When it comes to working out, many rules should be followed. Failure to follow those rules can lead to injury or outright quitting from a workout routine. Remember that everyone is different and what works for some may not work for others depending on their goals, motivation level, and other factors.
By following these common mistakes in your workouts, you will gain the most benefits while minimizing any potential setbacks. In order to avoid injury and be successful at your fitness goals, it’s important to know what mistakes you’re making. Here are the 27 most common workout mistakes that people make:
These common workout mistakes includes:
Not Eating Enough Before Your Workout
People make the number one mistake when starting a new exercise regimen is doing so on an empty stomach. While this may seem like a good idea at first because you’re getting straight down to business and no messing around with food consumption, the truth is that this can be counterproductive.
Not Eating Enough After Your Workout
The number two mistake people make after a workout is not eating enough food to replenish the carbohydrate stores in their bodies. When you break down muscle fibers in your activities, those fibers must be rebuilt if you want them to get bigger and stronger. Without proper levels of carbohydrates in your body, the rebuilding process cannot begin.
Wearing Shoes That Don’t Accommodate Correct Foot Alignment
It’s been proven by medical doctors that wearing shoes with an incorrect arch support structure leads to all kinds of foot ailments, such as plantar fasciitis, bunions, and other serious conditions that will impede you from working out altogether! So, before you do any serious workout, spend some time at your local running shoe store getting fitted.
Training Each Body Part Too Frequently
When trying to develop a well-balanced, athletic physique, you must train each body part once every 5-7 days. Doing so allows adequate recovery time for the muscles to grow and become stronger! Also, training chest and back on consecutive days will lead to overtraining, resulting in many problems, including sickness or injury.
If you’re going to be working out several times per week with weights, make sure not to overtrain by alternating between upper body (chest & back) workouts and lower body (legs & hips) workouts. This will allow your body to recover properly.
Not Resting Enough Between Sets
While you may not feel as though you’re overtraining by working out, if you consistently work out more than 20 minutes at a time and do not rest enough between sets, then you very well could be overworking your muscles and leading yourself down.
Not Acknowledging Your Body’s Pain Signals
One of the most common mistakes many beginners make is pushing themselves too hard during their workouts. Unfortunately, this can lead to serious pain or discomfort, which will inhibit their ability to work out in the future.
So when doing any form of resistance training (weight lifting), always acknowledge what type of pain it is (sharp, dull, burning, etc.). If you start feeling any unusual pains while exercising or shortly after, then stop immediately! You could have a serious injury that needs medical attention.
Not Hydrating Properly
It’s very important to drink plenty of water when in the gym because your body is constantly sweating during workouts, leading to dehydration unless you’re giving it proper hydration. Simply drinking large amounts of water throughout the day will ensure that your body stays hydrated adequately for all activities, including weight training!
So make sure that you’re loading up on water before and after your workouts as well as during them. This will allow you to get through them with less pain, less fatigue, and more energy, which results in better workouts!
Not Warming Up Properly
Muscles are designed to be used, not idled. Therefore, when you first start your workout and even before each exercise you’re going to be doing, you must warm up with light cardiovascular movements for 5-10 minutes. This will increase blood flow through your muscles, allowing them to get warm and ready to work hard during each set of exercises. Also, stretching is essential after each workout, especially for the muscles you just worked out (For more on performing stretches properly, go here ).
Stretching Too Much Before Your Workout Instead of After You Should Be Doing Both!
Many people make the mistake of stretching their muscles excessively before starting their workout. However, the purpose of stretching is to make sure that your muscles stay supple and limber while working out so they don’t tend to pull or tear from their regular positions.
For example, you may want to stretch your shoulder muscles thoroughly if you’re using them heavily during your exercises (such as when focusing on chest & back exercises). Doing this will keep the muscles stretched and ready for heavy use instead of being too tight or stiff, which can cause more pain!
