Top 3 Workout Mistakes
Friend,
I hope all is going well and you survived Thanksgiving (and the onslaught of FOOD!)
I was speaking to a relative over the Thanksgiving break and inevitably our conversation made its way to working out and eating better. This is a natural occurrence for me as so many people feel they need to tell me their workout program or the latest diet they are on.
This conversation was not unlike most of the conversations I have on this subject. This person was doing everything WRONG! LOL. I hate to sound harsh, but it's true.
I'm sure you're wondering what they were doing? Well guess what, I'm going to tell you! So let's dive right in and see what these mistakes were/are. Let me also just add that these are the biggest mistakes I've seen and heard throughout my many years as a personal trainer, not just my conversation on Thanksgiving. Many I've seen first hand in gyms and fitness centers over the years and others I've heard through conversations with clients, friends, family, etc.
So here we go:
MISTAKE #1
LONG, SLOW CARDIO
You may have heard this before but it bears repeating since I still see it over and over again. Long, slow cardio is a great activity to release stress, to get your body moving, etc. But it is a poor activity if you want to burn a lot of calories and/or use your time efficiently.
So what's a better alternative?
INTERVAL CARDIO
Very simply, this means increasing the speed at hich you do your cardio. So if running is your form of cardio, instead of walking on the treadmill at a speed of 3.0 for 30 minutes...now you will go really fast, which might be 5.0 for you, for about 20 seconds and then bring the speed back to 3.0. Repeat this for 8-10 rounds and now you have yourself a nice, interval cardio workout. It also works for cycling, ellipticaling (not a word but fits in nicely here!), rowing, etc.
MISTAKE #2
NOT STRENGTH TRAINING
This one might be the number 1 mistake I've seen over the years. I've even had people tell me that they don't lift weights becasue they don't want to get bulky muscles. Nothing could be further from the truth. Lifting weights, a.k.a strength training, is the absolute BEST thing you can do if you want to burn fat and become leaner. Please read that sentence again. It is 100% true. Getting big, bulky muscles is not very common believe it or not. And in most cases, it "happens" to people who lift weights 2 x/day for 6 hours a day, eat more food in a day than some people eat in a week and they are taking some kind of steroid. If you don't fit that description you have nothing to worry about.
So what's a better alternative?
START STRENGTH TRAINING! :)
And here's a blog post of mine that goes into greater detail about why strength training is so beneficial:
Strength Training
MISTAKE #3
WINGING IT
I see it all the time. People going into the gym with no set plan. They go aimlessly from machine to machine (another mistake!) without ever giving any thought to what they are doing or in what order, etc. They don't have any idea of how many sets or reps they are doing. They don't remember how much weight they lifted last time so they guess at how much they will lift this time. It's a mish mash each and every time they go to they gym. As with most things, it's better than sitting at home on the couch. But once again, it's not efficient at all and certainly not what you want to be doing if you want results from your workouts. Winging it is never a good idea, right?
So what's a better alternative?
Following a workout plan that you have written down. Know before you go! Know what exercises you are going to do, how many sets and reps you will be doing, how much weight you'll use, etc. And what makes this so powerful is the next time you go to the gym to do that workout, you can look back at what you've written down and try to beat your numbers! Winner winner chicken dinner!!!
Hopefully you're not making any of these mistakes. But if you are, you now have an action plan to right your wrongs and never make these mistakes again.
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