If you’re a fan of yoga classes and cardio equipment, you might come and go to Pivotal Fitness Greenville sports club without ever going near the weights. So we ask: why wait?

1. Maybe you think they’re just for body-builders and muscle maniacs.

Don’t worry, that’s not true at all! Just adding some simple weight exercises into your routine when you visit can have numerous benefits. You can condition your muscles so that they react better to your yoga poses and get the most out of your cardio. You can just slim down without bulking up. And toning your body can improve your posture, endurance and energy levels in your everyday life.

2. Maybe you’ve never been trained to use them, so you find them intimidating.

Don’t think about the unfamiliar resistance machines and the giant weights for the bench press. Start by thinking about the smallest set of dumbbells weighing three or five pounds. You can learn some extremely easy exercises that involve lifting these over your head or curling them in toward your body. It’s not always about how heavy a weight is. It’s also about how many times you can repeat a certain action, getting your muscles into a slow burn as you work out. You can start with a limited amount of reps and aim to improve that number every week with very limited pressure about performance or know-how.

Here’s some terminology that you can learn to get started even before meeting with one of our personal trainers to get you started with free weights:

• Reps: This is one action, like lifting your arm out to the side one time. It also includes the follow-through of bringing your arm back down to its starting position. You repeat these actions several times, through repetitions, hence the name.
• Sets: When you perform reps, whether its 15 or 50, that number that you do is called a set. When it comes to exercises that bear repeating, such as with each arm, some people consider a set 15 with each arm, while others consider each of those an independent set.
• Circuit: Several sets are put together into one routine that’s called a circuit. With the help of a trainer, you can put together a circuit that targets your trouble areas. Some people have different circuits for different days of the week, targeting separate muscle groups, instead of doing the same sets all the time. This keeps it light and interesting.

See? There’s no reason to be intimidated. You already know more than you did five minutes ago, and you’re on your way to being in the know about weight-lifting. Check back next week for even more about how to get started!