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We’re approaching the middle of January, and thankfully the “new year, new me” posts are becoming more and more scarce.
For the first few days of every year, it can feel like every man and his dog are on a full-blown fitness mission. But it’s around this half-way month mark that people start to drop off the bandwagon.
If you’re still making a consistent effort to sweat regularly, you can pat yourself on the muscular back: you’re in the 8% of folks who keep their resolutions.
While your intentions are no doubt pure, if you’re new to the realm of fitness there’s a chance you’re making some errors that are detrimental to your gains. Here are the 10 most common errors thwarting your process in the shred shed.
1. You’re skipping meals on the days you’re training
As every good fitness expert will attest, your diet can make or break the benefits of regular training.
If you’re flogging your rig in the weights room only to go home and gorge on a large Big Mac meal in the evening, it’s unlikely you’ll see any huge changes to your waistline.
On the contrary, if you’re working out like mad and not eating enough of the good stuff, you’ll be doing more harm than good. When you don’t eat enough, your body goes into starvation mode. This slows down your metabolism in order to conserve energy, which in turn makes losing weight near impossible.
So, while you may be thinking that it makes perfect sense to skip meals and lose fat, it’s working the opposite way.
Giving your body the right fuel at brekky, lunch and dinner (as well as staying hydrated throughout the day) will give your muscles the fuel they need to recover and grow.
2. You only classify full-blown, hectic CrossFit sessions as proper exercise
A common misconception a lot of training newbies have is that intense cardio workouts are the only way to see results.
Fact is, every little sweat sesh counts. Most of us don’t feel like absolutely thrashing our bodies every single day. On the days you’d rather not bust your balls, go for a walk or do a low-impact pilates class. Don’t beat yourself up if you don’t have the energy to burn through four HIIT classes a week – bodies need rest, some more than others.
Incidental physical activity (like walking to the train station every morning, going the long route while grabbing your lunch or taking the stairs) adds up too and doesn’t require a tonne of time.
3. You go hard one week and do nothing the next
Ahhhh, consistency. It is the mother of all progress.
Echoing the above point, starting a hardcore workout plan that doesn’t fit into your daily life all too well is a sure-fire way to psyche yourself out.
We’ve all been there – one week you’re Arnold Schwarzenegger-ing it, and the next you’re a literal potato. You may feel as though you’ve earned those lazy days, but the week on, week off approach puts undue stress on your body, and means you’re more likely to start skipping weeks more frequently.
Training is a lifestyle change, so keeping it steady and relatively constant is the best way to keep a habit.
4. You’re wearing trainers you bought in 2013
There are usually two types of people in this activewear-obsessed world: those who collect trainers like it’s a hobby, and those who wear the same tatty pair they’ve been wearing every day for years.
I was once in that latter category. When I first started training regularly as an adult, I wore my Year 9 volleyball runners. Not only were they offensively pink and high-key tragic, they were also bad for my ankles and feet.
Over time, shoes wear out. After a fair bit of wear they lose their ability to absorb shock which can wreak havoc on your body. If you’re training more than three times a week, experts reckon you should change your shoes every 5 to 6 months.
Suddenly in the market for a new pair after reading that sentence? Nike’s got some gooduns.
5. You’re coming to the gym under-prepared and empty handed
Gyms are public places. They’re sweaty, and oftentimes smelly, public places.
For the sake of your fellow sweaters, there are a few mandatories you should always abide by when working out.
Numbero uno? Wear deodorant. While it sounds almost too obvious to mention, you’d be surprised at how many folks forgo the roll-on before working out. While you shouldn’t have to smell like a rose garden when you sweat, there’s no excuse to smell of pure bin juice at the gym. It’s always better to overdeoderise than underdeoderise.
Bring a towel. Wiping down the machines / equipment / floor you’re using when you’re finished is common courtesy, and prevents hazards like slipping.
Don’t forget your water bottle. This one’s more of a personal must, but if you’re sweating profusely, you gotta keep those fluids up. Having a water bottle on hand means you won’t have to awkwardly dart to the water fountain every 10 mins.
making my way to the water cooler like
6. You’re wearing clothes you feel really uncomfortable in
Your leggings are too low and they’re digging into your hips and giving you a hectic front bum. Your top keeps riding up, meaning you’ve got to pull it down after every rep. Your hair is out and it’s getting stuck to your sweaty neck. Your undies were not the correct choice.
been there
I could go on, but the long and short of it is, when you’re at the gym you shouldn’t have to think about the clothes you’re wearing and how they feel on your body. They should be an afterthought.
When you’re wearing the right things, you could even reap the benefits of a super cool scientific phenomenon called enclothed cognition. It’s the idea that wearing a piece of clothing and embodying its symbolic meaning will trigger associated psychological processes… like training. So there is a real reason that new workout top makes you wanna go for a run.
7. You’re skipping the warm up
For the time-poor among us, skipping the warm up in favour of going HAM on the circuit as soon as you hit the gym floor may seem like the most effective way to do it.
But failing to warm up is a one way ticket to Injury World. Your typical musculoskeletal injuries include torn muscles, sprains and strains. Spend at least 5 minutes getting in some joint mobility, flexibility and movement practice into your warm up routine to prep your rig for the sweat sesh.
8. You’re concentrating on single areas of your body
This is particularly pertinent to those folks who do 100 sit-ups every morning (and nothing else) on a quest to get abs.
Think of your body as a structure of (relative) symmetry. When you focus on certain areas and muscle groups and neglecting others can reduce your balance and lead of weaknesses in certain areas. Isolated weight training might seem attractive if you’re really keen on developing your forearms, but it can lead to overuse injuries.
RIP leg day
Instead, high intensity workouts are a good option as they help shed fat and create muscle all over your body, evenly.
9. You signed up to a gym without getting some complimentary PT sessions
Perfecting your form is so important in training, but time and time again it’s neglected. Next time you’re at the gym, have a little look around – chances are you’ll spot at least one person allowing their knees to track over their feet mid-squat.
No matter how many YouTube tutorials you watch, nothing compares to getting onto the gym floor with a professional and physically learning correct technique. Almost every gym will offer a few complimentary PT sessions when you first sign up, and if the establishments worth their salt, they’ll offer regular check-ups, too.
To avoid being that guy (you know, the one using the squat rack for bicep curls), utilise the sessions with a qualified trainer and allow them to teach you how to perform each exercise with proper technique. That way, you’ll avoid injury, strain and you’ll get the best results out of your hard work.
10. You’re forgetting to breathe
While this point sounds sort of ridiculous since breathing is innate in all of us, a funny thing happens when we’re exercising strenuously. We forget to breathe.
If you lift weights, you’ll surely know this phenomenon well. When you’re mid-way through a rep with a challenging weight, you might be clenching and holding your breath. The pressure of lifting something monumentally heavy forces your body to contract in order to brace and support the spine.
While some level of pressure is good, breathing rhythmically while training will ensure your muscles are getting the oxygen they need and you won’t pass out. Two big pluses indeed.
Most importantly, remember: even if you do make mistakes, doing something always trumps doing nothing.
Photo: Hunger Games.
