Gym mistakes you must avoid

Staying fit is the one of the biggest challenge. Researchers consistently recommend that regular physical activity with healthy eating habits is the most efficient way to keep yourself fit and control your body weight.

Weight training is common type of strength training for developing the strength and size of skeletal muscles. Weight training tones your muscles which raises your basal metabolism which causes you to burn more calories 24 hours a day. Weight training uses a variety of specialized equipment to target specific muscle groups.

We can use weights typically in two ways:

1. Free Weights (including barbells, dumbbells, and hand weights)
2. Weight Machines

But, weight training carries a certain risks so make sure you follow the things mentioned to below to avoid those risks.

Why stretching in the Gym is important

Before you try any of the gym facilities, you need to warm up. Stretching improves your muscles' range of motion and helps keep them long. During a weight-training session, you should utilize the time between the sets by selective muscular stretching. Although many people regard stretching only as a means to increase flexibility, it can provide muscular benefits when incorporated into your routine. Stretching a "pumped" muscle can actually enhance the quality of your workouts and even help to promote muscular growth. Selective muscular stretching helps to neutralize the effects of lactic acid by restoring blood flow to your working muscles.

warm up and cool down

The purpose of a warm-up is to prepare your muscles for a workout by raising your body temperature slightly and making your muscles more pliable.

Simply walking on the treadmill or doing the cycle at a low to moderate speed for 5-10 minutes ensures a good warm up. Similarly, never forget to cool down after a workout by stretching the various muscles of your body. This will help bring your heart rate and body temperature back to normal.

Wrong postures/ techniques

If you are doing an exercise standing up -- like a bicep curl, for instance -- make sure you stand with your feet apart for better balance. Never lock your joints while performing an exercise.

Too fast or too slow

Whether you are doing a squat or a bench press, make sure you do your exercise at an even pace. You should be lifting and lowering the weight at approximately the same speed throughout the workout. This will ensure you do not get injured and, at the same time, see to it that the tension on the muscle stays constant.

Too intense

Try to mentally rate your exercise on a scale of 0-10 by the end of each set, with 10 being the toughest. If you find that you are rating the intensity at five or six even in the last set for each muscle, you need to up the intensity.

Too long

An ideal workout should last you about 45-50 minutes. If you train beyond this time span, you are either doing more than required or you are wasting too much time in between the workout, which menas you won't get the results you want.

The same old routine

It's a good idea to change your workout routine every six weeks to prevent your muscles from getting used to the exercises. Change the repetitions or weights you lift, do a different set of exercise for each muscle or switch to a different activity. You will be surprised at the change in stamina.

You don’t time your rests between sets

Your recovery time is important when looking at how much you are going to be able to lift later on. ‘Too short a rest and your muscles won’t have recovered; too long and you won’t get the benefit.’ Wear a stopwatch and don’t be intimidated into starting your next set too early.

You only ever use heavy weights to build muscle

When you hit the weights room, you always lift the heaviest weight possible. This may limit your growth because you’ll hit your muscles in a very predictable way, and it’s hard to control large weights precisely. Now and then, go light and do extra reps with a greater range of motion.


References and Further Info:

http://www.maxim.co.uk/fitness/fittips/2218/15_top_gym_mistakes.html
http://www.thestretchinghandbook.com/archives/stretching-gym.php
http://www.rediff.com/getahead/2006/mar/23health.htm
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