Workout mistakes are what take away the charm of delving into a fitness routine. When you embark on a journey of effective workout sessions, you wish to witness fitness progress as soon as you start. However, if you are not seeing any progress in your workout, you may be doing it wrong.
Fitness progress is always not about regular or too much workout. It is about setting a routine that takes you to your fitness goals at a pace that also helps you relax and gain strength.
Thus, if you are not seeing any progress, you may be making some workout mistakes. It is very common to happen, especially when you engage in a self-led workout session. It could be anything from the wrong posture to bad movements.
Common Workout Mistakes:
Read on to find out if you are making these very common workout mistakes that are killing your fitness progress.
1. Not Letting Your Body Rest
One of the biggest workout mistakes is exercising constantly while not letting your body rest. Too much work puts unexpected and unnecessary strain on your muscles, thus stressing your whole body. No matter how much you are in the form or enjoying your workout sessions, you have to let your muscles rest at calculated points during the workout.
Intensifying your workout does not necessarily mean that you are doing yourself a favor. You may be worsening your condition.
Moreover, there is no need to add more when your fitness progress is already going well. There is a limit to how fast you can progress. Being consistent does not mean that you go faster at your workouts, it means working enough to reach a certain daily goal.
For strength, you must rest as much as you exercise. Keep the work-to-rest ratio equal initially and at a fine ratio as you progress.
Your normal rates of progress may appear to be insufficient, but impact shows at its own pace. Thus, remain consistent and add to your progress.
2. Skipping The Warm-Up Session Is A Major Workout Mistake
Warming up before exercise, no matter how short spanned, helps your muscles relax. Warm-up sessions also prepare your body for the intensity of the workout ahead. Your muscles, lungs, and heart need to be prepared for any sort of physical activity ahead of it, to prevent any injury. Not only this, a warm-up session before a workout helps your mind prepare for the physical activity, and helps you enjoy it to a greater extent.
A great deal of your fitness progress depends upon how well you prepare your body for the workout. Warm-ups are a safe way to bring the body’s temperature up at a steady rate and loosen the muscles before any serious activity.
Here are some easy warm-up techniques that you can go for;
- Opt for a light jog before you start running
- If you are going to delve into some Martial Arts, add a few light kicks to your warm-up sessions
No matter how short you are on time, start slowly for your body to get accustomed to the rising temperature and intensive pressure on the muscles.
3. Improper Form
No matter how hard or consistently you are going at your workout sessions, if you are not holding proper form it all goes down the drain. Using the proper form during exercise is as essential as warming up before exercise.
It not only brings in your desired results but also prevents the risk of any injury that may occur during a workout.
Moreover, proper form during exercise improves your chances at better performance and workout productivity.
For example, if you are riding a bicycle and hunched over too forward, your lungs are unable to receive a sufficient amount of oxygen. It not only limits your performance but also puts your lungs at risk.
Another drawback of using an improper form is that you don’t see any improvement that results in lower levels of motivation.
Also, Read 10 Effective Health and Fitness Tips – Business Tells
4. Not Going For Strength Training Kills Your Fitness Progress
When you embark on a fitness progress journey, you may find one or two exercises to be good for your pace. However, if you are unable to keep up with other activities and end up exhausted, it may be because you are skipping strength training.
Strength training is critical to any workout. It not only builds your desired muscles but also preserves your muscle tone.
It also increases strength and elasticity while building strong connective tissue. When you indulge in strength training along with your usual workout circuit, your body can actively perform other daily tasks.
Now we don’t want to go straight to bed after 20 minutes of workout, do we? We don’t, because exercise is not meant for burning up all your energy, rather it is meant to improve your energy and productivity levels.
5. Skipping The Stretch
Stretching regularly helps preserve your range of motion over the long haul. Skipping the stretching after a workout is one of the most common workout mistakes that kill your fitness progress. Your muscles and tendons need that stretch to keep up the workout for the next day.
If you do not stretch before or after a workout, you are bound to experience muscle and joint pain.
It also reduces the lactic acid that is produced by your body whenever you exercise. It contributes to sore muscles that ache. Thus, if you skip the stretching you put your body at risk of lactic acid accumulation in your body.
6. Doing the Same Workout Over and Over Again
While indulging in any physical activity is important and can be highly beneficial, doing the same workout over and over again is one of your common workout mistakes. It is killing your progress.
Make sure that you are continuously challenging yourself. Bring up your fitness game and develop circuits for your routine exercises. Working the same muscles over and over again is not beneficial for the rest of your muscle groups. Add a variety to your exercises and work all the major muscles needed for strength and endurance.
Engage in exercises more difficult than the previous one. However, make sure that you rest more as you increase the intensity of your physical activity.
7. Not Monitoring Your Progress
If you do not monitor your progress, you will not see any improvements.
Make sure that you monitor your progress and keep adding to it as you go. You can use a fitness tracker to keep count for you.
Check your weight, set targets, meet goals. This way, you will stay more motivated to keep going. Because if you don’t see the results, you will never know how well you have maintained yourself with all the workout sessions you have been doing.
8. Not Eating Healthy
Eating healthy is as essential as consistent workout sessions. Without having proper meals, you put your body at risk of exhaustion. You need a significant amount of protein and carbohydrates for the body to function properly – both during and after workout sessions.
Better eating habits also help you perform better, longer and go for higher intensity workouts.
Moreover, the timing of your pre-workout meal is also an important factor that determines your fitness success. For example, eating right after or right before a workout can be harmful to your body. Thus, eat 2-3 hours before your workout session and let your body digest the food properly.
What you eat and when you eat are two important factors that keep you on the right track.
9. Not Staying Hydrated
One of the most common workout mistakes is not drinking enough water. Drink enough water before, during, and after you exercise. Keep a bottle of water with you while you exercise.
Staying hydrated not only improves your performance but also speeds up your recovery. It also has plenty of other health benefits.
Don’t Let These Mistakes Kill Your Fitness Progress
Workout mistakes can kill your fitness progress. Thus, make sure that you avoid the mistakes listed above. Focus on your form while you work out, eat well, and stay hydrated.
Set achievable goals and improve as you remain consistent.
Also Read: 5 Good Workouts Recommended By Experts To Stay Fit Now