Whether you’ve just started working out or are a seasoned gym member, you probably are making some common mistakes when you workout. Some mistakes can add time to every workout, while others slow your fitness progress. If you don’t have the proper form for an exercise, that mistake can cause injury or minimize the benefits you’ll receive. Identifying mistakes you’ve been making shouldn’t be embarrassing, even if you already have a lot of knowledge. It’s an opportunity to learn even more. Here are some of the mistakes and how to correct course.
You may not be working with enough intensity or too much intensity too frequently.
If you don’t push yourself, you won’t improve. However, if you consistently go at peak intensity, you also could be doing yourself a disservice. It’s not difficult to understand how taking it easy in the gym won’t get you the results you want. If you can lift five-pound dumbbells with ease, you’ll improve your fitness only slightly, stay at a fitness standstill, or even lose some muscle strength, if you never use weights any heavier. Pushing yourself to the limit every day also minimizes your results. It doesn’t give your muscles a chance to heal, so they progressively get weaker.
Using the same routine for too long can also be a fitness mistake.
If you don’t vary your routine, your muscles become efficient at doing each movement. It also builds muscle tissue on the same planes and in the same way, so when you use muscles differently, they don’t respond well. Varying your routine should be part of your fitness program. It helps create new neural pathways in your brain. New movements require more energy, so you burn more calories, too.
Are you adequately warming up and cooling down?
Warming your muscles before you push them through an intense workout enhances your workout and protects the muscles. It stimulates circulation by increasing your heart rate, loosens the muscles, and helps prevent muscle injury during a workout. Cooling down after a workout can boost recovery and prevent blood from pooling in the lower extremities. Doing stretching exercises during a cool-down also improves flexibility.
- Avoid wasting time. Cut the time between sets to give your body a more effective workout. If you don’t keep your heart rate high, you won’t burn as many calories or build your aerobic endurance.
- Many people fail to focus on each movement when they exercise and often just go through the motions. Controlling your movements during exercise and focusing on form helps you get the best results.
- You may be trying to build muscle tissue, but don’t eat a pre and post-workout snack of carbohydrates and protein. The snack not only provides energy for your workout, but it also jump-starts recovery and building muscle tissue.
- You won’t know if you’re progressing if you aren’t tracking your workout. Winners keep score. Tracking your workout turns it into a challenge and helps you identify ways you need extra work. Looking at your progress can be motivating.
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