Muscle building and weight training is a science as well as an art, and you have to treat it as such if you want to see results. Putting on muscle weight is not as simple as going to the gym and working on whatever muscle group you feel like, or even worse, doing random sets on random machines. Successfully gaining muscle mass requires 2 main ingredients: 1) carefully planning exercise workouts and 2) nutrition.
If you're new to weight training / muscle building or if you're a beginner who isn't seeing his desired results, then perhaps you are not taking enough time to ensure that you are avoiding some common mistakes. Below is a list I've compiled containing the 10 most common workout mistakes that I could find.
1) Not Getting Enough Rest: Yes, it's true; many people suffer from over exertion, whether it be in the gym or out. Over working yourself can be a serious health risk, especially if you're pushing your body's physical limits. It's important to make sure you have a good 7-8 hours of sleep during periods of high-intensity training. Your body can take a lot of punishment, but if you don't give it time to recover, then you'll end up doing permanent damage.
2) Over Working Yourself: Even if you're getting enough rest, it's still possible to over work yourself into a bad situation. Gauge your body's reaction to different workouts, and don't push yourself too hard. Stick to your training regimen. Your body will signal to you when it's reaching its limit, so listen.
3) Overly Long Sessions: While you're training, you're going to want to aim for optimizing your time in the gym and the amount of muscle growth you're getting. Exercising for too long can cause serious damage, so be careful.
4) Nutrition- Protein: Proper nutrition is the backbone of any workout plan / muscle building assignment. And protein is essential for muscle growth. Literally, without enough protein, you won't grow muscle.
5) Nutrition- Calorie Intake: As I said, nutrition is the backbone of your training, and determining the correct diet for you is necessary to achieve good results.
6) Not Enough Fluids: ¾ of the human body is made up of water, and we lose massive amounts of it during high-intensity workout sessions. Rehydrating is essential for achieving a good workout. A good fluid schedule is water before workout, mix of water and sports drink during workout, and sports drinks after workouts.
7) Focus: As is true with other sports, your mental focus determines your physical outcome. If you are not mentally prepared to deal with your training program, then you will fail. It's as simple as that.
8) Bad Form: Improper form when using machines, free weights, or plyometrics is a very common mistake among beginning body builders. It's worth your time, energy, and maybe even money to make sure you're performing all of your exercises with the correct form. If you perform exercises improperly, not only will you not build muscle, you will most likely end up injuring your body.
9) Over-Concentration: Over working a single body part is also dangerous. Be careful not to focus solely on one part of your body.
10) Diversity: Many weightlifters and muscle builders forget to diversify their workout. If you're lifting, make sure you aren't using just machines. And if you're using just free weights, incorporate some plyometrics. You can also complement your workouts with cardio training, breathing exercises, and yoga.
By avoiding such simple mistakes as these, you can improve your workout and see better results. Weight lifting and muscle building is a fun sport, but it is also serious because it has its own risks. Train safe and you'll most definitely train better.
Ben Stacy writes health and fitness articles for a number of publications, and he maintains his on website, Keys to Building Muscle. If you are interested and would like to learn more tips and techniques, please visit keystobuildingmuscle.blogspot.com keystobuildingmuscle.blogspot.com
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