Common Beginner Training Mistakes to Avoid for Best Results
Common Beginner Training Mistakes to avoid for best results
Avoid these mistakes, get better results
By Marco Augusto
Years ago when I started training, I started when so many others do - at the beginning of a new year.
I didn't have any resolution as such.
I was just motivated from the start of the new year, and while I'd dabbled in training before, that new year was definitely the time when it all clicked into place.
Training and exercise, I believe, is one of the simplest ways to improve our physical and mental health, and so improve our lives.
But, at the start it can be a difficult.
Firstly, you're doing something new, which always takes time to learn and adapt.
And often, your body is sore, which isn't in itself a bad thing (hey doing hard work can make you sore sometimes, and that's okay), but waking up some mornings can be tough.
And if you're like me, there's every chance you'll over do it at the start.
I was lucky.
I was young (early twenties) and could probably run through a brick wall on any given day.
So yeah, I was sore, but my body was always going to respond well.
If you're a little older, doing too much at the start can actually hold you back.
So here are 3 mistakes to avoid at the start of your new exercise/training routine:
Exercising Too Often
The logic behind this makes sense.
Obviously if you do more work, you'll get more results right?
Well up to a point, yes, but beyond this, the law of diminishing returns kicks in heavily, to the point where you might actually be stopping yourself from getting results.
When we start exercising after not doing anything for some time, our body is at it's most adaptive.
results always come quickest for a beginner.
However...
You also have to learn to walk before you can run.
And so instead of trying to do the "Unlimited Classes" that many facilities or coaches offer, most people will get a bigger benefit from doing 2 to 4 exercise sessions per week at the start.
There's a few reason why this works better:
It's not overwhelming: if you couldn't find time for exercise before, all of a sudden finding time for 5 or 6 one hour sessions can feel like a lot, and it can wear you down after the first few weeks.
The body needs rest: this is especially true with resistance training, but all exercise actually works best with rest. It's the combination of hard work and rest that gets the best results, not just hard work.
Exercise is a marathon: getting results in 6 weeks is great until your body breaks and you need to take time off, undoing all your hard work. Instead, think about training for the next 6 years!
Training to Failure/Exhaustion
In resistance/weight training, there is a term called "training to failure".
It simply means you do the exercise until you can't do any more reps.
And the reason people do this, is to maximally stimulate the muscle, for maximum growth and strength.
If the muscle isn't sufficiently stimulated, then no change occurs.
Too often though, people take it too far, by training to failure all the time.
It's like every set of every exercise needs to be to failure.
Now you might be able to get away with that if you're using performance enhancing drugs, but even still, you would not see those people go to failure all the time.
The equivalent to this with a cardio based exercise would just be pushing to exhaustion all the time.
Simply put, we need to push our bodies to that point now and then, but not repeat it over and over.
Because eventually, the body will break, and then we have no choice but to rest for an extended period of time.
This isn't to say that you can't improve and learn to push harder.
But at the start, the idea of going from nothing to exhaustion as often as possible sounds like a recipe for disaster.
And so at the start the aim is to push hard without going to failure.
It's more about getting into the "Goldilocks Zone", where the stimulus is just right to get results without breaking us.
And as you learn your limits, then on the odd occasion, you can push to failure - and rest as required to get the maximum result.
Trying to Achieve Goals Too Quickly
This seems a bit odd.
Why would achieving yours goals quickly be an issue?
Doesn't it make sense to achieve our goals as quickly as possible?
Why go any slower for no reason?
This is one of my issues with short term fitness challenges.
They can get us into the mindset that we'll achieve the results we seek in 6 weeks, and that's it, no more work is needed.
The truth is, you very well might be able to achieve your goals that quick.
And then you'd just have to spend the following months and years maintaining those results.
You see, as mentioned above, your health is not a sprint, it's a marathon.
So when we try to achieve our results quickly, it can be hard to maintain that effort in the long term.
And slowly we can lose those results, or simply get fatigued and stopped.
Instead of creating a sustainable habit, we put ourselves into an "On/Off" cycle where we push hard and then need to stop for just as long.
Of course, a goal needs to push us to keep us interested.
It needs to have a challenge to it, or we simply won't chase it - that's human nature.
But so often, the challenge of exercising on a regular basis is hard enough.
If it wasn't, everyone would be doing it already.
So the idea of going a little slower to aimed at keeping you going for the long term.
Not so much achieving your goals in 6 weeks.
But maybe achieving your goals in 10, 12 or 16 weeks and to still be keeping fit and healthy when you're 60.
Ultimately, start a new exercise routine if you haven't done anything for a while, is going to be difficult.
Having a long term focus, coupled with some short term goals, is the best way to get you started, get past the difficult start, and keep you going for years to come.
Until next time,
Marco Augusto
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