Advanced Weight Lifting
Are you an advanced weight lifter?

Strength gains are important for every level of weight lifter. Advanced lifters need to concentrate on building strength too and must find ways to keep the progress going. Weight selection during workouts and having a plan for progression, as in the WLC Program, really helps the advanced lifter to continue progressing in the weight room.


Advanced weight lifting programs must have the advanced lifter decrease weight in order to make further progress. In other words, you must go backwards in order to go forward! If your advanced weight lifting program doesn't do this, you need to find a new one!


Are you an advanced lifter? This question should be easy for you to answer, but it should only be easy for you to answer if you truly are advanced. You will know when you are an advanced lifter. The amount of weight you lift does not matter in my definition of advanced. Everyone is different and everyone has different strength levels.


I consider a weight lifter advanced when he/she knows how to build muscle, lose fat, and build strength! Advanced weight lifters are knowledgeable on diets, lifting programs, cardio, and stretching. They will know what's best for their body! And many will know how to help others.


If you'd like to gauge yourself on a scale developed by Dr. Kilgore, the Strength Standards table is at that link. I am personally right at the advanced level on some exercises and above the advanced level on others. But, these are only strength standards. People are so different that someone could be advanced and not reach these strength levels. Some people will be above and beyond the elite level!

If you have to think about whether or not you are advanced, then you most likely aren't advanced. You'll know when you're advanced. People will let you know! If you know what you're doing and you've met your goals over several years, then you just may be an advanced weight lifter. I have no idea how to tell you for sure whether you are advanced or not, but it will take several years for most people to get there.


People will ask you questions about weight lifting, diets, fitness, and pretty much anything you can think of related to weight lifting. If you have trouble answering their questions and don't know why something works the way it does, you probably aren't advanced yet. Keep studying and you will soon be there.

When I say advanced, I'm not talking about high level bodybuilders or high level fitness competitors. I might call these elite weight lifters. The elite level of weight lifters definitely know what they are doing and probably have special help from others along their way. Some will have prep guys that get them dialed in for bodybuilding shows.


Most of the elite level lifters will have high level trainers who really know what they're doing. This web site isn't really directed towards the elite level lifters, but I welcome them too! Most elite level lifters will not be looking for the type of information I provide here at Weight Lifting Complete. They will already know how to build muscle and lose fat.


If you are an elite level weight lifter, I'd like to refer you to one of the better sites on the Internet for the elite level bodybuilders. Intense Muscle is a bodybuilding forum with the famous Dante and his DC Training methods. Go straight to the Dogg Pound forum for elite level bodybuilding! If you're not at least at the advanced level, I would not bother using DC methods. Dante himself will tell you so along with all the other advanced and elite level lifters there!

When I say advanced lifter, I am talking about the people you know that have been lifting weights for years, look like it, have come a long way, and know how to build muscle and lose fat! These are the people that fit my definition of advanced. They know what they're doing when it comes to building muscle and losing fat thru weight lifting, diet, and cardiovascular exercise.


I am not talking about the people who go to the gym every day and bench press for two hours. They've been doing the same thing for 10 years and haven't figured out how to build an inch on their chest for 10 years. These people are at the gym only to socialize and to hope that someone will call them strong or big when they see them bench pressing 225. The same 225 they did 5 years ago.


The advanced lifters will be knowledgeable on weight lifting and diet. They will know how to plan and reach their goals. I don't call anyone advanced that may look like it but has only used drugs their entire life and has no idea how to build muscle without drugs. It's not all about the looks! It's about knowledge and putting that knowledge into practice.

Any weight lifter that does not know how to do squats is not an advanced lifter. I saw an instructional video the other day with a guy that had huge arms but tiny legs attempting to teach people how to Squat.

See the Starting Strength book to the left? If you really want to learn how to perform the squat, deadlift, bench press, overhead press, stiff legged deadlift, romanian deadlift, pull ups, chin ups, front squats, and more correctly, you need to buy that book today. It provides details on every step of each of those exercises. I never realized how much a few small form corrections could cause huge strength gains until I read the book and applied what I learned! That book really is amazing. Advanced weight lifting is taken to a new level with this book.

Never try to teach a beginner how to do something if you don't know what you're doing. This can only lead to frustration and possible injury for that person in the future. Don't act like you know something if you don't! Advanced weight lifting is for the truly advanced lifters out there. Let the advanced weight lifters teach the beginners. I still learn new things each and every day.

If you've found this page because you're looking for an advanced weight lifting program, I want you to give the Advanced version of the WLC Program a try. Here's the link for your convenience: Advanced WLC. Don't forget that sometimes you must go backwards in order to move forward! And don't forget that the WLC Program is fully customizable to fit your needs. You only need to follow the important principles of the program to get the best results of your life.

If you like this page on advanced weight lifting, please add it to your favorite bookmarks thru the links below so you can share it with your friends. If you'd like to get personal help and advice from me, please join WLC Space! This is a service provided to you by me for free. I want to help you succeed. Join today!