10 Workout Mistakes That Will Stunt Your Muscle Growth

What ever you do, don’t make the following silly mistakes:

1. USING TOO MUCH WEIGHT

Occasionally, you can have too much of a good thing. “Go heavy” is an excellent training mantra; however there is a limit especially when your safety is at risk. Below are some times when it is worth reducing the load:

• During your warm-up off course

• When you can’t complete your reps in food form

• When you can’t maintain the designated tempo with good range of motion

• When it’s your first time doing the exercise so you’re unsure how you’ll find it

Although it’s pretty satisfying to lift some “heavy-ass weights”, remember to “work your muscle and not your ego!”

2. SLOPPY POSTURE & FORM

Sometimes an excessively heavy weight is the culprit for sloppy posture and form, however very often is down to poor body awareness. As far as posture is concerned, always, always, always maintain athletic posture! This is what all those mirrors around your gym are for... they aren’t for you to flex your guns and pose. Use them to watch your posture and movement.

Developing a mind to muscle connection is the one of most important things you can do to improve posture and form. You develop it by firstly knowing your anatomy, knowing the correct movement patterns for the exercises you are doing and finally by taking time to “feel” and every contraction accurately.

3. LACK OF INTENSITY

A lack of intensity will only ever lead to mediocre results. Push yourself through each and every repetition. Keep your rests within the prescribed time frame; do not linger for too long before your next set. Embrace the pain that comes with hard work and stay focused on the prize.

4. NEGLECTING WEAKER PARTS

Most guys love training the so-called “T-shit” muscles....chest, arms and abs; and hardly ever work on their weaker parts. Don’t allow yourself to fall out of proportion. Work for perfect symmetry rather than to extenuate already overdeveloped muscles. So don’t skip TX3 leg days because you wan to rush and another hit of an upper body pump session.

5. OVERTRAINING

Keep your workouts as short and sharp as possible. Remember that you don’t grow in the gym; you grow whilst your body rests. So stick to the designated rest days — they are important!

6. SKIPPING WARM-UPS, STRETCHES AND COOLDOWNS

The purpose of warm-ups is to safely prepare the body for the workout by mobilising your joints, activating your muscles and increasing circulation. The purpose of stretches is to release undesirable muscle tension which can hinder performance and obscure your movement patterns. The purpose of cool downs is to de-stress the muscle and nervous system as well as to circulate blood flow to the worked muscle which in turn speeds up recovery. Skipping these essential workout components will simply lead to poor performance issues, excessive muscle soreness and potential injury. Take pride in executing everything like a pro.

7. STICKING TO THE SAME WORKOUT FOR TOO LONG

Everyone hates to plateau; whether it’s in strength, fitness or size however some people don’t help themselves. One sure way to plateau is to stick to the same routine week after week without much progressive overload. Keep track of how much you are lifting, how many reps you are completing and how long you are resting for between sets and exercises and then over time increase your weights, push yourself to the upper limit of your rep range, cut down rest periods. Find a way to make each week a progressive step forward in comparison to the previous.

8. HAPHAZARD WORKOUT PATTERNS

Although variety can be used to off-set plateaus, it can also cause them. Too much variation just stresses the body to the extent it doesn’t know what exactly you want from it. Because of that, it doesn’t give you anything back. Stick to the plan! Don’t wing it or try to remix it. It is tried and tested.

9. NOT SETTING SMART GOALS

The surest way to get nowhere is to have no planned destination. Set short-term aspirations (such as a new strength best for your next workout) or long-term targets (such as gaining 10 lean pounds over the next 10 months) and, when progress stagnates, you won’t feel any anxiety about missing your personal marks. Your goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and set to a timeframe. Without goals, you could blissfully march in the same spot all the while, never getting anywhere.

10. LACK OF PATIENCE

Be patient, enjoy the process and use this opportunity to understand your own body more.

Don’t compare yourself with other people otherwise you’ll never be happy (unless of you are like me and everyone else is inferior to you you). Jokes aside; remember that you’re probably going to be the last person to notice your own gains because you see yourself every day. Once again; stick to the mother-f*ckin-plan!