Site Search

8 Biggest Workout Mistakes

By Carlos Torres

Working and working out in the gym for years, I’ve seen so many people make endless mistakes in the gym. These mistakes can lead to injury and ineffective workouts. Some people can still get results despite their lack of knowledge on proper exercise, but most people can’t. Here are 7 of the biggest mistakes I’ve seen.

Workout mistake #1 is bad form. Most people have not learned proper form and perform exercises with incorrect form which makes the exercise ineffective and dangerous. This can increase your chances of injury besides not getting you results.

Workout mistake #2 is performing an exercise too fast. Most people perform exercises too fast and make the exercise less effective. The basic rule for performing an exercise movement is one second on the way up and 3 seconds on the way down. This is how you can make the exercise more effective and put more stress on the muscle. It takes away momentum. Momentum can take stress off the muscle and increase your chances of injury. Unless your workout is on a timed basis or you are training for power and explosiveness, slow and controlled is better and safer.

Workout mistake #3 is using too light of a weight. Many people believe that using a lighter weight and higher repetitions will burn more fat. This is simply not true. Using a heavier weight that only allows you to do 8 -12 repetitions is the range you want to be in. The increase in muscle building and fat burning will be much more effective than using the high rep/low weight approach.

Workout mistake #4 is doing the same workout all the time. You need to change up your workout frequently to get the best results and not allow your body to adapt. If your body adapts then it won’t burn as many calories and your results will stagger. I see people doing the same low intensity cardio and watching television all the time and these are the same people that never get results.

Workout mistake #5 is not eating right and expecting that exercise alone will be enough to get you the results you want. I don’t care how hard and how long you workout, unless you have great genetics, eating too many calories and not eating the right foods will keep you from building the muscle, burning the fat, and getting the body you want. You should eat lean proteins, vegetables, fruits, & whole grains and eat the right amount of calories to achieve your goals.

Workout mistake #6 is not combining cardio, weights, and flexibility into your workout. If you want to get the best results, you need to do strength training to build or maintain muscle which helps burn fat all day, cardiovascular exercise for fat burning and for your heart, and flexibility exercises to maintain and improve range of motion around your joints. Strength training should be done a minimum of 2 to 3 times a week, cardio 3 to 6 times a week and flexibility exercises should be done 4-5 times a week.

Workout mistake #7 is taking advice from the person who has a great physique but is no expert on fitness and exercise and this includes personal trainers! Just because someone has a great physique, doesn’t mean you should do what they do or take their advice. Some people can get great results in spite of their efforts. For example, would you take diet advice from someone who ate junk food all day and didn’t exercise but still had a great body? Of course not! So don’t assume that what works for one person will work for you too or that the person in the gym with the great physique knows what they are doing. Educate yourself or hire a QUALIFIED personal trainer.

Workout mistake #8 is doing too many isolation exercises and not enough compound exercises. Isolation exercises are exercises that only work one or a few muscles. Compound exercises are exercises that work the large muscle groups and multiple muscle groups at the same time.

Compound exercises are more effective and functional. They use more energy and boost your metabolism greater than isolation exercises. You get more bang for your buck! Examples of compound exercises are bench press, shoulder press, squats, lunges, etc… Examples of isolation exercises are inner & outer thigh, biceps and triceps exercises, chest flys, etc..

These are some of the biggest mistakes made by people in the gym and hopefully now you can avoid them.

About the Author:

Carlos Torres is a certified Personal Trainer with a degree in Exercise & Sports Science located in San Antonio, Texas. For questions and comments, send an email to .