Fitness Blunders by Nicole Bryan

Slamming the weights, not wiping down the equipment after your use or cutting in one someone else’s superset without asking! These are all etiquette oops-a-daisies in the gym. There are also misconceptions in the science of doing exercise that you’ll see often in the gym. Are you guilty of any of these?

Doing too much too soon. As a basic principle your body’s job is to always adapt to what you’re doing. Your muscles will adapt to the load of your workout by becoming stronger, when the load is appropriately increased in small intervals that is. Performing too many exercises too soon will place harmful stress on muscles, as well as your tendons and ligaments leading to injury.

Using momentum. Another basic principle in the science of exercise is control before load. If you are unable to control the weight you are lifting, it is too heavy. Decrease the weight before causing injury. Control means you should be able to stop the movement at any time during the range of motion. If this is not possible, momentum has taken over in place of your working muscles. Bouncing through exercises is a waste of time and more importantly, will lead to injury.

Doing the same thing all the time. Performing the same exercises for months on end will lead to a plateau. If you perform the same workout, same weight, same order, same exact exercises, your body will no longer be experiencing overload which means your body will cease becoming stronger.

Rushing through your workout. Rushing through your workout will cause your form to suffer, therefore increasing chance of injury. If the duration of your workout is overwhelming, it will be unsustainable. In turn you won’t be consistent. Since consistency is the key to your body changing, if you are hurrying through your workout to get it all in, it’s time to re-evaluate our exercise plan or change your schedule to allow for the extra time in the gym.

Pushing through extreme range of motion. More is not necessarily better in regards to exercise; the same rule applies to range of motion. Moving in a greater range of motion is not always best, because you’ll sacrifice stability. It’s important to stay in the range of motion where the resistance is the greatest on the goal muscle.