In a recent YouTube video, trainer Plus, heres how to avoid them., shares the mistakes he has seen people making in their workouts again and again when they’re at the very beginning of their fitness journey. If you’re just starting to add strength workouts to your cross-training routine (or have been training for a while now and are wondering why you’re not seeing results), here are six common pitfalls to avoid—and what to do instead.
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1. Neglecting nutrition
The right diet is essential to supporting your efforts in the gym, says Cavaliere, otherwise you’ll start to plateau pretty damn quick: “You can’t get around nutrition, whether that’s overeating the wrong foods or undereating the right foods. There’s no magic exercise plan to overcome the fact that you're not eating properly.”
2. Picking up the weights too soon
Before you throw yourself into strength training, it’s important to have a good foundation of strength and joint stability. The best way to do this is with bodyweight exercises, such as push-ups and planks. Not only will they make your job a lot easier when you do pick up the weights, but they will continue to complement your training as you become more advanced. “That’s where some of the most difficult calisthenics exercises can be performed, but not before you learn that base of strength and stability with the proper execution of the basic movements,” says Cavaliere.
3. Ignoring mobility and flexibility
“If you’re not looking yourself in the mirror and seeing all postural flaws and mobility issues you have, and addressing them, then you’re setting yourself up for long-term failure,” says Cavaliere, who warns that if you build strength around these imperfections, it can lead to more serious issues down the road. “If you get them out of the way early, you’ll be able to build a better foundation free from the cracks that are ultimately going to take you down in the long run.”
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4. Falling into a routine
It can be fairly easy, when you first start working out, to become entrenched in a repetitive routine, performing the same number of push-ups, sit-ups, etc. in each session. “In order to change yourself beyond that beginner newbie phase, you’re going to need to challenge yourself,” says Cavaliere. “Incorporate a new exercise, a new stress to the exercise, [or] make it difficult in some way, shape, or form. Once you learn how to properly overload, then the changes will continue to come.”
5. Taking rep counts too seriously
When it comes to any exercise, it’s the quality that counts, not the quantity. Cavaliere advises against rushing through your repetitions solely in order to hit a certain number, as this can compromise your form and even your safety. Instead, focus on performing a smaller number of reps where you’re getting the absolute maximum benefit from the move. “You need to be able to do the reps you can, as effectively as you can,” he says.
6. Breezing through workouts
If you can make it to the end of a training session without having felt any real discomfort, then you’ll never see any real progress. “You have to push your body to the point of challenge in order to create that change,” says Cavaliere. “You want to be able to push, and each repetition becomes more and more difficult. However, when you reach a point of form failure, we’re done. We don’t want to sacrifice our safety in the process of trying to get out that other rep.”
Races - Places Men's Health, Philip Ellis is Sex & Relationships Editor at Join Runners World+ to become a stronger, faster runner and Does Running Burn Fat. His other work has appeared in Teen Vogue, British GQ, and The Independent.
