The 12 Most Common Fitness Mistakes people Make when trying to workout

Linda Melone, CSCS

Making these training gaffes? Here’s how to diagnose (and fix) them.

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Lifting too much weight

There’s no shame in wanting to lift as much weight as humanly possible, but it won’t do you much good if you get hurt, says Tom Holland, MS, CSCS, exercise physiologist and author of The 12-Week Triathlete  (Fair Winds Press, 2011). “Being attached to the numbers is more of a workout for your ego than anything else.”

Fix it: Instead of busting out the calculator app on your iPhone to add up all that poundage, ease up and focus on the quality of the movement instead, Holland suggests. “Keep in mind that gains happen during the eccentric (stretch) portion of the lift—plus you’ll be less likely to injure yourself.” Use a two-second up (concentric) and five-second down/stretch (eccentric) focus so you control the weight the entire way—and use a weight that works within this range for you.

Training only for strength

While broga (yoga for guys) might be a thing, you won’t find many Downward Facing Dogs in weight-training gyms. But completely neglecting all forms of stretching creates an unbalanced workout. “You don’t want to be only in any one camp, be it all cardio or all strength or even only P90X or CrossFit,” says Holland.

Fix it: Stretching, Pilates or yoga creates a good mix and helps keep your overall workout balanced, says Holland. “It’s also good to do one workout a week that you don’t like, but you know is good for you.” Try a yoga class or, at a minimum, incorporate stretches at the end of each workout to stay flexible.

Training only the mirror muscles

If you can’t flex it in the mirror, why bother, right? There are a few things wrong with this way of thinking. For one, this typically means you’re neglecting your posterior muscles, says Holland. “Doing biceps and chest and all the forward, pushing muscles creates an imbalance with an inadequate number of pulling moves.” In other cases, an imbalance occurs by working out only your upper body and ignoring your legs.

Fix it: Make it a point to work all the muscles, not just the ones you can see or can flex, says Holland. “Plan an upper body workout three times a week and legs and lower body twice a week. Or work your entire body two to three times a week.”

Lacking a focus on long-term goals

Too often, a guy starts a program and, two weeks into it, reads an article about how Mr. Olympia trains shoulders and immediately changes his own training program, says Neal Pire, MA, CSCS, FACSM and president of INSPIRE Training Systems in New Jersey. “You limit results when you don’t stick with something long enough.”

Fix it: You need to develop a program based on your specific and realistic goals, Pire says. “Follow basic training principles like progressive overload, a gradual increase in weight, and select exercise you can perform safely and effectively. Then, stick to your plan until it’s time to reassess your progress and make appropriate changes.”

Working out like it was 10 years ago

If you’re doing the same workout in your thirties or forties as you did in your twenties, you need to take a step back and see if it’s really working for you, says Holland. “The body doesn’t recover as fast as you get older. You may find yourself with more injuries, but you’d like to deny it’s your workout that’s causing the problem.”

Fix it: Review your fitness routine every five to 10 years. “Look at what’s risky and be honest with yourself,” suggests Holland “You may want to work towards getting back to the basics. Plyometric kettlebell swings at 40 may not work as well for you as they did in the past.”

Not working from the inside out

Core stability may be one of the most overused fitness terms in recent history, but without core strength the rest of your workout suffers, says Pire. “A lot of guys do tons of arm work but without a focus on core stabilization. If you don’t have core stability you can’t stabilize or control your shoulder girdle or hips, and your arms and legs can’t perform effectively.”

Fix it: Take time at the end of your workout (not at the beginning, as you risk injury by fatiguing core muscles first) to incorporate core exercises like planks and side planks. Start with 20 second-holds and work up to 60 second-holds.

Thinking 100 reps is the magic number

Unlike your bank account, higher numbers aren’t necessarily better when it comes to reps when it comes to reps. “Like using too much weight, cranking out 100 pushups or crunches is more for the sake of your ego and bragging rights than anything else,” says Holland. High reps predominantly use Type I muscle fibers, which also kick in during aerobic work and muscle endurance, but have limited effect on hypertrophy (muscle growth) or strength.

Fix it:  Again it’s quality over quantity, says Holland. Focus on using perfect form and keep reps in line with your goals. For strength gains, the National Strength and Conditioning Association recommends using weight you can lift for six good reps; use six to 12 reps for muscle growth and more than 12 for muscle endurance. Training for power requires the heaviest weights and only one to five reps per set.

Working the wrong muscles on the seated

 row machine

Using a machine or performing a move incorrectly causes you to work muscles you may not want to focus on. For example, guys often use the seated row machine by pulling back with the hands too much and forgetting to retract the scapula (shoulder blades), which puts emphasis on muscles other than the targeted back muscles (latissimus dorsi, rhomboids, etc.) says Irv Rubenstein, PhD, exercise physiologist and founder of S.T.E.P.S., a fitness facility in Nashville, Tenn.

Fix it: Grasp the handles and keep your torso erect as you pull towards your abdomen. Focus on keeping hands relaxed as you squeeze your shoulder blades together and pause before slowly returning to starting position.

Swinging for more power on lat pulldowns

Winding up and swinging to pull down the lat bar may enable you to hoist more weight, but you’re not working the muscles you think you are, says Rubenstein. “You use momentum of the hip/trunk extensors to start the pull. Then, due to the altered angle of the cable relative to the torso, you are no longer pulling down - you're essentially doing a horizontal row.” As a result, you work the lower traps and rhomboids more than your lats.

Fix it: Start the seated lat pulldown by grasping the bar and leaning back slightly. Engage your core and maintain this position throughout all reps. Pull the bar down toward the upper chest without jerking or pulling your body backward. Touch the bar to your clavicle (collar bone), pause and slowly return to starting position.

Swearing by the Arnold press

Sure, it looks impressive, but the Arnold Press is more for show than effectiveness, says  Rubenstein. The move involves sitting with arms bent in front of you and dumbbells facing your shoulders; you then rotate your wrists and bring the weights into a traditional overhead press. “The arm rotation is not effective at any level and the weights are being pulled down by gravity, not to the sides where rotation of the forearms would then be resisted.”

Fix it: Stick with the traditional basic dumbbell overhead shoulder press—without the bells and whistles. Be sure to keep your tailbone tucked underneath you and avoid arching your back.

Cheating on lateral raises

If your lateral raises look like a combination shrug and raise, you’re using too much weight. “Many guys use their upper traps when using heavier weight to raise the dumbbells to the desired level, while not yet having the strength of the rotator cuff muscles to support the arm with those loads in the proper alignment,” says Rubenstein. In addition, bending the arms makes it easier to use more weight but stresses the rotator cuff muscles.

Fix it: Use a weight you can lift with proper form throughout the entire set. Keep elbows slightly flexed, raising upper arms together and ahead of the forearms, hands and dumbbells. Avoid jerking or swinging the dumbbells upward, and be sure to lower them slowly and with control.

Stressing the lower back on the leg press

Loading up the leg press and then performing an extreme amount of bending is a recipe for serious lower back injury. “Bringing the plate too close forces extreme lower back, hip and knee flexion comparable to a deep squat, “ says Rubenstein. Locking out the knees adds injury potential to the knee joint, as well.

Fix it: A knee angle of 90 degrees is plenty, says Rubenstein. And for those with back issues, angle the seat further back. In general, keep knees aligned over the feet as you bring the plate towards you and push out to full extension without locking out your knees. Do not allow your butt to rise off the seat, your hip to roll off the back pad, or your heels to rise off the platform.