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11 Crippling Mistakes Of Beginning A Fitness Program

By Holly Leonard

Why do so many fitness programs fail? Every year millions of people make a decision to improve their health and fitness and begin a fitness program. However, after investing precious time and money on health club memberships, treadmills, exercise bikes, or the latest new-fangled exercise "gizmo", most people fail to achieve significant long term weight loss and fitness results.

Thousands of conflicting messages from health clubs, exercise equipment retailers, diet books and the media make weight loss and fitness more confusing than ever. Crippling Mistakes of Why Fitness Programs Fail.

An awareness of these common mistakes may prevent wasted time, energy and money. Listed below are the ten most crippling mistakes that lead to fitness failure.
  1. Incomplete Programs
    To be successful, a program must be complete. A complete program includes a focus on supportive nutrition, resistance training, cardiovascular exercise and flexibility– all leading to a "synergy" effect for maximum results.
  2. Failure To Address Supportive Nutrition First
    Often times "newbies" make the mistake of beginning an exercise program before they've addressed their nutrition program. However, by cleaning up your diet your metabolism will increase and you're energy will sky-rocket (you'll need that extra energy for your workouts). You'll receive great results from your fitness program after building a solid nutrition base.
  3. Incomplete Nutrition
    A nutrition plan is your foundation for health and fitness success. Eating "healthy" is not enough. Complete, supportive nutrition goes way beyond cutting out processed food and sodas. Your meals must be balanced with healthy carbohydrates, proteins, and essential fats. Vitamin/mineral supplementation is also essential to ensure required amounts of essential micronutrients and anti-oxidants.
  4. Avoiding Weights
    Don't be afraid of resistance training. Too often women run to the treadmill or aerobics class and avoid weight training completely. This is why fitness programs fails. Resistance training is the best kept "secret" to burning fat. Not only do you boost metabolism while you're working out, but you'll continue to elevate your body's metabolism up to 48 hours after your finished working out. So don't neglect weight training. Both women and men will benefit from including resistance training into their program.
  5. Avoiding Cardio
    Don't be afraid of cardiovascular exercise. With cardio it's not the women who neglect it but the men. Men often run to the "weights" and avoid cardio equipment all together. This is why their fitness program fails. Everyone can benefit by including moderate cardiovascular exercise in their program.
  6. Push Too Hard, Too Soon
    The body must be given adequate time to respond to a new exercise program. A gradual build up in intensity and duration of exercise is essential to avoid unnecessary soreness, discomfort and injury. Slowly progressing into a fitness program will not only protect the body, but will make the process much more enjoyable.
  7. No warm-up or cool-down
    Lack of a warm-up is a major cause of injury and why most fitness programs fail. Neglecting a proper warm-up leads to an inefficient workout, pulled muscles, or even more serious injuries- destroying enthusiasm for exercise. A proper cool-down is also essential to remove waste product from the blood and reduce delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS). You'll benefit from spending 5-10 minutes after a workout to help the body transfer to a recovery state.
  8. Neglecting Stretching
    Few exercisers give attention to flexibility– which leads to poor recovery and injury. When joints and muscles are not stretched, their range of motion (ROM) inevitably decreases over time. Eventually stiff muscles and tendons will tear, pull, or break. Be sure to include stretching in your cool-down phase.
  9. Not Addressing Proper Post Workout Nutrition
    Many begin a fitness program full of enthusiasm and motivation...until they wake up and can't walk for a week. Proper post workout nutrition will help to accelerate your body's recovery process. Consuming a post workout shake immediately following exercise shifts the body to a recovery and anabolic "muscle building" state.
  10. No Professional Guidance
    Many begin a fitness program without defined goals or a proper plan of action to achieve them. To achieve significant, long term fitness and weight loss results, the guidance of an expert puts one on the right track to success. Often times we'll begin a fitness program with incomplete knowledge that leads many in a negative direction– causing further frustration, little or no progress, and even injury.
  11. No Accountability
    Successful achievers know that accountability is critical to move from intention to results. Without regular support and a check-up, life's distractions quickly take many off course. Use accountability to stay on track with goals to avoid plateaus or backsliding.
Conclusion
Knowing these crippling mistakes and pitfalls beforehand may help prevent frustration, injury, and loss of motivation. Taking steps to prevent them from occurring will guarantee a more successful and rewarding fitness program.

About the Author:

Coach Holly Leonard, owner of BeFit Health and Wellness Solutions, is a Body Transformation Expert who has helped over 300 Pioneer Valley men and women reclaim their healthy, fitness and vitality through proper fitness and nutrition. For more expert advice on how to master your metabolism so you can make 2009 your best year ever, check out http://www.befithealthandwellness.com Today!