I often see people make the same mistakes, whether fit or not, when exercising. Below are the top 3 mistakes made in exercise, but they are not without a remedy. Always use correct from and technique, avoid exercising too much, use a program that is specifically designed for you, and know for sure that better fitness success had arrived and it’s here to stay; just like summer.
Mistake #1 – Bad Form and Technique – Almost everyone I see exercising is swinging, bouncing, jerking, and going way too fast during their resistance exercises. They are using momentum, other muscle groups, and their joints to move resistance instead of isolating the targeted muscle or muscle group. This will only result in joint injury, pain, and immobility in the years to come.
Solution – GO SLOW! There are two things you have to do with any resistance exercise; control your body, and control the motion of the exercise. This means lighten up on your resistance and stabilize your body while you are performing the exercise. Count 1 second on the flex (hard part of the exercise) and 3 seconds on the release. Your joints are for stability during a range of motion, not to use for moving resistance. The goal is to isolate and fatigue a muscle as much as you can with no joint impact.
Mistake #2 – Over Training – This is training and exercising to a point where your body does not have enough time to recuperate and heal up from exercising. This could mean training with too much intensity during a particular workout and/or training too often. Exercise is a controlled physical stress which causes the body to respond by rebuilding itself to a stronger condition than before. Many people I see stop their fitness progress because they put their bodies in a position where it cannot recuperate adequately to become stronger.
Solution – Journal everything you do in exercise including how you feel during and after your exercise routines. Write down your sets and repetitions and look for plateaus and/or declines in strength and endurance. Be aware of prolonged soreness (soreness exceeding 3 days from onset) especially soreness in your joints. I also suggest you take time off from the gym and shorten your workout duration and frequency. When you are trying to build muscle, you should only exercise each muscle group once a week and when you are trying to shape and tone, you should exercise each muscle group only twice a week. You should also not exercise every day. Try taking a day off after every two days of exercise.
Mistake #3 – Giving Up – Unfortunately, giving up is a direct product of the previous two mistakes I have listed as #1 and #2. The reasons people give up on exercise and fitness are a lack of progress or ROI (Return On Investment) from their efforts to become healthier. I see many people “spinning their wheels” in the gym and wondering why their bodies refuse to change. The effort and dedication is there, but the desired results keep eluding them. This is typically the result of several different reasons, but the main one is not understanding how each person should exercise according to THEIR NEEDS and fitness goals.
Solution – As I have said many times before, education is the key to success in anything and everything we do. We must understand our genetic predisposition (physical tendencies), what exercise program best suits OUR needs and goals, how and what to eat, and what it looks like and feels like to exercise the “One Right Way”. To succeed in fitness we have to know from where we are starting, where we need to go, and as many specifics as we can learn on how to get there. We need a very detailed map to let us know we are definitely headed in the right direction to reach our fitness destination. Stop watching what others are doing and start reading and learning about your body and how it responds to exercise.
Bobby Whisnand 