Fitness Mistakes You Might Be Doing

Almost everyone has tried a diet or a workout program, and many have failed a diet or workout program at least once. The reason why people don’t stick to a diet or workout program is because life can get in the way. Work and social events tend to get in the way, lack of support from family and friends can weaken your willpower. 

Eating the same kind of foods every day instead of eating the foods you want is boring. Going to the gym and repeating the same workout routine is hard. This kind of mindset is very common among people just starting their diet or workout program. However, this kind of mindset can be avoided with a bit of planning and discipline. Here’s a list of the most common fitness mistakes that you might be doing:

Fitness Mistake#1: Planning Ahead
The number one fitness mistake in my opinion is failing to plan ahead. Going to the gym without a set workout routine or going out to eat when you can eat healthy meals at home will just set you up for failure. 

This use to happen to me all the time, my friends would call me to go out to dinner but I knew it wouldn't be healthy food. I would end up going and feel bad after because it could have been avoided with a little better planning. Now I just eat at home before I leave. That way I can eat healthy and still socialize with my friends. Just make sure you plan ahead with whatever you do. It will really help you reach your fitness goals.

Fitness Mistake#2: Making Excuses
Making excuses to not go to the gym is a big fitness mistake. I know life can get in the way and there are those days where we just don’t want to do anything. Trust me, it’s like that for everyone. Even those massive guys you see at the gym all the time have days where they don’t want to hit the gym. Even though they don’t want to, they still end up going. Why is that? It’s simple actually, they want to achieve their fitness goals more than they want to hang out at home and rest. 
I can’t tell you how to get driven and motivated. It’s something you will have to find yourself. When those lazy days come, think of your fitness goal and ask yourself, “is not going to the gym today worth not achieving my goal?”.  

Fitness Mistake#3: Not Working Out Enough
Not working out enough may seem obvious, but a lot of people fall for this fitness mistake. They go to the gym, lift a few weights and think their done. That simply won't cut it, make sure you have a good workout routine that lasts about 45 minutes. If you don’t know enough to make your own workout routine you can buy a good workout program, go online, or ask a gym trainer to help you. People are usually happy to share what they know.
 
Fitness Mistake#4: Overtraining
Working out too much is also very bad. Muscles need time to recover and grow. People think that you have to workout every day in order to build muscle, please don’t do this. You need to give your worked muscles at least 48-72 hours of rest before you workout that muscle again. To prevent working out the same muscle to much make a workout split. A workout split is just a plan on what muscles you are going to workout on certain days. Not having a workout split can be a costly fitness mistake because working out the same muscle every day will make you more prone to injury.

Here is my workout split as a example:
Monday: Back and Biceps
Tuesday: Legs
Wednesday: Chest, Triceps, and Shoulders
Thursday: Rest

In my workout split each muscle has at least 72 hours to rest. After the resting day I  start the workout split all over again. There are a whole bunch of different workout split variations so you don’t have to follow mine. Also, if you feel like your body needs to take a break for a few days after working out for 2 weeks it’s ok. Just listen to what your body is telling you.  

Fitness Mistake#5: Comparing Yourself To Others
Never compare yourself to others, it’s the quickest way to become unmotivated. We all have different body types, goals, and experience levels. Don’t compare your performance with someone that’s massive and has been going to the gym for a long time. 

Stick to your own pace and your own goals. Make sure to leave your ego out the door when you go to the gym. If you’re trying too hard there’s a good chance you will get injured.

Fitness Mistake#6: Repeating The Same Exercise
It’s easy to lose motivation and results when you’re doing the same exercises in the same order over and over again. Learn to switch up the exercises in your workout routine and replace them with new ones every now and then. You can buy a good workout program so the exercises are different and already planned out for you, or you can go online and research some different exercises. This will help keep your workouts interesting and give you faster results.

Fitness Mistake#7: Eating Unhealthy Food
This fitness mistake is a killer but you need to watch what you eat. Cut out fast food, unhealthy snacks, and soda. Not many people know this but 80% of your weight loss is due to your diet. That means if your working out but eating unhealthy food, you’re only getting 20% of the results. This doesn’t mean you should starve yourself, thats another mistake people make. 

Just try to eat healthier one step at a time. For example, instead of drinking soda, drink water. Making little steps is more effective than giving up all unhealthy food at once. 

Fitness Mistake#8: Looking For A Quick Fix
Please never fall for a quick fix because there isn’t one. I see so many commercials out there that try to sell the latest and greatest workout equipment that will require almost no effort. You can’t lose weight sitting in front of the TV doing nothing. It just doesn’t work like that. 

The only way to get fit or lose weight is to consistently work hard in the gym and eat right. If you do just that, I promise you will see results. I hope you avoid these fitness mistakes and I wish you the best of luck on your fitness goals.