13 Things You Should Never Do During Your Work Out

June 5, 2021

1.  Skip the warm-up

 Warming up is the slow, gradual process of getting your body ready to work. Exercise science has learned a lot about warming up over the past 50 years. Gym class used to start with static holds. Now we understand that muscles warm up better through dynamic movement. Your warm-up is, thus, a mini version of your workout. You want to move your joints and flex your muscles, just more gradually and without added weights. Warm up your body by increasing your heart rate, stimulating blood flow to your limbs, exploring your range of motion, and awakening your body awareness. Flow through some full body, leg, and arm moves before you get to work. Remember to breathe. Your inhalations and exhales are your exercise companions.

2.  Doing too much

There is such a thing as overtraining. According to Ace Fitness.Org: “When it comes to exercise volume, there is a “dose-response relationship,” which means that the more you work out, the more benefits you will achieve, but there is a tipping point beyond which the amount of exercise you perform can do more harm than good.” Exercise is a balance between work and recovery. We need rest in between bursts of activity and we need adequate rest between workouts. Rest comes during the workout in between effort. Rest also comes in between workouts. For weight training, plan to train the same muscle every other day. For cardio training, it is useful to take one rest day per week. Rest more if you are feeling fatigued. Get to know how your body feels when you are fueled, rested, and primed for your workout and when you are under-fueled, tired, and otherwise not at your best. Be good to you for the best overall results.

We like the talk test as a measure of how hard we are working. When we are on a casual stroll with a friend, we are likely carrying on a conversation. When we are looking to get more exercise, we will likely pick up the pace. When we do, we will likely notice that it starts to get more difficult to talk. As we push our pace, we will likely stop talking completely. That is a useful measure of how hard you are working. You can also refer to this scale that I adapted from multiple sources to get a sense of how hard you are working. Keep this scale in mind particularly when you are planning to go for it.

1 - Super Easy - Talking easily

2 - Pretty Easy - Still talking

3 - Moderate - Talking, but starting to think about breathing more

4 - Starting to be harder - Getting less interested in talking

5 - Hard - Saying fewer words

6 - Harder - Talking less and less

7 - Really Hard - Likely not talking

8 - Really Harder - Not talking

9 - Really, Really Hard - So not talking

10 - Maxxed out - What’s talking?

See where you feel good. You don’t want to go too easy or too hard. We talk about not hurting yourself later. You will learn as you go to the level you want to train at.

3.  Doing an Ineffective Workout

You can do total body or schedule leg day or chest/back day, etc. It is useful to have a plan and to have that plan progress as you go to add reps/volume/challenges. Whatever you prefer, seek balance. You want to work different muscles with a range of motion in different directions. Core is a good addition to every workout; try different core moves on different days. Neither all cardio nor all muscle training is the way to go. A blend is preferred for weight management and overall health.

4.  Rinse and Repeat

Doing the same workout gets boring and keeps working the same muscles in the same way. You may be ignoring some muscles and some movement planes. Seek variety for the best results.

5.  Bad Form

It is all too easy to do an exercise incorrectly. This may cause an injury or be ineffective. Be sure to learn the proper technique. You will notice in exercise classes and when working with a personal trainer, the instructor gives a number of cues. This is because most exercises are complex and our bodies are complex. Trainers provide cues to aid you in executing exercises effectively. If you are working out on your own, be sure to learn how to complete each move safely and effectively.

6.  Not Eating Enough 

Food gives you energy. It is hard to make up the difference if you aren’t consuming enough calories. You likely aren’t eating enough if you feel dizzy or nauseous. If you feel like you aren’t making progress toward your fitness goals, it may also be because you aren’t giving your body the fuel it needs. We are often busy and it gets hard to plan ahead, but it is useful to think about the last time you ate before you schedule your workout. It may very well be that you need a snack prior to getting going. It is best to include some protein and carbohydrates with some fat and fiber. Eat less if you are closer to your workout. A smoothie might be a good choice within an hour of your workout. Self Magazine did a great article on pre-workout snacks: https://www.self.com/story/11-pre-workout-snacks-r-d-s-and-nutritionists-love 

7.  Forgetting to hydrate

Ace Fitness recommends you drink before, during, and after your workout. They recommend:

·   Drink 17 to 20 ounces of water two hours before the start of exercise.

