10 Fitness Mistakes or How to Make Training Productive

There are such people in every gym you have to restrain yourself not hit them with bar on the back saying "Keep your back straight! During row you should work Latissimus dorsi but not biceps!"

If was the wrong technique the only sin could lead to injury. There are variety of machines and Tools at gym's that can be alternative to a medieval rack. So there are an infinite number of variants to get injuries.

Of course, if your technique is critically wrong and risk of serious injury is very high, you will be given an advice about and even shown the proper performance.

But in most cases guys who "I-know-how-to-do-right-and-don't-need-a-trainer" will never be given any advise. Because there is no sense. There is a just another clown who will not see any results and stop to attend the gym during one-two months after the beginning.

So, to have any results we've collected 10 stupid mistakes commonly occuring at gyms. Show some attention on them, may be you have such sins too?

Mistake 1: waiting for the machine.

When does the average man attend the gym? Either in the morning, before work, or in the evening, after work. Of course there is a rush hour at this time there.

The best variant is to attend gym in unpopular time: either early in the morning when gym has just opened or very late in the evening before closing or during working time when all white collars are working in offices.

Nevertheless, if you have no opportunity to chose the time without people at the gym time will have no big sense if you don't wait concrete machine. 

In other words, don't create problem where there is no problem. You should always have plan B. Is the Smith machine busy? Do squats with free weights! If you replace barbell with dumbbells or even kettlebells, you can get such a good bonus as load additional muscles doesn't included in exercises with barbell.

So, if you have alternative plan on force majeure, you will never waist you time in queue to machine.

Mistake 2: neglect the warm-up.

Of course, if skip warm-up before training, you can save precious 15-20 minutes.

In this case a risk to get injury is increased. On the other hand, time is saved!

I think you understand the irony. Never neglect the warm-up - you should include exercises with you own weight in it: squats, jump rope session, set of lunges and pushups - all this increase the heart rate level and warm the heart itself before real serious load.

It doesn't matter how much time you have, a warm-up set is required. Every first set in any exercise should be done with low weight and high quantity of reps. This will pump the blood in target muscle and helps to ''rehearse'' the movement.

If you haven't enough time for the whole program physically, it's better to decrease time for rest between sets and reduce all sets by one. In every exercise. But never sacrifice the warm-up.

Mistake 3: you haven't a clear plan.

Do you go shopping without a shopping list? Ok, it's not a good example. I can repent, I have such a sin myself: walk between rows licking lips at the bright packaging and glancing at the prices. And what about pharmacy? Do you go there without list? So about the gym. It is not comme il faut to go there without worked and flexible training plan.

All should be thought in advance: exercises, quantity of sets and reps, time for rest and exercise sequence. Everything you will do at gym.

If you are lucky and have a good spotter, discuss all these details with him. It is a guarantee you both will do real business but not waist the time.

Mistake 4: do cardio before strength training.

Cardio is a cool thing, of course. Load of cardio is very good for any program and purposes, you should only know where to stop. Unfortunately, it can be harmful, especially if you do it in unproper time.

Thus, 30-minutes running before squats with big weights will warm up your body and increase heart rate level .There is one problem: when you will be under the bar ready to begin squats, you will have already been exhausted. In the best case this can lead to unproper technique. In the worst case you can get injury. So there will be better to do set with empty bar or low weight to prepare the body for the upcoming load.

Mistake 5: using the same machines, exercises and quantity of sets and reps.

It is a boring thing to train the same program every time. It leads to training plateau period very quickly. So you should change your program after several weeks of using it. If program is still showing you results, but not so big as before, you should try alternative exercises or change quantity of sets and reps sharply and the weight accordingly.

The optimal variant is to change program after half and a month or two months after the beginning. By the way, keeping your training diary. It's a cool help to track progress and notice exercises and techniques which give the best results.

Mistake 6: rest intervals are not definite.

If believe to professionals recommendations (we don't see reasons not to believe them), most gym's visitors should spent on training not more than one hour. This hour include the warm-up, strength workout and couple of minutes for rest after training, i.e. after last set when you try to understand: you finished the set before you died or after. 

To make it possible use a stopwatch or a timer on your smartphone. Modern gadgets and devices can be used not only to run birds. Believe me, you will be very surprised how quickly the training will be finished.

Mistake 7: abs exercises at the end of the training.

If you postpone abs exercises at the end of the workout, in 99 cases from 100 these exercises will have formal character. By the end of the training you have already tired and high-reps sets for abs it's the last thing you want.

To have enough strength for abs, do exercises for this muscle group during rest between sets for other muscle groups. An exception is exercises that load the whole body. For example, squats with big weights. Abs are working here, they are stabilizing the body help you not to break the bone in the nose or hit the nape. 

However, train abs between sets of such exercises as incline barbell press, leg press and dumbbell curls, it's a real useful thing: because abs almost don't work in such exercises.

Mistake 8: not to take water with you

May be you have cooler right at the gym and this mistake is not about you.

I haven't some. So either you take bottle of water with you and everything is all right or you forgot the shaker at home. As a result, you will have desert in your mouth during all the training. The only chance to quench thirst is to go to the lobby-bar after the routine.

Mistake 9: fuss around with the machine

Don't be at the gym like a comet. Not only can such behaviour be uncomfortable for other visitors, even if you train the superset, but also you will waist your precious training time.

So try to group you exercises together in such a way that helps you to use machines in one part of the gym. You will spend less time walking from one machine to another and will finish your training more quickly.

Mistake 10: using balance trainers during the workout

If your aim is to increase the strength, forget about any fashion complex tools. We talk about BOSU balls, it's such a rubber hemisphere attached to the platform, and the other balance trainers too.

 

Their main target is to improve the muscle sense of movement, strength, body position in space and balance, of course. However, using such tools during strength training leads to decrease of weights. If you are not able stay stabilized without help, postpone this practice to the end of training.

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