Mistakes Made In the Gym

There are a lot of mistakes people make when they utilize a gym. However, there are a few mistakes that either produce lousy results or  drive the client away from the gym only to try again the following year. These are in no particular order but each one signifies a misstep that can easily be fixed.

The first mistake the average American makes when taking the first step towards abetter body at the gym is that they don’t clearly define their goals or purpose
for being there. This will clearly lead to dissatisfaction with your results
since you can’t define them in the first place! I wonder how many people stop
working out because of a perceived lack of progress. Not only should one define their results in real terms (lose 10 pounds, not lose some weight) but they should set behavioral goals (see Jan newsletter) that will result in progress. For example, each week I will do three total body workouts that incorporate strength training, flexibility training, and post workout interval training. Here you are now defining what you need to do to achieve success. Not only can you measure your goal you can read just your behaviors based on your results.

Another common mistake the average exerciser makes is that they don’t incorporate any nutritional changes in their lives. I’ve tried again and again to alter my clients body fat through exercise only. My experience has taught me that if my client drives to Five Guys after our workout and decides to eat the burgers and fries with a diet coke that progress will be virtually zero! Nutritional
changes don’t need to be drastic to have positive effects. The idea of
continual small changes will lead to enormous changes not only in your
appearance but in your overall health as well. I like to start with breakfast
and work out from there. There is a lot of great information and a lot of
misinformation on nutrition and dieting in the world today. I love the idea of
calorie control and the eating of a high anti-inflammatory diet (rich in omega
3’s) that’s based on the Mediterrean style of eating (fruits, veggies, lean
meats, seafood, good fats, and whole grains). But there are many different ways
that have very positive outcomes on health and weight, so find one that works
for you.

I also see people wasting a ton of time in the gym either talking or working with
straight sets that take over 10 minutes to complete. If you want to chat join a
social club. I enjoy gossip as much as the next guy, but not when I’m sweaty
and breathing heavily. A good hard workout should take about 45 minutes max.
When I hear someone talking about spending 2 or 3 hours in the gym I cringe at
the ineffectiveness that must be involved in their program. Think full body
workouts with either alternating, tri, or quad sets.  There should be little rest in between your exercises and when you’re done with your workout you should be a little sweaty (that’s a good thing) and feel like you put effort in.

Lastly, one of the biggest errors I see in the world of fitness is people choosing
“cardio” over strength training. A good strength training workout should work
the heart efficiently enough to produce benefits for both a healthy heart and
endurance.  A proper cardio workout should roughly last 30 minutes and should be done at an interval pace (we use 1 minute blasts followed by 2 minutes at an easy pace). I suggest adding the cardio in after a strength workout in order to produce the best fat burning results.  When doing a strength workout go for the free weights over the nautalis equipment. I could write a whole article
on why so refrain for the reasons why (but they are plenty).

As our society becomes faster paced and the amount of time we have for ourselves become less it makes all the sense in the world to incorporate an exercise regimen that is smart, effective, and most importantly FUN! I hope this helps!