Common Workout Mistakes

Overtraining

Another big mistake is overtraining the muscle by working it more than once per week. You muscles only grow when resting, not during the few minutes under load, so rest is an important part of your routine. The length and quality of your resting periods are just as important as the workout itself.

Only work a given muscle group once per week. This can be reduced to 72 hours, but it’s not recommended. The reason is, you frequently engage more than one group while exercising another. For example, your arms get a good workout when you do chest or back.

This leads us to another big mistake – working small muscle groups. Many people want large, impressive biceps, so do tons of curls. But a better approach would be to get bigger arms. Your biceps are smaller in compared to the triceps – 1 to 2, so it’s better to work them. Even better is to do exercises that work many groups called compound exercises. In fact, if all you did were rows, bench and squats, you could build an impressive body.

Don’t spend time working small muscle groups until you get some mass to work with. This means moving as heavy a weight as you can safely manage and resting. Tiring yourself out doing small muscle groups will not help.

High Expectations

Another common error is to assume that you will grow muscles at the same rate that everyone else does. This is not possible – you may become stronger – even stronger than some of the more muscle-bound types around you, but you will grow according to your genetics and body type. Also, this process – even under the best conditions – is slow. You can add an inch per YEAR to your arms if you do everything right.

Wrong Exercise Order

This leads to another error – exercise order. Don’t start on small muscle groups like the calves and then do squats. Do the compound exercises that work major muscle groups first, then the smaller muscle groups. You may want to warm up your knees by doing some leg extensions before doing squats, however.

Another mistake is to work the wrong groups together. Legs and back, for example. These are two large muscle groups that should be worked on separate days. A better solution would be legs and shoulders or chest and biceps.

If you workout 3 days a week, concentrate on chest, back and legs. Any other exercises will be a bonus. If you want to get into competitive body building, your routine will change, but you need a base first.

Poor Nutrition

Not getting the right foods is another important failing. You need higher quantities of protein, lower concentrations of carbs and low fat intake to be able to see the results of your workout.

Also need to eat more often to prevent “wasting” – the body can actually feed off your newly gained muscle for energy if you don’t eat often enough and get the right nutrients.

Instead of eating every 5 to 6 hours – the standard 3 meals per day, eat smaller meals 5 to 6 times per day or every 2 to 3 hours.

Eating high quality proteins like fish and chicken are great because they are very low in fats. Steaks and hamburgers are OK, too – just keep it down to once or twice a week.

Unless you keep low levels of body fat, all the work in the world will not show off your muscles.

Stay Educated

Keeping up to date and educated is the best defense against making most of these blunders. The small investment you make in education will go a long way to help you burn the fat and avoid mistakes that can set you back in your program.

But remember, it’s consistency in the application of your program that will make more of a difference in the long run – fine tuning will only make a small difference at best, so don’t get too hung up on it.

Top

Enter your search terms Submit search form