5 gym mistakes which are ruining your progress

Do you feel as though you are constantly slogging away at the gym and not getting results? This post is for you! I’ve observed many people succumbing to these mistakes so thought I would write a post on 5 gym mistakes which are ruining your progress! 

Some people make these mistakes on purpose and deep down they know why they aren’t making the progress they should be and sometimes people don’t even realise it until it is pointed out to them. 

While this may seem like a bit of a harsh post these mistakes appear to be VERY common in mainstream gyms and it’s something which has always frustrated me so I thought I’d turn my frustration into some advice for the rest of the gym goers. 

// Phone Time
Step away from your phone! Why is your phone even on while you are at the gym? You don’t need to update your status while you are working out, or see what your friends are up to. If you are doing it right you will only be in the gym for 30-60 minutes generally and all your phone is doing is distracting you from getting a good workout in. If you need to update your status do it in the changing room and then leave the phone behind! If your phone is also your music make a point to turn your music on and then don’t touch your phone until you have finished your workout.

// Light Weights
Run, don’t walk, run away from the 1kg weights. Okay if you’ve read my blog before you will know that my philosophy is to lift heavy so this tip will come as no surprise to you. However I feel as though I have to keep repeating it as so many people just don’t take this advice. The only exceptions to this rule I would give are abdominal workouts and perhaps lateral raises as neither of those require heavy weights if you are doing them properly. Repeat after me, lifting heavy will not make me bulky… Lifting super light weights will not challenge your body and if you are not challenging your body it will not change.

// Steady State Cardio
Other than the fact that walking or running on a treadmill for 30 minutes is completely boring, you are not doing yourself any favours. If you love the treadmill (or whatever other piece of cardio equipment that takes your fancy) then that’s not a problem, keep using it. But work smarter, rather than plodding along at the same speed and incline for 30 minutes, mix things up. Spend the first few minutes warming yourself up at a steady pace then every minute increase the incline, once the incline is as high as it can go every minute after that increase the pace. Play around with increasing and decreasing the pace to incorporate more interval style training to increase and decrease your heart rate.

// Chit Chat
THIS! Seriously, if I had a dollar for every time I saw people standing around having a full on conversation at the gym I would be a very rich person! Take a mental note of every time you stop and talk to someone and how long it takes. Now subtract this off the amount of time you spent at the gym and all of a sudden your 60 minute workout was actually only 15 minutes of hard exercise and you will now (hopefully) understand why you are not making any progress. Chat in the changing rooms or once you have finished your workout, after all, you are at the gym to workout!

// Rest Periods
Okay, so you’re lifting the heavier weights now Pheww! I am relieved! Now let’s discuss your rest periods. Rest periods do not need to be more than a minute or two unless you have just done an extremely big lift, get to body weight lifts and we can discuss this further. Actually take notice of the clock the next time you have a rest period and see how long you are resting for. Even better, make use of supersets (performing one exercise straight after another without rest – best done with opposing muscles so the muscle you worked in the first exercise gets a rest while you are performing the second exercise) to really get the most bang for your buck.

So there we go, 5 gym mistakes that are ruining your progress. I’m sure we have all fallen prey to at least one of these mistakes every now and again. The trick is to catch yourself when you find yourself making some of these mistakes and put in place steps to help overcome these mistakes so you can get the most out of your gym session!

Which gym mistakes do you most commonly make?? – Comment below and let me know, there is no shame in them. I sometimes fall for the rest periods one still!