Top 5 Fitness Mistakes By Beginners

1.  Not seeking a mentor

How can you expect to achieve results without some sort of mentorship whether you hire a personal trainer, buy some books, do some research online, watch youtube videos etc.  You should have no problem putting money aside for the sake of your health if you are truly serious but if you are not willing to do this or simply don't have the money you can still find more than you need to know on the internet (YouTube is probably the best option).  You can achieve results much faster if you have a good personal trainer or you have aqquired the knowledge you need to know by yourself.  You will make mistakes that may set you back and you will regret it when you look back on them and think why did I do that ?  For example if an athlethe goes into the gym and does a bunch of curls and other isolation exercises they will not be performing even though they may be killing themselves in the weight room. Don't think you know it all and always question your beliefs.

You will also find there are many people who have different views on issues such as high reps vs low reps and rest times in between sets it is your job to find out which works for you better and to search for many different opinions.  Take advantage of the fact that you will build the most muscle, strength and fitness at the beginning and after a while the results will come much slower.

2. Routine Maintainence

If you have hit a plateau after two months of doing the same routine and it seems like you havn't been getting stronger for a couple of weeks and you're a beginner you might want to think about switching up your routine although the longer you are training for the slower strength and muscle gains will come.  Sometimes you have to be patient but you really have to make the decision when is time to change your routine.  After a while your body adapts to your routine or program and this is not what you want.  You have to keep your body guessing.  If you want to stick to your routine you can try implementing tools like dropsets or supersets for a period of time and hope this may work.  You should also use different equipment as your body may respond differently and you might enjoy training more. 

3. No Warm up or too short of a warmup Or Cool down 

Without a warmup you are asking you're body to work before the oxegen and blood flow reach the muscles of the body and this is never good and can lead to injury.  You should spend at least 10 minutes warming up before a workout.  Some people prefer to go through the movements that they will be doing in the workout just with lighter weights as their warmup while others choose to stretch but that really comes down to personal preference.  The idea of a warmup is to prepare the body by gradually increasing the heart rate and circulation.  A warmup will loosen your joints and it will allow oxegen to reach the muscles.  A warmup will also prepare you mentally for a workout.  You should not static stretch straight away you need to raise your body temperature first and this is where dynamic stretching comes into play.  The purpose of the cooldown is to decrease the intensity of an aerobic session and return the body to a state of rest (lowering the heart rate). The cool down is just as important as the warmup.

4. Not planning a workout

Too many times in the gym you see people strolling around the gym wondering which exercise to do next.  This can be avoided by following a decent program e.g 5x5 is a good program for a begginer to increase strength and simultaneously build muscke but should probably only be done after about 6 months because your nervous system hasn't adapted to weights yet never mind heavy weights.  I highly advise having a workout copy where you can keep track of your workouts, plan workouts ahead, rest times, reps, sets, tempo, rest times in between sets or exercises, workout duration and many other things.  If you are truly serious you will do this.

5. Quitting too early

You cannot transform your body overnight its takes plenty of consistenty and hard work do that.  If it was easy everybody would do it.  Unfortunately, many people give up training after only a short period usually because of frustration that they didn't get the results they wanted after three weeks.  Set yourself realistic short term and long term goals and judge yourself off them.  For example if you training like a bodybuilder for a few months you cannot expect to look like Kai Greene.  In my opinion this is a good thing because fitness is more than just about getting to your goal it's about the person you become along the way.  The lessons you learn, the new friends you make, the accomplishments, learning from your failures etc.  If you find yourself giviing up and starting again you simply don't want it bad enough.  You come up with an excuse but at the end of the day nobody cares about your excuses, results are the only thing that matters. You don't have the mental strength to decide between what you want now and what you want the most.  This is not nice to hear but it's the truth.  It takes time to change your body.