Nearly every man or woman who’s tried dieting or
fitness
has dropped out of a program at least once, probably twice. Family and
Work come first and social events tend to get in the way, lack of
adequate emotional support saps the willpower and boredom sets in.
Eating the same kind of foods every day is boring. Going to
the
gym only to go through the same motions, same exercises, same cardio is
also boring. But this kind of state can be avoided with a bit of
planning and a positive attitude. Here’s a list of the most
common mistakes people do when trying to get fit.
The number
one mistake has to be the failure to plan ahead.
Going to the gym with a vague target in mind is the best way to fail.
If your target is unclear, how can you know if you’ve reached
it
or not? If you’re a little vague on the details, maybe you
need
help. Ask a doctor what’s your ideal weight and make that
your
goal. Or focus on the number of inches you want to drop off your
stomach, bottom and thighs. That works great, too.
Coming up
with excuses to avoid going to the gym is second on this
list. Yes, life tends to get in the way, but that can be
arranged with
some more planning. Don’t quit the program just because
something
came up at the last moment. Reschedule your gym session and make sure
you don’t get lazy.
Don’t
work out too little. This may seem too obvious to
belong
here, but a lot of people lift two dumbbells a couple of times and
think they’re done for the day. Sit down at the table for
half an
hour and come up with a sound training program. If you don’t
know
enough to make your own program ask a gym trainer or a veteran
bodybuilder to help you. People are usually quite happy to show off
their knowledge.
Too much
fitness is also bad. Muscles need time to grow and the
body
needs time to burn fat. Some people think that the body only burns up
fat during exercises, but this is not true. The more muscles mass you
have, the faster calories get burnt because muscles need energy for
maintenance all the time. Even when you’re resting.
Overtraining
will simply make you tired without any additional benefits.
Never compare
yourself to others. We are all unique individuals with
unique genetic make-ups governing our weight gain, weight loss and
response to training. You shouldn’t rate your performance
according to the achievements of others, but stick to your own pace and
your own goal. If you’re trying too hard too soon,
you’re
simply asking to fail.
Don’t
do the same things over and over. There’s no
better
way to lose motivation that doing the same exercises in the same order
over and over again. Learn to juggle around with the exercises that
form your routine and replace them with new ones every now and then.
Find variations on a classic exercise and try them out. Make things
interesting for yourself
Don’t
stroll into the pub straight from the gym and keep
alcohol
consumption on a tight leash. Alcohol has extra calories
that you
don’t want and is also metabolized as fat and very fast.
Pumping
iron in the gym for 45 minutes and then throwing the entire effort away
with a couple of beers is not a good way to move forward.
Keep a close
eye on your meals. Drop the fast food and snacks from your
daily eating plan and forget about soft drinks. At the same time avoid
starving yourself. This is a huge mistake and a lot of people do it.
Never assume that you can tank your way through a fitness program while
starving yourself because you’ll only end up in a hospital.
Muscles need nourishing meals in order to grow and starvation is a bad
way to diet anyway.
Fianlly,
never look for a magic fix that can save you all the trouble. You
can’t lose weight sitting around and moping in front of
the
TV or computer. It just doesn’t happen. So get out and go to
that
gym because it’s good for you. And no excuses!