Biggest Common Gym Mistakes

Walk into any gym and you are bound to find people doing something that you disagree with. You may see people talking, using heavy weights, not using proper form, messaging on their mobiles, the list is endless.

These common errors are just a few of many possible ways you can be setting yourself to failure at the gym. And while some of these mishaps may be small, they can actually lead to huge setbacks in terms of gains

To save time, get faster results, and make your workouts more effective, make sure you avoid these common mistakes;

Overuse of cardio and under use of weights: Cardio burns calories but lifting weights is what actually shapes your body!

Not training at all! No bigger mistake can be made than not even trying.

Using proper form: People often go too heavy with weights when they can barley complete a full set with correct form.

Being Unorganised: Your workout should reflect your end goal instead of just hopping from free machine to free machine. Not following a programme can effect the results you get. Devise a programme so that you are well prepared for your session.

Just going through the motions: Don't fall victim to redundancy, you need to challenge yourself every workout and mix it up so you don't get bored and you will keep seeing results.

You wait for equipment to free up: Gym lines are bound to form during peak hours. The best fix? Head to the gym early in the morning or after 7p.m., once the pre-work and post-work crowds have cleared.

You skip warm-ups: Although it may save time, dodging the pre-workout warm-up is a surefire way to get injured during a tough workout. Have a dedicated warm-up that involves body weight exercises like lunges, squats, push-ups, and jumping jacks to elevate your heart rate before you attack the weights head on. It doesn't matter if you're short on time; you need a warm-up in your workout.

You do cardio before you lift: Cardio is crucial to any man’s workout plan, but it can be detrimental when done at the wrong time. Completing a 30-minute jog before a set of heavy squats may increase your heart rate and act as a warmup, but by the time you get under the bar, you can be fatigued, which can lead to poor form—or, worse yet, injury. Instead, get your form-intensive lifting session done first, then hit the cardio area.

For optimal benefits, you should stay with a workout routine for about 3 to 4 weeks before changing it up. Use a workout log to track trends in your training and see what works best for your body.

You don't time your rest periods: Most guys should be in and out of the gym in 60 minutes, including warm-up, cool down, and a good lifting session. To make that possible, avoid wasting precious moments between sets of an exercise. Wear a stopwatch or a smart watch, or use an app on your phone to limit yourself to under a minute. You’ll be amazed at how quickly you’ll finish your workout.

You don't bring a water bottle: Although it may seem trivial in terms of your overall routine, leaving a water bottle at home forces you to head to the water fountain in between sets. The result? Wasted time between exercises. To keep your workout going strong, bring your own bottle and fill it up beforehand.

You use the whole gym: Avoid putting together a circuit that takes over the entire gym. This bad habit not only inconveniences other gym-goers, who are forced to sit and watch as you hog all the machines, it also wastes your precious workout time. Group your exercises so you can utilise equipment in the same area—most gyms already do this with the placement of their machines and weights anyway. This cuts down on transit time between sets and gets you out of the gym faster.

Too much socialising, not enough exercising: Focus on your workout -- and save the chit-chat for the juice bar. Do not get distracted buy anyone whist at the gym. This should be your prime focus. Workout, hard, solid and with determination for the best results.

Lack of intensity: Do you see your gym time as the perfect way to catch up on your reading? Are you leaning on the machines? Lots of people are just going through the motions, even though they may look like they’re working out. They think that as long as they’re moving, they’re going to lose weight. But if the intensity is not at the level that it needs to be at, it’s almost a waste of time.

Overestimating caloric expenditure: Don’t let the number on the screen of your cardio machine fool you, either. That’s a very general number and there are a lot of variables that play into that. The machine may say that you’ve expended 500 calories, but you could only be burning 250.

Having your mobile phone on you: It's a gym crime we're all guilty of, but one of the biggest mistakes that you could be making is having your mobile phone on you. Kevin says that you may benefit from mobile devices because fitness apps can help you train, but switch to airplane mode.

Overtraining: This is the most common mistake people are making in the gym. The one thing people should do to get better results in the gym is to rest (but they fail to do so). By training too much you can be causing fatigue where you will feel more tired and feel less motivated to train. Train each muscle group once per week to ensure plenty of rest and recovery.

Not getting enough protein: If you don't get the required number of protein then your bodybuilding goals will quite simply go to waste. You should be aiming for around 1.5g of protein per pound of body-weight for optimum results. Protein sources include; chicken, steak, fish, eggs, tuna, cottage cheese, lean beef, nuts, avocados, peanut butter as well as whey protein. You need a whey protein that contains no artificial ingredients nor colours for maximum results. LA Muscle LA Whey is perfect for this. Low in carbs, low in fat and loaded with quality whey protein.