Weight lifting has been one of America's most beloved sports for some time now and this fact doesn't come as big surprise, considering all the benefits from it. Weight lifting can change your physique in a truly positive way. It improves your overall health and sense of well being, because you know you are doing something good for your body. Weigh lifting strengthens you bones and muscles and helps you develop better coordination and balance.

Listing all the weight lifting routines doesn't fit in the context of this article, instead we will focus your attention on something much more useful. Magazines are full of different routines, but what remains the same is the foundation, those everlasting basic and simple principles that are used by the most successful bodybuilders from around the world. Rule number one is that weight lifting routines make up only a small percentage of the whole. The recovery period is just as important as training.

The recovery phase includes your daily menu and amount of sleep. If you don't supply your body with all the necessary proteins, vitamins and minerals, and get at least 8 hours of sleep, your body will never fully recover, so you will never grow, even if you are training harder than Arnold Schwarzenegger back in the days. The most basic principle around which your weight lifting routine must be build is "maximum intensity followed by maximum rest."

Every individual is different, thus there is no universal weight lifting routine that will work for everybody. That's why it will be senseless to fill your head with exact routines that you should follow like a robot. Rule number two - always warm up before a workout.

Warming up properly is the best insurance against injuries in this sport. Of course, most people know that, but simply don't do it properly or at all. This is not just some part of your training that you can skip or get over with quickly. During that phase, you send a signal to your body that you will be training.

Any weight lifting routine must be focused around a given individual, depending on how much time he can devote to weight lifting and what his/her goals are. For people that can only find time to train 3 days a week, it's advisable to combine two muscle groups in the same day. Those of you who have more time will find themselves in a better position as it is much more effective to train each muscle group separately. Don't worry, you won't over-train, because one muscle group is recovering while you are training the other.

Stick to the basics. There are some classical exercises that bodybuilders have been doing for years. Learn them and be consistent with them. Bench press is the best exercise for chest, squats are the most effective movement for legs, while barbell rows hit your back the hardest.