As a beginner your enthusiasm for weight training may sometimes get the better of you. Don't fall into the trap that so many other beginners do and never get the abs and muscle you dream for. Be smart and make sure you have a plan to getting the muscle gains you want. These are the most common mistakes beginners make - avoid them at all costs.
1. Overtraining: One of the most common mistakes that nearly every beginner makes is having weight sessions that last for well over an hour, training the same body part multiple times throughout the week and generally not giving their body enough rest.
Weight training in the gym provides the stimulus for muscle growth, but your muscles actually grow outside the gym when you are resting. When you are lifting weights you create tears in the muscle tissue and as you rest and feed your body with proper nutrition your muscles repair themself and become larger than before.
To help avoid overtraining you should only train each body part once per week and get adequate rest. Remember, muscle growth occurs outside the gym.
2. Following pro bodybuilder's workout routines: A number of the popular fitness and bodybuilding magazines include workouts that the pro bodybuilders follow. These workouts are anything but beneficial for a beginner (or for a natural bodybuilder). You must not forget that these pro bodybuilders are on a ton of steroids and will grow muscle doing just about anything. For a beginner to follow these workouts would most likely lead to overtraining and gaining less muscle than you would ideally want.
3. Relying too heavily on supplements to gain muscle: All beginners see supplements as the "magic" answer to put on muscles fast. I guess it's down to the great marketing and advertising that has created this perception. Your diet should be centralised around solid nutritional food and the supplements should do exactly what their namesake suggest; supplement or compliment your diet.
4. Going too heavy too early without proper form: is a sure way to injure yourself and also stop your muscle gaining efforts dead in their tracks. You should use the first few weeks or even months to get the proper form in each exercise before attempting heavy weights. Gradually increase your weight each week and concentrate on the muscle you are working out. Make sure you are moving with your body's natural mechanics rather than against them and moving the weight, not jerking it. Also make sure you check out the video exercise execution guide to follow the correct form for each exercise.
5. Not training every body part: Every beginner loves training chest and biceps but always seem to neglect other important muscle groups like the legs. There is nothing worse than seeing a person with an imbalanced physique, big arms and chest with skinny legs. Not only that you will not get the desired "X" looking shape without training all your muscles with equal intensity.
What a lot of beginners do not understand also is how important leg training is for getting a well defined six pack abs. When you do leg exercises like squats and lunges you use your body's core stabilising muscles which help develop awesome abs.
6. Poor diet: You will never get the results you want if your diet is not healthy and as consistent as your weight training program. Each is equally as important as the other, and without either one you are setting yourself up for failure.
Your muscles need to be primed for muscle growth and the only possible way of doing that is by giving them the right nutrition they need.
7. Using light weights and high reps when trying to get ripped: This myth was started in the early 80's and has slowly started to die down (it only took nearly 30 years) thanks to research. Lifting light weights and doing a thousand reps is not going to make you leaner - if anything it will rob you of your hard earned muscles. Your diet and cardio alone should be left to dictate getting ripped. Stick with the heavier weights and lower reps to be constantly building muscle.
8. Using machines more than free weights: Machine exercises often mean isolation exercises and normally beginners stray away from the classic compound exercises such as squats and deadlifts because they see them as too hard.
Compound exercises will help build a balanced physique and pack on muscle much faster than any isolation exercises could.
9. Doing slow paced, long session cardio to get ripped: This myth is similar to the light weights and high rep nonsense that started in the 80's. This myth however still seems to be more common today, although in the last few years a large number of researches have gone into this topic and has help bust this myth.
High intensity cardio is the way to go and get ripped faster. It has been shown to greatly increase your heart rate for a much longer period after you have finished your cardio session. This means no more Sunday strolls on the treadmill.
10. Seeking a quick fix: Every beginner wants to put on mass, get ripped and bench press 140kg yesterday. As such many turn to steroids and neglect everything else that is so important when it comes to getting in shape like dieting and proper weight training. Steroids will not even provide you with the quick fix if you don't already have everything else in check.
Remember it is not a race; it is a lifestyle change and a continuous journey in building a healthy and attractive body. If you think you're ready to commit to changing your body and follow a program to pack on the muscle then make sure you start the I Want ABS program. It includes a step by step guide with tailor made weight training workout programs, set diets and cardio routines to build muscle and get six-pack abs. And, it is absolutely free!! All the best and stay strong.
Top Ten Beginners Mistake
