Most Common Workout Mistakes

Today was one of those days that I couldn't help but people watch while I was in the gym. What I usually notice the most when I do this (besides the gym hottie in her tube top and skin tight pants) is the poor and sometimes silly looking workout routines and techniques guys (and some girls) use in the gym. I thought I would make a list of some common mistakes I see being made in the gym so that you can make sure you aren't making them. Each of these will certainly put a hamper on building a hard body.

1. USING TOO MUCH WEIGHT - Guys want to feel macho in the gym so they load up the bar with more weight then then can handle correctly. These guys easy to spot in the gym. They can be seen lifting their but in the air and bouncing the bar off of their chest during a bench press (very dangerous) or performing a squat by lowering the weight to where their quads are only at 45% as opposed to 90%. They swing violently during bicep curls and a seated dumbbell shoulder press looks more like an incline bench press. Bodybuilding is about stimulating the muscle not building brute strength. Make sure that you use a weight that you can perform with strict form for 8-12 reps each set so that you can really work the target muscle fibers. It doesn't take much weight to do this if you are really focusing on working the muscle not lifting the weight.

2. USING THE SAME ROUTINE OVER AND OVER - You need to continuously change your routine and the types of exercises you do if you want to build a body that looks toned and muscular. Using different exercises will stimulate different muscle fibers for a more rounded physique.

3. NOT GOING TO FAILURE - If you aren't exercising the muscle to failure you aren't going to get the results you are looking for. You have to push your muscles beyond what they are normally capable of. Make sure that on the last set of each exercise, you really push yourself. If you are going for 8 reps and finish 8, try and get a 9th or 10th rep. Ask someone around the gym to spot you for safety on heavy compound lifts. You can also use drop sets, rest pause, and other techniques to achieve failure. See previous posts for examples.

4. TOO FEW OR TOO MANY REPS - Remember, you are trying to build muscle and get tone not become a power lifter. Shoot for a rep range of 8-12 reps per set for compound movements and 10-15 per set for single joint exercises. If you can't get 8 reps let go of the ego and drop the weight.

5. NOT ENOUGH REST - This is probably one of the worst mistakes you can make. I see guys in the gym all the time workout their chest one day only to come in the next day and hit the bench press again. In bodybuilding less is sometimes more. You need to give your body adequate resting time before you work a fatigued muscle again. Shoot for a minimum of 48 hours before working the same body part again.

Choosing Your Training Split

I recently changed up my training split so I thought I would through in a few tips when deciding for your self which body parts to work on which days. To make this decision you have to take a few things into consideration like "How many days a week am I going to train?" as well as "Which body parts need the most emphasis?".

Things to remember when choosing a training split -
1. Make sure you have proper rest days scheduled. I tend to always take a day before legs because it is such a demanding workout and I want as much workout energy as I can get. You just have to see what works best for you and your routine.

2. Give more attention to lagging body parts. If you feel like your legs are lagging behind the rest of your body dedicate a day soley to them.

3. Try to spread out days where you will be doing exercises using the same muscle groups. Meaning, you don't want to workout shoulders the day after you have hit your chest because the shoulders are utilized during many of your chest exercises. Another example would be back on day and biceps the next. You will work your biceps during your back routine so they need a days rest before you target them specifically.

4. Do not forget the details. You need to leave room in your routine for calves and forearms. You don't want thick muscular thighs on top of little sticks for calves.

5. If you can only workout 3 days a week, pair up similar body parts. Work Chest and Shoulders together on the same day or back and biceps.

6. Change the routine from time to time. I usually change my training split around about every 6 weeks. This will help alleviate boredom and will force your body to make physical changes to adapt.

Currently my split consists of the following.
Monday - Shoulders and calves
Tuesday - Back and abs
Weds - Chest and calves
Thursday - Off
Friday - Legs (hamstrings and quads only)
Saturday - Arms and abs

Good luck!
Sunday - Off

Mixing Low and Hi Reps in the Same Workout

Most gym goers working toward building muscle have heard the verbiage, "more weight, low reps for mass" and "less weight, hi reps for definition". This is basically true, however you can certainly add mass using low weights and high reps just as you can obtain definition using low reps and heavy weight. Most of your results will depend on workout intensity and form along with the right diet.

For the average weight trainer looking to build lean muscle, combining both philosophies in the same session can be a great way to change up your routine for better results. Studies show that the body will burn more calories after a workout using heavy weights for low reps and the body burns more calories during exercise using light weight for higher reps.

Get the best of both worlds by training heavy early in your sets and light at the end. For example, let's say you are going to do 4 sets of bench press. The first two sets focus on using heavier weight for a rep range of 6-8 reps. The final two sets drop the weight so that you can do 12-15 reps.

Workout Intensity Part III: Pre-Exhaust

Last Friday I mentioned how working opposite body parts together can help generate lots of workout intensity. Today I thought I would talk about one of my new favorite training techniques; pre-exhaust. Pre-Exhaust refers to fatiguing a muscle with an isolation or single joint exercise prior moving on to a compound or multi-joint exercise. For example, on a day when you are training the chest, as I did yesterday, you might complete a set of light, concentrated dumbbell flyes until failure or close to failure, pumping as much blood into the pecs as possible before moving on to a compound movement like barbell bench press. This way, you will fatigue the chest before your assisting muscles such as the delts and triceps during the barbell bench press. Once the chest is fatigued, your delts and tri's can act as a "spotter" to help you with a few forced reps allowing muscle hypertrophy in the chest so it can grow harder, bigger, and stronger. Pre-exaust is a great way for someone who trains alone to reach the proper level of muscle fatigue to enduce body changes. Good luck with Pre-Exhaust!