10 Costly Training Mistakes

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Pinterest

Hopefully everything’s going right for you in your training and you’re growing like a weed, and starting to get a bit fed up with all the adulation you’re getting from the ladies. No? What, you mean that doesn’t sound quite like your situation? Then maybe it’s because you’re making one or more of the most common mistakes bodybuilders make, specially in the early months and years.

Here’s a roundup of some of those mistakes, with the intention of shining a light on some of the deficiencies in your training routine. I hope reading this will be helpful to you, and you go ahead and make the changes I recommend.

Okay, here goes …

1 – Bad training form

bad curling formWell, you started off by paying close attention to your form and then, over a period of weeks or months, you kinda decided it wasn’t really that important. So you relaxed it. And then, after another little while, you relaxed it some more, and then you let it all go to hell. Understandable really. I mean, what’s that all about anyway … all that keeping your abs tensed, holding your body position, being ever so careful to only allow the target muscles to be involved in the exercise, all that stuff. I know, seems like a lot of unnecessary detail to me too.

So why not just focus on lifting huge weights and acting like a real big bodybuilder … what harm can that do, huh? Er … apart from undermine your entire workout, that’s all!

Strict form isn’t just something people go on about because it makes them look like they really know their stuff, it forms the very basis of your entire workout. For every single exercise there’s a right way and about fifty different variation of the wrong way. Take your pick if you want, but they’re all equally wrong.

Perfect (or at least good) training form assures you that all your effort is laser-focused on building your muscles. And that’s what it’s all about really.

So if you think it’s a load of crap, go ahead and use one of the other variations … y’know, the ones that don’t actually work. On the other hand, if you want to see proper results, you could always stick to using proper form. Just a suggestion, that’s all.

2 – Perfect form, all the time

This is the other side of the same coin. The fact is you can take a good thing to extremes and that’s not always a good idea. Perfect form is great, and it’s what you should aim for, like I just pointed out. But there’s a time and a place to relax the rules. By the way, I don’t mean sometimes just throw the rule book out the window!

I mean stick to perfect form for, let’s say, the first six or eight reps and then, when you just cannot manage another perfect rep, go ahead and ‘cheat’ your way to a longer set. Do the last three or four reps with a looser style. Hunch over the weight a little … jerk it up a little, using your whole body … do partial reps … do whatever you need to do. If it keeps you working that set, it’s valid.

The alternative is to cut all your sets dead a few reps short of where you should be finishing. And that could end up as unproductive as using bad style right from the off.

3 – Using machines almost exclusively

Look, there’s nothing wrong with machines. A good workout should probably be a mix of free weights and machine exercises. The problem arises when you steer clear of the free weights because you don’t feel safe using them, or you think it’s too challenging. So you just move from one machine to the next right through your workout. That, my friend, is a definite mistake.

Using the traditional gear, weights bars and dumbbells, is a great way to make sure you’re using your body correctly. It will help you develop balance and poise. It will make you use your whole body in a synchronous way. It will keep you mentally alert and focused. Because if you slip up when you’re using bars and dumbbells, you’ve got a problem.

Not so with machines. By their very nature, they are forgiving. You can get away with a lot using machines. Worse comes to the worst, you can just let go of the bar or the grips or whatever and let the weights crash back onto the stack (not recommended obviously – you’ll look like a complete idiot and the gym owner might want to have a few words with you later as well).

But you can depend on the machine to, shall we say, take the strain, if necessary. But hey, it’s you who should be taking the strain, right? That’s part of the deal, no?

4 – Wasting time

There are countless ways to waste your time in the gym, as I’m sure you’ve found out (hey, you’ve probably come up with a few new ones yourself). If I start listing them I’d be here all day so I’ll limit myself to just a few.

using the phone at the gym
Sure you’re quite comfortable, sir? Can I get you anything?

You’re wasting your time if you start chatting and forget to stop. Sure, it’s okay to talk to people, but you’re not there to ramble on and on, you’re there to work. And by the way, you’re not just wasting your time, you’re wasting the time of the person you’re talking to.

Using your phone, there’s another one. Don’t even get me started on how much time some people waste with their phones when they’re at the gym.

Not concentrating on what you’re doing. You see some people training and it’s a clear waste of time because they’re obviously not engaged with what they’re doing. They’re just going through the motions of training. They’ll probably even make a note later that they did this and they did that. All a waste of time, of course, because their focus wasn’t on their training, and now, to wrap it up, they’re just ticking boxes. Not making any real effort.

You see them every once in a while, the people who do one exercise after another and never even work up a sweat. There’s just no effort. They do the reps, sure. But that’s it. They’re not pushing themselves to go beyond what they think they can do. Complete waste of time.

5 – Trying too hard

I know, sounds ridiculous. I mean, how can you try too hard … trying hard’s what it’s all about, right? But what I’m talking about here is when you see someone trying to do everything at once, in every workout.

They’re using heavy weights and still going for high reps … they’re using cheat, or forced reps at the end of every set … they’re going from one exercise to the next without a moment’s rest … they’re doing supersets, switching from one hard exercise to the next with no rest at all … they’re almost literally driving themselves into the ground. That’s trying too hard. It’s trying to do too much, all at the same time.

Look, you’re only physically capable of doing so much, doesn’t matter if you’re one of the strongest men on earth. Trying to do more than that, and taking no rest to speak of, it’s just asking for trouble.

The least you can expect with that approach is exhaustion, which of course means your body can’t grow from the experience, and the worst that can happen (and very likely will) is that you’ll get an injury. Listen … put your heart and soul into your workouts, but don’t try too hard. It’s a fine line, but if you look carefully enough you’ll find it.

6 – Not trying hard enough

Flip side of trying too hard. Going through the motions but never really getting ‘stuck in’. Look, bodybuilding is hard. Get used to it. It’s a hobby, but it ain’t stamp collecting! You have to do lots of sets of quite a few reps, and you have to be putting a lot of effort into all of it. If you’re not, you’re kidding yourself. And if you get away with that for any length of time, that makes you a fool.

Because it’s simple … let me say again, building muscle is hard, and if you’re spending time at the gym and not putting much effort into it, you’re just missing the point completely. Don’t be a fool. If you’re not prepared to put in the effort maybe you should take up some other kind of pastime. Chess is good. Have you tried chess?

7 – Not eating properly

hamster food
You really sure you’re eating enough?

And no, I don’t mean you’re probably trying to stuff the food in your ear or something. I mean you haven’t grasped the essential point that muscle growth requires lots of energy, and without adequate food intake you just won’t have any real chance of making progress on that front. You should be eating something like five meals a day, and including adequate amounts of protein and carbohydrate. Plenty of fruit and veg. Lots of water. And some vitamin and mineral supplements.