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Beginning a strength training regimen is a great decision for your current physique and your future health. There’s a lot of information out there so it’s easy to get overwhelmed, but here’s a list of common mistakes to avoid that will help you get moving in the right direction.
1. You don’t know why you’re doing what you’re doing: When you first start weightlifting, it’s easy to pick exercises you see everyone else doing. This might be OK at the beginning, but you need to have your own reason for performing a particular exercise and rep range. If you don’t know why your doing a barbell bench instead of a dumb bell press, find out! A little research will go a long way towards reaching your ultimate fitness goals.
2. Your routine is too repetitive: There’s nothing wrong with doing the exact same workouts every week, at least for a while. Almost any program will produce results if you’re really challenging yourself, but no matter how good the program is … your progress will begin to stall if you don’t change things up regularly. When your progress has really started to slow down it’s time to shake it up. Change the exercise selection, the rep range, or the rest periods. Your body is built to adapt to whatever you throw at, keep it guessing to keep your progress going.
3. You’re only doing the easy stuff: Everyone has their favorite exercises, and not surprisingly, it’s usually those that we’re already good at. It’s OK to have favorites, but don’t avoid others just because they’re challenging. In fact, the opposite is true. If an exercise is particularly hard for you to do, then it’s probably one you should be doing.
4. Not going heavy: Getting big and strong isn’t important to everyone. Even if you are weight training to improve your appearance and fitness level, avoiding heavy weights at least occasionally can really hold you back. Just pick at least one exercise every week to try and lift MORE of. If a weight feels heavy, but you can pump out at least eight reps of it … it’s probably the exact weight you should be lifting!
5. Ignoring mobility and tissue health: It’s easy to just focus on the actual time you spend in the gym, but weight lifting is really only a part of a weight training program. Make sure you spend time each day working on mobility drills and flexibility. This will go a long way towards maintaining your joint health and keeping you injury free over the course of lifetime.
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