Not Stretching Out After Your Workout
While not quite as crucial as stretching before your workouts, it’s still important to stretch after your workouts because even though you’re not on your feet and moving around as much as you were when working out, your muscles are still contracting quite a bit during each set of exercises. This can lead to tightness in the muscles, which may inhibit your ability to move them properly or, even worse, cause muscle strain, especially after resistance training workouts that involve weights!
Not Performing The Correct Exercises
Another common mistake people make is not doing the proper type of exercise(s) for their age group. For example, if you’re over 40 years old and just getting started with weightlifting, you must begin with more effortless movements like dumbbell presses or leg extensions to not put too much stress on your body. On the other hand, if you’re younger than 40 and just starting with bodybuilding, you must start with exercises like squats or deadlifts because they’ll put much more stress on your body.
This applies to many people who are just beginning weightlifting, whether they’re young or old. They tend to try too many different types of exercise and not focus on one particular area. For example, instead of focusing on the chest muscles for a month or two, shift focus to the shoulders for another month. Most people jump around from one part of their body to another every few weeks, which puts them at risk for serious injury or burnout, especially when combined with improper warm-ups & stretching!
Not Paying Attention To Your Body
It’s essential that while you’re working out, you pay close attention to what muscle group(s) you’re using for each exercise and if it feels like a particular area is taking more of a beating than another. This way, you can ensure that your body receives the most benefit from your workout without undue damage to any areas (such as pushing yourself too hard or using an improper form that can lead to injury). It also helps prevent boredom since doing the same type of exercise repeatedly gets old quickly!
Not Setting Specific Goals And Making Plans For Them
Many people set extremely vague goals and don’t have any specific plans on how they’re going to achieve them. For example, many people want to lose 20lbs. so they write down a goal such as “I want to lose weight” or “I need to lose weight.” But when it comes time for them to make plans on achieving that goal, they are often unable or unwilling to do so!
At this point, most people give up and end up not accomplishing anything except maybe feeling worse about themselves (because they know that putting in less effort than before). If someone wants you to think of an example, the best way would be someone who tried to run a marathon but didn’t know how much training they needed or whether they were prepared for all 26.2 miles ahead of time, especially if they’ve ever run a sporting event before!
Not Paying Attention To Your Form
Another common mistake people make is not paying attention to their form while exercising. While you’re pushing yourself to failure during every set, you must maintain good posture and proper form (if not perfect!) for each exercise so that your body receives the most benefit out of it without risking injury. Otherwise, you may end up with an injured muscle or even worse!
Assuming That You Are Doing A Certain Exercise Properly From The Start
It’s also very common for beginner exercisers to assume that they are doing a particular exercise properly from the start when they aren’t. This can result in wasting time and effort if you continue sticking with it blindly. For example, many people assume that as long as they push themselves hard during every set, they do an exercise properly when the improper form is probably derailing their results!
Not Setting Aside A Specific Time And Place To Work Out
Another common mistake people make when trying to exercise regularly is not setting aside a specific time and place. This way you will have no excuses like “I’m too busy today” or forgetting because you’ll already know exactly what has to be done and where!
In addition, by sticking with some schedules, you can make sure that your workouts do not interfere with other essential activities like work or family commitments. It also helps keep the mind focused on working out so that you’re not thinking about other things (like the TV or your friends) while you’re exercising!
Ignoring Your Diet
While most people focus on their workouts as the primary way for them to lose weight or build muscle mass, the truth is that their diet is much more important! Dressing in an expensive shirt doesn’t make you rich, and working out regularly but eating junk food will not help you lose weight or build muscle!
Relying On “Quick-Fix” Workout Routines To Help You Lose Weight/Build Muscle Mass
Many people think they can lose weight/build muscle mass fast by doing “quick fixes” like fad diets (like the HCG diet), unique workout routines, or taking certain supplements. But what most of them fail to realize is that if these methods are good for losing fat/building up muscle quickly. Unfortunately, they are also very bad (and even dangerous) because your body won’t fully recover from grueling workout sessions, forcing you to work out without proper rest constantly.
