Top 5 Common Mistakes People Make When They Begin Working Out (And How To Avoid Them)- Guest Post
This week we have a new, fun guest post fromwriter Bozhidar Karailiev, a fitness and health blogger. In this post, Bozhidaruses his experiences to share with you some of the top 5 common mistakesindividuals make when they begin working out and provides great tips to avoidthose mistakes. If you have any potential health or medical risks or are unsureof where to start, please seek advice from both a registered dietitian and adoctor for best results (if you would like specific workout ideas, a personaltrainer may be beneficial as well). I hope you enjoy these tips and experiencesfrom our guest writer and would love to hear any feedback you may have!
In this article, I will do my best to help youavoid the 5 biggest mistakes I (and most people) make during the first stagesof our working out journey.
As Sam Levenson once said...
“Learn from other people’s mistakes. Life istoo short to make them all yourself.”
And to be honest he is 100% right. The less badmistakes you do, the faster and better results you will get.
If I had the option to go back in time and avoidmaking such I’m almost certain that my fitness results would be a lot better.
Stick to the end if you want to get everythingfrom this article.
So without any further ado, let’s start with thefirst mistake...
Mistake #1 - Eating Healthy is Not Enough
One of the first and worst mistakes almost everyhuman on this planet do is to overthink the importance of food.
Studies show that following a meal plan and knowing what to eat every daycan bring a ton of benefits such as great energy, healthier diet, less obesity,and more gains or simply said - better and faster results.
Of course, these things are only the tip of theiceberg and you get a lot more benefits from eating healthy. That’s nothing newand we all know how important nutrition is for our results.
But what dost the phrase “eating healthy”actually mean? What it really represents?
First, let me tell you what it doesn’t:
It doesn’t mean “try to eat healthy”. It doesn’tmean “I’ll stop eating junk food” or “I’ll drink more water”. It doesn’t mean“I’ll try to...”, etc.
Don’t get me wrong I truly believe these thingsare important but they are not going to be enough to take you to the nextlevel.
And this is the first mistake I’m going to talkabout - the difference between “eating healthy” and getting realresults.
Many of my friends (including me in thebeginning) have this mindset that if you simply make some basic changes to youreating habits you are going to make it. Unfortunately, this simply isn’t enoughto help you create huge long-lasting results.
Big results are made from big and meaningfulchanges.
One of the best things you can do that is goingto boost you ahead of the majority of people is simply to research (or paysomeone) and make yourself a personal meal plan designed for you and yourgoals. **note there are a lot of untrustworthy sources of information outthere, please focus on an eating lifestyle of balance and moderation or seekhelp developing this plan for a Registered Dietitian**
Sadly it took me about 1 year of constantstruggles and poor results to learn that. The faster you start eating the rightfoods, with the right amounts at the right time the better results you willachieve.
If I have to be honest I’m a firm believer thatnutrition is far more important than exercises.
If you get it right you are going to skyrocketyour results.
Summary: No matter if you arejust starting out or have some experience - make your nutrition a priority. Followinga custom meal plan can get you 10x better results!
Mistake #2 - So What’s Your Plan?
Ok, you want to work out and get into shape.Your plan is to start going to the gym or train at home 5 days a week whileeliminating sugar and soda. But is it enough?
Sadly it isn’t.
Even if this plan is better than having no planat all (avoid this) I still don’t believe it’s the best thing you can do… Andguess why? Because I did that… and I did it for a while.
It can be really frustrating when I see peoplewho pay a monthly gym membership and don’t know what they are going to do andwhy or they simply don’t care. Those are people who don’t have a plan. Theywork out for many different reasons but skip the most important one - to gethealthy and become stronger.
Believe me these people are not going to achievegreat results because they simply don’t have a plan or a goal.
Here are a few of my favourite guidelines youcan follow to find out if you already have a plan and a good goal.
Just answer these simple questions honestly andsee for yourself.
- How much muscle mass do you want to gain (or fat tolose) in the next 30 days? (Specific number)
- Do you know what you are going to train specificallyeach day of the week (and which days you are going to rest or recover?(Mon - Cardio, Tue - Legs, etc.)
- Are you aware of what exercises you are going to do andwhy are you doing them? (I’m going to focus on squats and explosive jumpsbecause I want to focus on my lower body)
- Are you balancing your portion sizes of yourmacronutrients (carbs,fats, and proteins) every day?
- Are you tracking your progress and adapting everything?(This week I did 14 reps of bench press so I will add 10 additional lbsnext time)
If your answers are positive for most of thosequestions, then congrats! You are on the right path. If not, try to find outwhat things you are lacking and how you can improve them.
Nobody is perfect but never stop improving andlearning new things.
Set yourself a good goal, create a reasonableplan to get there and take action.
Summary: Ifyou want to really succeed in fitness you must have a goal and follow a properplan how to achieve it.
Mistake #3 - Proper Form - What?
I know that moment when you start to see yourfirst gains and you get really excited. You feel like Superman and are eager totry those 45 lbs plates you saw most people use.
You decide to add them for the next set of yourbench press and you aim for 10 reps. But soon after you lift the bar up thehard reality slap you in the face.
