When you hit the gym for the first time, you are eager to try out almost everything. Also, experts who have been in bodybuilding for donkey years, have their share of blunders they commit and omit. The workout mistakes during weightlifting cut across beginners, intermediates, and expert lifters. These mistakes hinder you from reaching your ultimate goal of muscle mass gain.
Moreover, when you make these mistakes over and over again, you may injure your back and spinal cord. You may also lose motivation for continuing with weightlifting when you are working hard and not getting any results.
In this post, we are going to deeply and intimately identify and isolate these workout mistakes in the gym. We will then try to find out how to rectify them to achieve your desired goal.
Below are the workout mistakes during weightlifting
Skipping warm-ups
When you jump directly into your scheduled weightlifting without first warming up, you will shock muscles (in a bad way). This will lead to muscle pulls and pains.
Also, you may not be at your best performance since you have not tuned the muscles into lifting. They will still be “asleep”. When you are not in muscular activity, your muscles are cold because there is no much supply of blood to them. Hence, when you venture directly into weightlifting, you may injure them severely.
Press-ups are good for warming up
Besides, good warm-ups enable you to prepare psychologically too for workout training. The best way to warm-ups includes;
-Body-weight squats,
-Hip rotation,
-Rope skipping.
Shortcut cheats
I have observed this many times while at the gym. This is more common when using weights for your workouts.
You may be tempted to shorten your reps by not completely stretching the muscles. For instance, when doing the bench press. You push the weights but not entirely until your elbows are fully stretched. Or, you do not bring the bar close to your chest. This is cheating. And you must not cheat your muscles!
However, you may momentarily feel buffed up with mass, but the overall result is wastage of time and energy. You may even suffer muscle damage and adverse injuries.
So, completely stretch your muscles and do not be in a hurry. The slower you are, the better the muscular mass gain.
Neglecting the core muscles
It is important to engage all muscles of the body during your journey to muscle building. Particularly muscles of the core region are normally under trained.
These muscles include the stomach, hip, and lower back muscles.
Moreover, when you are training while standing such as during squats, you need strong core muscles. When you have weak core muscles, you may end up injuring your back or spinal cord.
Therefore, always make it a point to work out your core muscles too.
Using many reps for toning
The accurate definition of muscle toning is having bigger muscles that make you look curvier. It is more dependent on lifting gradual heavier weights rather than many reps.
Too many reps with light weight is not ideal
It is advisable to do a few reps with increasing weights instead of light weights with many reps.
Also, consider including cardio and weightlifting simultaneously. This will ensure that you are burning fats but increasing muscle mass at the same time.
Furthermore, eating more seafood, nuts, and good carbs is a good practice towards toning your muscles.
Lifting too heavyweights
A common saying in the gym is, ‘train with your brain, not just muscles’. This essentially means that you should have a progressive gradual increase in loading your weight plates.
Lifting too heavy weights is not advisable
‘Rome was not built in one day!’ It takes time and consistency. So, never beef up too many weights that make you feel uncomfortable.
I know, weightlifting is about challenging yourself. But this should be gradual and progressive. Take baby steps and develop steadily.
When you use too many heavyweights, you will damage your muscles. This will discourage you and hinder your full potential attainment.
Too much muscle training
When you overtrain your muscles, they get depleted and tear. Never attempt to jump into your next training session. Follow and stick to your schedule and do not rush into gaining mass too fast.
Too much muscle training
Also, consider having some protein shakes before the workout. This is crucial because you may workout too much, and it is difficult to tell between fatigue and depletion.
Persistent muscle soreness, lack of sleep, and too much weight loss all are indications that you are overtraining. Irritability following intense workouts may also show overtraining.
Moreover, avoid training the same groups of muscles on consecutive days. Skip days for muscles to rest and recover.
Too little rest between sets
Most weightlifting exercises and weights are done using the hands and arms. Even the back and chest muscles, you use your arms to lift the weights.
So, ensure you take strategic sufficient rests between sets to avoid overtraining. Resting between workout days is important, but resting between sets is pivotal too.
Therefore, whether you are lifting for strength training or endurance, rest is very important.
Ignoring compound workouts
Compound exercises are those that engage more than one type of muscle at the same time.
For example, the leg exercises involve at least four sets of muscles simultaneously.
Also, these exercises are excellent for toning muscles, burning fats, and increasing cardio activity. When your heart rate is increased, sufficient blood flow to the muscles becomes inevitable.
So, never ignore compound exercises because they are the core of a healthy weightlifting regime.
Dehydration
Before intense weightlifting, you should make sure you drink enough water. You should take your fluids at least an hour before beginning the training session.
This is because when your muscles are well hydrated, their supply of oxygen is improved.
Also, your joints become well lubricated and ready for high cardio activity.
The great mistake you should avoid is taking too much water in the course of your workout sessions. This may result in stomach stitches and pains. However, you may take sips of water or fruit juice to quench your immediate thirst.
The workout mistakes during weightlifting include skipping warm-ups, neglecting core muscles, dehydration, too little rests between sets, and overtraining your muscles. When you improve on these common mistakes, your ultimate lean body will not be too far-fetched. However, you should always train progressively. Step by step tailor and device ways to attain your ultimate goal.