Most Common Gym Mistakes

1 PICKING THE WRONG WEIGHT

It’s all about form and muscles tension. If the weight is light you will not place your muscles under enough tension to get any meaningful muscle grow. To heavy and your form will go out the window meaning you will over work muscles then the ones you are targeting. Making imbalances in the body which conis injury.

2 ALWAYS STICKING TO YOUR FAVOURITE MOVES

People come to me for help because they are not seeing any more change in they fitness or body. The body need variety if it’s going to keep growing and developing. So you need to consistently introduce new exercises to your workouts if you want positive results.

3 SWINGING YOUR ARMS TOO MUCH WHEN DOING BARBELL CURLS

You are doing a biceps exercise not a lower back extension! This is just going to lead to back pain not bigger Biceps. If you swing your body or arms, you are not keep any form and will work other muscle to the one you are trying to target. Also your should raise and lower the bar slowly through the full range of motion. To stop swinging lean against a wall and do your barbell curls. Harder yes?

4 RUNNING IN THE FAT BURNING ZONE

I talk to and see so many people fall into this trap. Yes you see and hear about the ‘fat burning zone’ all the charts on the walls tell you to run around 60 per cent of your maximum heart rate? (220 – your age =) Well under less you are planning to run of hours on end in your session, you will burn to few calories to get any realistic benefits. Better to do SHORT, INTENSE runs to effectively burn the fat in a short space of time.

5 WEARING A WEIGHT BELT AND WRIST STRAPS

Question? Are you an Olympic Weight Lifter?

NO? So don’t wear a lumbar belt or wrist straps when lifting. If you feel you need them, it just means you had to work more on your core and grip strength. All they will do is stop your core and grip from working fully and in turn weaker them areas. So under less you are going to the Olympic or lifting over 3 times your body weight don’t wear a belt or wrist straps

6 DOING CRUNCHES TO LOSE BELLY FAT

I see so many people in the gym do crunches and under less you want to be great at lifting your shoulders off the floor….. Think! Yes crunches will help you build great stomach muscles but useless you burning away the layers of fat that obscures them, your on a losing battle. To get rid of your flabby belly you need a good combination of diet, regular cardio and all-body weight training session.

7 OVER-TRAINING

It’s the big mistake that over 75% of the people do, from men to women. I see people training for hours on end. Which is a bad idea. To get fit you don’t need to train over an hour everyday. After more then 45 minutes of training and you can start to eat away at your muscles as your body raids them for fuel. Plus training everyday means you do get time to recover allowing your muscle time to repair between sessions. 40-45 minutes three or four times week is enough for most people.

8 NOT HITTING THE WEIGHTS

So many women I see (as well as men) just hit the treadmill or some cardio equipment but never do any weight training exercises. Women ask any men who trains and they will tell you don’t become HULK over night. Fact hitting the weights will increase muscle size but also burn fat to. Plus muscle will burn energy at rest so a little more muscle is not a bad thing. Again you can’t become ‘bulky’ over night it takes time.

9 FREE WEIGHTS Vs MACHINES

They always say free is best! And in this case it’s right. A machine will only let you move in one plane of motion, to a free weight. Which can move in any plane of motion, meaning you have to control the weight. This will incarpo not just the target muscle but the muscle around that area. Burning more calorie and building a more tone body. Also using free weights right and the less risk of injury to!

10 WHY JUST SIT-UP?

Just lifting yourself up by jamming you feet against a wall or under a bench, is not the best way of get a six pack. You are just going to end up work your hip flexors as your abs give in. Crunches are a better exercise but it’s just one of a range of moves you need to get a six - pack. You need to hit it from all angles.