinds of things, and you start to mimic what you see others doing.

When taking on new clients, it’s not just about picking random exercises, seeing people work up a sweat, and sending them off. It’s about picking certain exercises based off their physical needs.

Not every exercise is meant for you and your body. Usually there is a restriction; sometimes it's easy to spot, but often it’s hard to pinpoint.

Here’s a few examples of what I mean:

I have a client with almost zero thoracic spine extension. Because of this, that individual will have very limited capability of overhead pressing, due to the need for thoracic extension in that type of movement.

I have another client who has very little glute strength. This individual has no business performing deadlifts currently, until the glutes are stronger. Minimal glute strength/activation will result in compensation at the lower back, and most likely result in a back injury.

Lastly, I have a client that used to have major flare-ups of plantar fasciitis. So, we never jump and rarely perform lunges.

I can continue, but I think it’s clear not every exercise is meant for everyone. When discovering something is in your “don’t do it” list, it’s no big deal, because there are hundreds of exercises for you to do for any body part.

Knocking out a few isn’t going to end your lifting career. But pushing through things you shouldn’t be doing will most definitely end your lifting career.

Take the time to learn your body and understand what it needs, but more importantly, what it doesn’t have the ability to do. Sometimes you have to get really good at the boring exercises to be able to do the fun ones.

Lisa Hilinski is owner of Premier Personal Training.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Lisa Hilinski: Know, respect your body's limitations for weight lifting