·   Drink 7 to 10 ounces of fluid every 10 to 20 minutes during exercise.

·   Drink 16 to 24 ounces of fluid for every pound of body weight lost after exercise.

Even if you don’t drink quite this much, please have water or a sports drink with you and drink at least some.

8.  Forgetting to Breathe

We made the point earlier that your inhalations and exhales are your exercise companions. It is useful to exhale on the more challenging part of a movement and to inhale on the easier part. This can be individual and we’ve had different clients chose a different place to exhale. That’s all good. Do what feels right to you, but breathe. Your workout will be less effective if you hold your breath. We encourage diaphragmatic breathing to engage your core throughout your workout.

9.  Ignoring Your Posture

 We talked about form above. How you stand and sit is a key component of effective performance. If you are uncertain about your posture, you may want to consult with a personal trainer for guidance. There are many postural habits we acquire in life based on the type of work we do, our activities, how we stand, sit, and sleep. The good news is that your posture can be improved. I am a writer and spent twenty years unaware bent over my computer. Thanks to my yoga training, I now sit at my laptop with my shoulders externally rotated, my chest lifted, my neck in line with my spine, and my crown reaching upward. I use my breathing to keep my core engage. Good posture, like good form, can be taught and learned.

10.         Read 

Don’t read while you work out. Blasphemy, you say? Okay, it is likely you don’t read when you do resistance training. Your arms and hands are too busy. It is very common, however, to read on an elliptical or treadmill. We don’t like it because when we have observed people doing it, they look relaxed. They are breathing normally as if they were sitting somewhere, and they usually aren’t sweating. If we are doing cardio, we want to be sweaty and breathy, so we are benefiting our cardiovascular system. Don’t read, get sweaty and breathy.

11.         Phoning it In

If you come in to work out, work out. Don’t just go through the motions. We see a few common mistakes:

a.  Relying on momentum rather than deliberately lifting and lowering the weight.

b.  Not completing the range of motion. For example, in a bicep curl, not lengthening the arm in between curls.

c.  Not completing reps or sets.  

12.         Skipping the cooldown 

We are busy people and we often want to get on to the next thing. After a workout, however, your body needs a few moments to be ready for that next thing. Cooling down is where the static holds can come in. Your body is warm and ready to encourage you muscles and fascia to lengthen. It is also really good for your muscles to stretch individually. Depending on what you did in your workout, you want to do an upper body and lower body stretch. Remember to breathe into the stretch. Send your breath to the muscles you are encouraging to lengthen.

Upper Body – Stretch your back and your chest. Stretch your biceps and your triceps. Stretch your shoulders. Hold each stretch 20-30 seconds. Repeat up to 3 times.

Lower Body – Stretch your hamstrings, hip flexors, quadriceps, and calves. Same guidance on the length of stretch and repetition.

13.         Working through Pain  

This is a big don’t. If you hurt, stop and investigate. The last thing you want to do is turn a minor irritation into a workout stopping injury. We learned an expression in Tai Chi that we love. Do everything to your comfort. Nothing should ever hurt, particularly your joints. Muscle soreness, on the other hand, we love it because it is a sign, we had a good effective workout.

Looking for a workout?

We offer do-it-yourself workout plans for up to 6 days a week. You’ll receive your plan with exercises and how-to videos through our True Coach app. You’ll have accountability reporting on what workouts you completed and which workouts you skipped. We’ll be available to check in with you once a week on how it is going so we can make any needed adjustments. We also offer personal training including weight training, cardio, yoga, Mat Pilates, and Tai Chi.

You can also try our classes live online and on-demand for use on your schedule. Through June, all of our on-demand classes are free for you to try out.

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