What Is Dynamic Lifting?

Why Dynamic Lifting

You do not require weights to do dynamic exercises, but adding weights to a routine strengthens muscle and bone, increases circulation and lowers blood pressure. It also increases your stability and coordination by forcing you to move and balance weights. Since your body is engineered to adapt to new work loads, increase the amount of weight you use as you spend more time lifting. The average beginning lifter training three times a week can increase her weight at a rate of 10 percent a week for most exercises.

Dynamic Warm-up

Before you warm up, your muscles are tight, cool and prone to tear. People make the mistake of stretching them statically before working out -- they stretch and hold muscles that are still tense. Instead, use light weights and full-body movements to slowly warm and stretch all of your muscles, or skip the weights and engage in light movement -- walking, jogging, swimming or high-stepping.

Misconceptions

Dynamic exercises are not complex, nor do they require a high level of balance and motion. Lunges, clean and presses and burpees are often regarded as dynamic, while a barbell curl, bench press or shoulder press is not. The truth is, dynamic exercises require no fancy equipment and can be performed by everyone at the gym, regardless of skill level. Any weight-resistance training where joints move and muscles contract is a dynamic lift.

Tips

Static lifts are still important, as they require intense muscle contraction to hold the weight steady without the aid of momentum. This increases muscle endurance.

Some women are afraid that dynamic lifting will make them bulk up. Keeping the reps between 15 and 20 per set with no more than four sets per exercise will prevent bulking.

Weightlifters need more protein than non-lifters. Half a gram of protein per pound of body weight daily is enough to repair worn-out muscle tissue. If you weigh 120 pounds, for example, consume 60 grams of protein daily.