Today I’m going to reveal the top 11 workout mistakes beginners make.
If you focus on ELIMINATING these top 10 workout mistakes, you can save yourself a year or more of wasted training time…so you can reach your goals that much faster.
And speaking of goals, here’s beginner workout mistake #1:
Workout Mistakes Beginners Make #1: Not Having A (Specific) Goal
Get specific about WHY you’re working out. What specifically do you want to accomplish?
Do you want to lose fat, build muscle strength, build muscle size, become more athletic,
At some level you probably want all of those things. But you need to prioritize what you want MOST, because otherwise you’ll end up not REALLY accomplishing any of these things.
Workout Mistakes Beginners Make #2: Overeating (AKA Not Making Diet A Priority)
Yes, exercise does burn some calories. And yes, you do need to eat enough quality protein and carbohydrates to allow your body to recover from workouts.
But the majority of people OVERESTIMATE how many calories they burn from exercise, and UNDERESTIMATE how many calories they eat.
This results in workouts where you burn 300 calories, then reward yourself with a 400-calorie serving of cookies.
Remember: no matter what your physique goals are, your diet is MORE important than your training.
It doesn’t matter how much muscle you have, how strong you are, how athletic you are…if you overeat, all that muscle is going to get covered up with bodyfat, and you’re going to look overweight.
Workout Mistakes Beginners Make #3: Working Out For More Than An Hour
If you’re spending more than an hour in the gym, then you are not doing yourself any favors. In fact, your workout starts to become COUNTERPRODUCTIVE after an hour.
So limit your workouts to no more than 30-60 minutes, and preferably I prefer to keep them to 30-45 minutes.
Workout Mistakes Beginners Make #4: Not Prioritizing Recovery
Always remember that exercise, by itself, actually damages your body. When you lift weights, or do cardio, or interval training, you are actually breaking down your muscles a little bit.
It’s only AFTER the workout that your body recovers and rebuilds itself to be a little bit stronger than it was before.
So to get the most benefit from your workouts, you need to give your body all the things it needs to recover fully.
That means eating lots of high-quality, nutrient-rich food, avoiding stress, and getting lots of sleep.
Workout Mistakes Beginners Make #5: Trying To Lift Too Much Weight (AKA Lifting With Your Ego)
This is an issue for guys moreso than it is for girls, but it’s important for everyone to remember:
Trying to lift more weight than you can actually handle just to look tough or impress people is a recipe for injury and disaster.
It’s also a surefire way to plateau in the gym and stop getting results.
When you start cheating and using momentum to lift the weight, you start calling in outside muscles that are NOT supposed to be involved in that exercise. Which means that you’re not actually putting the focus on the muscle you’re trying to exercise.
So instead of struggling to get a few reps with poor form, it’s much better to drop the weight and do the exercise properly. Keep the weight under control, and make sure you’re focusing on the muscles that are supposed to be doing most of the work.
This way you will AVOID getting hurt, and a bonus…you’ll actually get the results you want, in all the right places.
Workout Mistakes Beginners Make #6: Focusing On Isolation Exercises
A lot of beginners do this. And this is when you focus on doing exercises like bicep curls and chest flyes, instead of doing the more effective compound exercises like pull-ups, barbell rows, bench press, squat, deadlift, etc.
Compound exercises allow you to lift more weight, which builds more muscle.
I recommend structing your workouts around those compound exercises. Focus on those. And only add in a few isolation moves here and there as supplementary exercises.
Workout Mistakes Beginners Make #7: Forgetting That Healthy Foods Still Have Calories
I made this mistake for a long time. I cleaned up my diet, and I started eating much healthier foods.
It was a good thing to do, but I made one big mistake: I ate too much of those healthy foods. And as a result, even though I was probably healthier and better nourished, I didn’t lose any weight. I didn’t burn any fat.
It wasn’t until I started counting calories and eating LESS overall that my extra bodyfat started to come off, and I started to get that strong, lean body I was after.
Workout Mistakes Beginners Make #8: Taking Too Many Supplements
There are a few supplements that actually work and are worth getting. But most of them are minimally effective at best.
Basically these supplements are a waste of your money, and more importantly: a waste of your energy and focus.
Forget supplements. Don’t pay any attention to the marketing. Focus on training hard and eating well, and you’ll get the results you’re after.
Workout Mistakes Beginners Make #9: Not Adding Progressive Overload Into Your Workouts
There are a lot of people in the gym who are doing the same exercises, with the same amoung of weight that they were lifting last year.
Last year they bench pressed 225 pounds, and this year…they’re bench pressing 225 pounds.
Last year they did 30 minutes on the elliptical at difficulty 7, and this year…they’re doing 30 minutes on the elliptical at difficulty 7.
It applies to both strength training and cardio.
In order to improve your physique, to build more muscle and lose more fat, you MUST continue to increase the difficulty. That means running faster and lifting heavier.
And remember you don’t have to make huge leaps in difficulty overnight. Just a small increase from one workout to the next is all you need.
Even if you only add 1 pound to an exercise every week, that’s fine. That’s great. Because that means that after a year, you will have added 52 pounds to that exercise.
That is how you get results and continue to improve year after year.
Workout Mistakes Beginners Make #10: Program-Hopping
This is where you start a new workout program…you do it for a 2 or 3 weeks…
Then you get excited by a NEW workout program, and you switch.
And you do that workout for 2 or 3 weeks…
And so on.
When you do this, you end up spinning your wheels and you never really get anywhere.
Pick a good program and stick with it.
Workout Mistakes Beginners Make #11: Not Following An Effective, Proven Program
There are two ways you can make this mistake:
You can either NOT follow a program at all–you can just show up at the gym and do whatever you feel like–or you can follow an ineffective program.
They both suck.
If you’re a beginner, don’t try to make your own program. Find something that’s proven to work.
I have a program called The Stronger+Leaner Guide to Getting Ripped, and I guarantee it will get you the ripped, shredded body you want.
But you don’t have to follow MY program. You can follow another program, as long as it works. Put your trust in a proven program, and it will take you where you want to go.