Whether you’re a seasoned gym-goer or a beginner it can be easy to forget the basics in order to get the most out of your workouts. In order to hit your fitness goals, you need to be able to perform at the top of your game each and every workout. In our blog we’ve found 10 common mistakes that people make at the gym, and quite often don’t realise they are making them. To find out what they are and simple ways to remedy them, read on.
Skipping Your Warm-Up
While everyone wants to get the most out of their time in the gym, hitting the treadmill or weights straight from the offset is a big no, no. Even if your time is limited, you should always warm-up with dynamic exercises before getting into your full routine. Hopping on the treadmill for five minutes doesn’t cut it, you need to get your blood flowing, and your muscles prepared for the workout ahead. Simply set out a routine of exercises or stretches that work body, encouraging it to loosen up such as jumping-jacks, burpees, lunges, bodyweight squats, anything that gets the heart rate up and your blood pumping, which will help prevent injuries, or poor performance in your routine.
Poor Posture or Technique
One of the biggest issues we see in our gyms is people diving headfirst onto machines or lifting weights, without thinking twice about the correct way to use the. This often ends up with people injuring themselves or not getting the physical results they wanted, and quite often this is down to their posture or technique. Before starting a fitness routine, you should consult with a fitness instructor, who will show you how to perform each exercise on a machine or with free weights, etc. Without knowing how to perform exercises properly, people often do more damage to their body than good, for example, having the wrong body position when lifting weights, or the incorrect arch in your back when squatting, these are things that a fitness instructor will help you correct and ensure you get the most out of every exercise.
Waiting Around for Equipment
Unfortunately, gyms are often pretty busy places, with limited space or machines to use, which can lead to people waiting to complete a routine while someone else is using the equipment they need. Although this can be a nuisance, you should never let someone else dictate your routine while they complete theirs. This is why you should always have a back-up plan or alternative exercise that you can perform without the need for one specific piece of equipment, for example, if you can’t get to squat rack for your regular squat routine, do some kettlebell goblet squats instead, or if the chest press is in use, why not switch to some bench presses? Waiting around not only wastes your time, but allows your body time to cool down, which can again lead to a bigger chance of injury as you haven’t stayed active, to combat this always have a Plan B in place.
Starting Too Heavy or Too Fast
This is one of the biggest mistakes people make during their workouts, going for the heaviest weights or quickest speed too soon. If you are a beginner, take the time to start from a lower level and build your strength, tempo, or endurance up, while it can be tempting to go straight for the big weights or fastest speed on a machine, this is a recipe for disaster. Even as a regular in the gym you should lay the foundations for success before hitting the bigtime, ensure you use weights or speeds that you are comfortable with before progressing to ones that will test you more and more. Doing this too soon will lead to injury, which will set you back, not forward, so if your ambition is to build strength, begin lighter and work your way up the weights, allow your body to adjust to the pressure on it before pushing it too hard, this also applies to warming up as you should ease your body into a workout, not power through from the get-go, while you should also remember the importance of rest in your routine, to stay fresh.
Dehydration
Although it seems obvious, a major mishap people have in the gym is leaving hydration to the side. Our bodies need water to fuel our workouts and gyms are often warmer due the amount of people working out in them, so make sure you keep hydrated. No matter what your routine is, ensure you keep the fluids flowing as you go through your workout, as you become more dehydrated the harder you work out, due to sweating, rising body temperature, stress on your body, and more. Having your own water bottle is a great idea, and it also means you’re not wasting time between sets heading over to the drinking tap.
Incorrect Breathing Techniques
Pushing yourself to certain limits in the gym means you are going to breath heavier as your heart rate increases. However, people often forget the basics of breathing when they are driving harder during their workout routines, this is an easy fix, as you just need to remember to breath in through your nose and out through your mouth. This will allow air to circulate properly around your body and keep you from dropping off in intensity. While it can be difficult when you’re testing your fitness limits, don’t let incorrect breathing hold you back.
Not Switching Up Your Routine
A question people regularly ask is “why am I not seeing more progress when I’m still working out?” The answer to this can be as simple as doing the same routine over and over again, as if you continue to go to the gym daily, do the same routine, and head home, you will eventually reach a point of stagnation, as your body will become used to your workout. This doesn’t mean that you need to tear your fitness programme apart and start from scratch, it might just entail little tweaks, challenging your fitness further. This might mean doing the same distance on the treadmill, but in a faster time, increasing the weights you’re lifting, trying a new machine to work the same muscles, and so on, as this prevents your body from getting used to your exercises, allowing you to continue making progress.
Choosing the Wrong Exercises for Your Fitness Goals
This links in with the above point, as many people head to the gym and work out to a routine their friend does, or something they saw on YouTube. Firstly, you should always have a goal for your workouts, whether that’s to increase muscle mass, lose weight, build strength, enhance your cardio, and so on. Once you have a goal you can pick exercises to help you reach them, as there’s no point in lifting weights for an hour if your target is to take on a triathlon, for example. Your ambitions will be the key to what exercises you should perform, which doesn’t just mean heavy weights and treadmills, your time might be better spent swimming, in a fitness class, or any of the many things you can do to keep fit.
Not Putting in Enough Effort
Another issue we come across all the time is people wondering about their fitness routine and their results, having spent most of their time in the gym on their phone or talking to friends. Simply turning up to the gym unfortunately, won’t improve your fitness or help you reach your goals, it’s a hard truth, but in order to achieve what you want you have to put in the time and effort. Like anything in life, if it’s easy it’s often not worth it, and that applies to your fitness too, as you will have to put in the hard work, sweat, as well as time. Even those of us that have limited time, need to make sure we make the most of the time we do have when we’re in the gym, stay focused, perform our routines to the best of our ability, and then the results will follow, if your workout routine isn’t motivating you enough anymore, then don’t be afraid to change things up, as otherwise you’ll never achieve your desired target.
Failing to Work Out Your Full Body
Last, but not least, is a mistake a large number of people partake in when working out at the gym, and that is not working out their full body. It is far too common that people work on their upper body, arm or leg muscle definition, aerobic exercises, etc, however, when working out you should give your entire body the time it deserves. While having massive muscles in your upper body is great, you are possibly undertraining your lower body, or missing out on cardio exercises, which doesn’t just mean running. To build your overall fitness, no matter your goals, you should have exercises in your routine to work your whole body, while you may choose to focus in on certain areas more than others, it is important not to neglect the rest of your body.
That’s a Wrap
There you have it, 10 common mistakes we often see around our gyms, which many people either are doing or have done in the past. If you have read this blog and there’s a mistake in it that relates to you, don’t worry, as mentioned throughout, all have these have easy fixes. For beginners at the gym, it can be a good idea to talk to one of our fitness instructors when starting off, and even for those with more experience, don’t be afraid to ask for advice on keeping your routine up to date or tips on performing a new exercise. Taking these top tips into account will allow you to reach the top of your fitness game, making your routines more efficient and going a long way to preventing injuries.
How Aura Leisure Can Help
At Aura Leisure, our dedicated team of fitness experts are here to help no matter what level of fitness you are currently at. If you are a beginner our proven starter fitness programme Fit for Life, might be for you, or if you are looking to advance your fitness our Lean3 fitness programme, is a perfect way to do so. For more guidance while you’re getting fit a fitness class can be ideal, whether that’s with Aura Spin, Aura Kettlebells, Aura HIIT Strength, or any of our other classes, we are here to help you along your journey. What’s even better is that by becoming an Aura member you get all of this included, along with access to our state-of-the-art swimming pools, InBody analyser, and much more as we build towards a healthier, happier Ireland.