Not Realizing That Plateaus Are Natural
Another common mistake that many people make while trying to lose weight or build muscle mass does not realize that plateaus are natural and will always happen, even if they have been sticking with their diet and training program 100%! Even the most muscular individuals in the world have experienced periods of stagnation before becoming who they are today! What’s important is that one should never give up on reaching your goals with multiple tried-and-tested methods.
Too Much Variation
Another common mistake people make is losing weight or building muscle mass by doing too much variation in their workout routines. This was the main reason why many people quit before they ever started seeing results! If you are committed and want to achieve your goals, you need to be consistent with how you train, at least until you have reached that goal (if done right).
Not Using A Good Nutrition Plan
While most people focus on their workouts as the primary way of losing weight or building muscle mass, what they fail to realize is that just like training programs will vary depending on how long one has been into bodybuilding, nutrition and diet plans too will vary depending on how long you’ve been training. So, for example, a person who’s been into bodybuilding for a while should have a more advanced diet plan than someone starting.
Going On Fad Diets
Many people think they can lose weight/build muscle mass fast by doing fad diets (like the HCG diet), special workout routines, or taking certain supplements. Still, many fail to realize that these methods are good for losing fat/building up muscle quickly. They are also very bad because your body won’t fully recover from a grueling workout session, forcing you to work out without proper rest constantly.
Eating Too Much Protein
While many people think that eating a lot of protein is the key to building muscle mass, they fail to realize that it’s important not to overeat on proteins (at least when you are trying to lose weight). You see, while having excess protein in your system is not harmful or unhealthy in any way, it can create an overload for your body, forcing it to store other nutrients that it does not need as fat!
This means that apart from all the hard work you’ve put into dieting and exercising, most of it will be wasted in the end due to poor nutrition and overtraining! So what’s important here is finding a balance between enough dietary intake and your daily energy expenditure!
Setting Unrealistic Goals For Yourself
Many people make the mistake of setting unrealistic goals for themselves. This was one of the main reasons why many people quit sooner than they should have, especially when you consider that most newcomers to bodybuilding are not entirely knowledgeable about reaching their goals because they aren’t aware of what they need!
So, while you must set challenging goals for yourself, it’s also equally important not to take on more than you can chew and risk failing in your initial attempts at reaching your goal.
Not Warming Up Before A Workout Session/Stretching
Workout Session It’s incredibly important for you to warm up before a
workout session and to stretch after a heavy workout session because it helps you improve your range of motion, increase your flexibility, and enhance recovery before/after a grueling training session! What’s more, warming up properly will help prevent muscle tissue injuries, something many bodybuilders succumb to due to their overly stressed bodies.
Not Warming Up Properly For A Workout Session/Not Cooling Down
While warming up before an intense exercise session might seem pointless for some people into bodybuilding (especially if they are hardcore), there is no denying that they need to do so! Doing so not only makes sure that they get down safely and without any injuries, but it also dramatically reduces their risk of developing any muscle pulls or other injuries.
Warming up for your body is similar to warming up for any heavy machinery you’re planning to work on, just like how if you were to start working on a generator without warming it up first, it might end up getting damaged due to the temperature difference or friction.
Your body will also experience a similar effect if you start working on it without warming up! What’s more is that when you’re in the process of cooling down after a workout session (which should be done slowly and gently), your body will gradually get back to its normal temperature, helping you stay cool and refreshed.
Failing To Learn From Your Mistakes
Most people who set out to work on their health and fitness completely ignore the fact that they need to learn from their mistakes because it helps them improve their chances of achieving success and allows them to avoid making the same mistakes!
While there are plenty of ways you can learn from your mistakes, there is one thing that most people tend to do when it comes to learning from their mistakes, which is confusing individual results with overall outcomes!
While individual results might not be a very reliable indicator of how well/poorly you are doing, it’s a surefire sign that you’re doing something right or wrong, allowing you to adjust accordingly!
We hope this has helped you identify the most common workout mistakes and avoid them in your workouts. If you have any questions or need help with a specific training plan, we’d love to hear from you!