Many women unknowingly and routinely make workout mistakes that prevent them from ever reaching their ultimate fitness goals. Stop making these common and stupid workout mistakes now and start getting results.
Workout Mistake #1: Sticking to the Same Old
If you continue to do the same you will get the same in return. It’s important to be consistent in your approach but if you don’t change your routine frequently enough your body will adjust and a plateau will ensue, which means fat burning and muscle building will take a halt. You have to mix it up if you want to see progress. It’s easy to get into a routine, but if you don’t try something new you can forget about seeing results. Every 4 to 6 weeks, change things up.
Workout Mistake #2: Doing the Same Workout Every Day
As much as you want tighter legs, firmer glutes, and a flatter midsection, they shouldn’t be the only muscle groups you work. Give your muscles sufficient rest in between workouts and switch it up! Building a balanced body means working all muscles. There are countless ways to workout. You can divide your workouts into muscle groups, you can work opposite muscle groups, or divide your workouts into push and pull, do full body workouts, or do something completely different by getting outside or using kettlebells. Use weights one day, and body weight the next. The more you change it up, the better your outcome will be!
Workout Mistake #3: Ogling the Eye Candy
Its hard not to take a look, or two or three, but do your best to keep your mind and your eyes on the task at hand and not on that hot guys glutes squatting in front of you. Don’t be a gym bunny! Yes, these days there is no shortage of meathead muscle in the gym, but ladies if you spend more time looking and flirting you’ll spend less time working your own hot body! Distractions will take you away from your intensity, and when the intensity falls so do your results. Focus on yourself, and for that matter don’t let others looks intimidate you either, get in your zone and lift heavy shit!
Workout Mistake #4: Using Bad Form
Probably a no brainer, but if you’re not sure how to lift properly to begin with then you could not only be hindering your results but also risking injury. I’ve seen it time and time again, yes it’s great that you’re making the effort, getting to the gym and working out, but if you really have no clue how to perform an exercise, swallow your pride and go ask for help. If you want to build that body take your goals seriously – teach yourself how to lift properly. Ask a trainer, go on YouTube and watch videos, find someone who has been lifting for awhile to teach you. Learn the basic skills and you will thank yourself later for avoiding injury and progressing with your workouts.
Workout Mistake #5: Forgetting to Fuel Your Recovery
If you’re not getting in proper nutrition, you can kiss your hard earned work good-bye. Don’t worry so much about getting in a meal immediately after your workout, be more concerned with getting in the right macros and calories throughout the entire day. Nutrient timing is a thing of the past. In fact, it has been shown that the anabolic effect – or ability to stay in a muscle building state, of a single meal can last for hours, even if you had taken that meal prior to your workout – a pre-workout meal. If you’re going to make a commitment to your workout, be sure you also make a commitment to your diet! If you want to ditch the skinny look, you need to feed those muscles to grow! Follow a diet that provides at least 40 to 50% protein, 30% or less carbs and 30% or less fat depending on your activity and needs.
Workout Mistake #6: Rest Time Becomes Nap Time
Rest between sets, but don’t use this time so you can catch up on your TV, surf your social media pages on your phone or daydream about the body you want. Hold yourself to a set amount of time between sets. Muscles need about 1 to 2 minutes of rest at maximum between working sets, anymore is overdoing it! Grab a drink of water, a heavier set of dumbbells and prepare your mental game for the next set. Want to dial up the intensity more, forget about resting between sets and perform a super-set. This is when you perform one set of a certain exercise, then follow it up by performing a set of a different exercise. This can be accomplished by performing exercises of opposite muscle groups or just different exercises that work the same muscle group in a different way.
Workout Mistake #7: Cardio Warm-Up
Most women think they need to warm up on the elliptical or the treadmill before they set foot in the weight room. Wrong! If you want to warm up your muscles for a workout, do a light warm-up set of the actual exercise you are going to perform! Think about it, why would you warm up muscles that are not even going to be doing the exercise? If your workout is on legs, do light squats with just the bar. Working chest? Push out a few reps with a set of light dumbbells on a flat bench. The set should be light enough to warm up the muscle, get the blood flowing, but not so heavy that you have no energy left to perform your working sets.
Workout Mistake #8: No Strategy
If you go to the gym wander around and do an exercise here and there, you won’t get very far! You need to have a plan if you want to be lean and muscular. That means working every muscle group, every week, following a workout plan with consistency. The fitness fairies are not going to show up and magically add muscle, or burn fat off – you better weeeerk! Building a proper workout plan means you need to incorporate all muscle groups, and work them using exercises that focuses on developing a body that suits your goals, activity and needs. Want a curvy hourglass – compound movements like squats and rows for muscular development better be on your plan! Not sure where to start? Go here.
Workout Mistake #9: Too Much Cardio
Cardio is an important part of your overall conditioning and getting lean plan, but you can’t over do it! You need to do cardio to keep your body fat in check and your metabolism up, but too much and you will be eating away at your muscle! Focus your cardio on HIIT – high intensity interval training and a moderate amount of MISS – moderate intensity steady state cardio. HIIT can be performed on a treadmill, bike or rower using intervals of maximum intensity with intervals of low intensity, where as MISS can be a light jog on the treadmill.
Workout Mistake #10: Zero Intensity
Showing up to the gym is a good start, but showing up with no energy, a bad attitude and no desire to lift the iron, will only result in a crap workout. If you’re not pumped to unleash your inner workout diva, ready to kill that workout, and are in your zone, than you might as well pack it in and go home. Intensity is what separates the girls from the fitness DIVAS, and what guarantees results! Get into a habit of having a workout ritual – listen to some pumping trance or house tunes, workout with a partner, have a double espresso, whatever it takes to get your intensity up and excited to get in the gym and make a mess!
Until Next Time,
Be Fierce & Rule the World,
Lauren Jacobsen
