Common Gym Mistakes That Steal Your Fitness Progress
by Pam Brooks

Do you work out regularly but fail to get the results you want? Spending time working out doesn’t necessarily guarantee results. Some common workout mistakes can make your workouts less effective. With a little shift in just a few concepts, you’ll get lots more for the time you spend.

Warm Up: Everyone knows you’re supposed to warm up. Most of us sluff it off, especially if we’re pressed for time. The truth of the matter is, a short warmup raises your core body temperature and allows your heart rate to increase gradually. This approach will make a big difference in your endurance. An added bonus is that you’ll skip the heavy, slow feeling that comes with jumping out of your car and into your cardio or strength training program without giving your body a transition.

Stretching: Another of the "woulda, coulda, shoulda" aspects of fitness training. We know we’re supposed to stretch, but along with the warmup, it goes by the wayside in favor of the parts of the workout that seem to give more. The truth is, a recent study showed that stretching combined with strength training can make you stronger than strength training alone. (Easy does it, by the way — a soft approach to stretching is much safer and more effective than a struggle to hold a stretch too far for your current ability.)

Are You Lifting Too Much Weight? Are you able to lift weights with a smooth, steady motion or do you have to jerk to get the weight lifted? If you’re jerking the weights to lift them, you’re lifting more than your muscles can handle and you risk injury. You’ll progress much faster if you lift the weight through the full range of motion — Excessive momentum takes resistance off of the working muscles and sluffs it on the joints and other muscles that weren’t meant to contribute to the movement. Your back is the most vulnerable to this kind of momentum consequences. So even though it might look like less in terms of weight lifted, paring down the amount of weight to fit your true fitness level will add up to more progress because you’ll be able to work the muscles through the full range of motion.

Stair Stepper Denial: Do you crank the stair-stepper machine to the highest level of difficulty, then spend the whole time leaning on the hand rails for support? This might look impressive to those around you (they really aren’t looking at you, they’re busy holding themselves up on the handrails!) but the most stress is going to your shoulders, elbows and wrists — not exactly the target points of this particular machine. For an effective workout, make sure to adjust the machine intensity to the point at which you can maintain the pace without using the handrails for support. This way, the larger muscles in your legs will have to buck up and support the weight. Your heart will pump harder and your results will be stronger.

The Bottom Line: Since you’re investing so much of your time and energy to get fit, you might as well get the best return on your efforts. If you incorporate these simple concepts into your routine, you’ll improve your fitness level and enjoy the process much more.

– Pam Brooks