After only 5 reps you are done but you can’tstop (not while all your friends are watching you) so in order to escape thehumiliation, you start bouncing the weight up and down as fast as you can usingeverything except your chest to complete the movement… With all that hard workyou only reach 8 reps but you still really proud - 8 is better than 5 right?
Well mathematically speaking yes, but your lowerback and shoulders are not going to think so the next morning you wakeup.
I’m really sad to tell you this but the personfrom this story is me and because of this stupid act I injured my rightshoulder…(don’t worry it’s alright now)
And that bad experience caused me not to be ableto work out for about 3 weeks… During those weeks I pretty much lost some of myprogress and I wasn’t happy about it.
So please don’t be like me. Don’t allow your egoand pride to take control.
No matter what you do prioritize your formover quantity or weight.
Trust me you can still get super strong andbuild a ton of muscle mass without the need to lose your form and technique.
Summary: One of the biggestmistakes people make when they get some early results is to start using toomuch weight which leads to poor form. Poor form can hurt you way more than itcan help. In order to get the maximum out of every single exercise you do makesure to keep good technique and form.
Mistake #4 - No, I’m stuck… Now What?
It’s really great when you are constantly seeinghow your body slowly transforms and evolves. Especially in the beginning stagesof your journey.
But eventually, at some point you will face yourworst enemy - the plateau.
When that happens (which it likely will) youhave to be prepared to face it.
If you are like most people you simply won’tnecessarily know when your plateau occurs if you are not mindfully working outor tracking your progress. That’s why it is very important to keep track ofyour workouts and progress so you can easily see if your progress begins toplateau or not.
How do you find out if you are stuck?
Are any of these situations relevant to you?
Currently you…
… can’t lose any more weight/fat mass.
… can’t gain more muscle.
… can’t get stronger.
… can’t become more explosive.
… don’t see any progress.
If that’s the case then it is likely time foryou to change a couple of things.
If one or more of those scenarios is currentlyhappening don’t panic and quit. That’s why gyms are jammed packed inJanuary and almost empty after a month or two…
Trust me quitting is not going to help you atall.
Here are a couple of great things you can doinstead:
- Use progressive overload and try to break theplateau.
- Take a few days off so your body can recover and giveyourself a new try.
- Change things up by doing a whole new workout routine(If you do the same things over and over again your body will eventuallybecome used to and you will stop getting results)
Summary: If you suddenly stopgetting results don’t feel depressed and quit. Instead, try to find out what isthe main issue and fix it. Test something new and give it a try. Repeat untilyou start seeing results again.
Mistake #5 - I’m Going to Look Like The Rock
I’m going to tell you the hard truth. You likelywon’t look like the Rock - ever.
Even if you train like him, even if you eat likehim or even if you are tall and handsome like him you simply can’t behim.
That’s not possible because of one bigdifference:
- You and Dwayne Johnson are different people!
It’s really good to have a role model and afitness goal for inspiration but if you are not careful it can ruin yourresults.
How?
It’s simple - unrealistic expectations.
After watching countless videos of fake “nattys”on youtube I started to feel sad and depressed.
“He is training as long as me but has 2xtimes my muscle and strength” (and I was doing everything fine).
And I’m not alone. There are countless beginnerswho are just starting out and expecting to have Arnold’s chest only after acouple of months of training.
When the reality speaks you become sad,depressed, self conscious, and want to quit. But actually, you shouldn’t.
Why?
Because you made some sort of progress. Even if it’s good to have role models it’s not actuallybeneficial for you to directly compare yourself to them. The most effective wayyou can do that is to only compare yourself with…
… yourself.
Yes, that’s how I do it now and it’s giving meamazing motivation and energy to continue moving forward. I track my progressweekly and honor all the little improvements I’ve made in the last couple ofdays.
Doing so is going to guarantee you stay on trackno matter what and you won’t have the naive mindset that you can gain 40 lbs ofpure muscle in 2 months and look like a greek god in a short amount of time.
Simply:
- Be realistic.
- Compare yourself with no one except your old self.
- Notice and write down all the improvements you make(even the smallest).
- Use celebrities and famous people as short motivation -not for comparison.
- Be happy with your results you get no matter how bigthey are.
Follow all those tips carefully and you willreally speed up your results.
Final Thoughts
Thank you very much for reading this article. Ifyou want to see all those tips and recommendations in real action feel free tocheck out my favoriteabs routine in which I apply allthose rules.
No matter where you currently are followingthese tips can certainly help you get better.
Give them a try and see for yourself.
See you in the next one,
- Bozhidar
Author Bio
Hi, I’m Bozhidar Karailiev and I run a personalblog in which I share cool advice, workouts, and tips on how to become healthy,fit and get on the next level. With my 7+ years of experience, you can learn athing or two. Check me out at https://fittylife.com/ or on Youtube by typing my name.
I hope you enjoyed this guest post!
Wishing you a happy holidays!
–Ricci-Lee Hotz, MS, RDN
Denver’s Dancing Dietitian
A Taste of Health, LLC
“Improving Quality of life one bite at a time”