How to Lift a Dumbbell

"Just lift it! How complicated is that?"
That was the first answer I got when I first asked about weight lifting and how it was done. The second was:

"Just watch the other guys doing it, that's all you need to know. What, you need a book to explain it to you? "

That was back in my school days, when gyms were run and dominated by huge, macho musclemen who were big on maintaining a natural anabolic state for mass-building, but not very big on explaining stuff. It didn't help that they were bigger and scarier than Shrek, which made me feel like, say, that wimpy little gingerbread man character. If my asking them something once or twice apparently irritated them, it made me nervous to think what a third or fourth question would do to them--or me, for that matter.

Just lift it? And put it down again? I've been doing that for years around my parents' home with the groceries! How come I don't look like the Incredible Hulk after all that? I must be doing something wrong, or at least different from what those bodybuilders are doing. Surely there is some knack or subtlety to it that I'm not getting yet.

I consulted the chart on the gymnasium wall. There was an anatomy chart with hard-to-pronounce names of muscles and bones, and with each muscle group, a list of exercises that directly affect that muscle. For say, the biceps, a bicep curl or a minor variation of it was to be done. And what did it say about lifting the weight? Lift it...and slowly put it back down again! I guess that was that, right? No more questions, I put myself to work.

After several months, my results in muscle gain were precisely--zero! There was something I was definitely missing. I was going faithfully to the gym, lifting that weight and putting it down wasn't I? Several times every week? After some rethinking-- okay, a lot of rethinking, and deciding to devote the next few weeks to figure things out for myself and learn what the charts and gym-rats were not telling me.

The next few weeks turned into years, and some of the more important things I learned about consciously working on the mind-muscle link are listed here.

1) Find the Right Exercise - make sure the workout hits the desired muscle group directly. I once found myself doing pushups for months, only to discover that they didn't work the biceps. In fact, in addition the the pectorals,. pushups directly engage the triceps, which is on the exact opposite side of the arm as the biceps!
This is easily looked up in most exercise charts, or ask a trainer for specific exercises. Corollary to this, you have to experiment with the numerous available variations that work the same muscle. There are standing biceps, hammer curls, zottman curls, seated biceps, cable bicep curls, concentration curls for the biceps alone. This will engage the muscle differently, and may involve using different types of equipment. If you are a gym member, take advantage of the available machines and/or weights that you can find.

2) Get a Grip - Grabbing a weight and mindlessly flinging it up and down may not only sacrifice your goals, it may even result in injury. I've had a long-term strained wrist simply from gripping the weight improperly, and transferring the load to my hand and wrist.
When handling a weight or machine for lifting, the wrist must be in a neutral position. This means that unless you specifically are doing a forearm exercise, your wrist shouldn't be cocked or bent inward, because that takes the load of the muscle you want to exercise. This becomes clear, for example, when you are trying to do a heavy bicep curl. Sometimes in straining to lift the dumbbell, you'll find that you want to curl your wrist inwards, just to get that weight moving. That means the weight is too heavy at that point, and you will have to switch down to a lighter one so as not to sacrifice effective and safe form.
If you must use a heavy weight that is beyond the strength of your wrist, you might want to invest in wrist straps. These are strips of heavy-duty webbing that you wrap not only around your wrists but also on the bar of the dumbbell, in case you lose your grip. They will also help maintain the neutral-wrist position, and keep the exercise load on the target muscle.

3) Warm Up - Ever have that set where you didn't feel it in your muscles, as if you were going through the motions, but it didn't "feel" right? A friend of mine from Hawaii used to tell me, "The muscles tend to forget the exercises, so you have to remind them". Pick up some light weights at the beginning of every workout. This will gently introduce more blood and other essential fluids into the muscles. Warm-ups not only keep the muscle safe by protecting them from huge tears that come from premature and abrupt wrenching, but they also nurture the muscle into mindfully being directed by you.
Usually I do three sets, one light set for warm-up, one heavy set for building strength and/or mass, and the last with medium-light resistance for endurance/definition. The number of repetitions in each set depends on what aspect of the muscle you'd like to emphasize.

4) Slow Down - Mindlessly thrashing the weights about can definitely earn you a quick and painful injury. Going too fast can strain your joints into irreparable, or expensive injury. It pays to slow down frequently.
Slowing down does not mean picking the 1-lb. dumbbell and absently lifting and lowering it, zombie-like while you watch the overhead TV display. What this really entails is a very mindful, conscious "listening" to how the muscle feels at every point in the range of movement in each rep, from top to bottom, and then back. This is the best teacher in exercise form: you learn to pay attention to what moving muscle or muscles is being affected by the exercise, and how to position your body for better effectiveness. This is also when you learn if a certain weight really is too heavy for you after 5-6 reps, or too light , even after 30-40 reps.
You might notice that when you don't slow down, you suddenly drop the weight, letting it fall to the bottom of the range of movement. On the other hand, you might notice at the top of the curl, you tend to relax, touch the dumbbell to your chest and let your shoulders fall. This takes the strain off your biceps and gives you a rest, but reduces the effectively of the exercise. Slowing down and paying attention to these subtle effects makes you super-aware of what your muscle fibers are doing.

5) Change Around - Ever have that workout where you were out of focus, distracted, and just went through the whole thing like a dream you can't remember?
Once you have mastered each exercise and learned how to listen to your muscles, there is an instinct to stick with it permanently. It seems to makes sense, doesn't it? But every now and then you will hit a plateau where the same exercises will not have the same perceived effect. Some speculate that it is where we settle in a groove (definition of groove = "not that much different from a rut"), and lose mindfulness in our workouts. This is where variety plays a great role into keeping our muscles growing. Every two to three months experiment with adding or substituting different exercises to your workouts, and keep those muscles guessing.