5 Things That Are Ruining Your Workouts
Matt Skeffington
Matt’s primary role at Dynamic Strength and Conditioning is to make sure that our coaches and clients are consistently improving, all while operatin...
Matt’s primary role at Dynamic Strength and Conditioning is to make sure that our coaches and clients are consistently improving, all while operatin...
There's no secret that exercising is a key factor in improving your health and seeing incredible results.
The problem is many fitness routines are either missing very important parts of a great workout or focus too much on certain areas. These two mistakes will make it easy to plateau and prevent you from seeing the results that you deserve.
Today, we're covering 5 of the biggest things that are ruining your workouts and overall results. Let's get into it!
1. Not warming up
Every great workout starts with a warm-up. Research shows those who warm-up, workout with more motivation, intensity, and duration. Warm-ups get your heart rate up, increase your body temperature, decrease joint pain and stiffness, prevent injury, and help you get way more out of your workouts. Better warm-ups = better results.
Just 5 minutes is all you need to get your body ready to perform at its highest level. Checkout a sample warm-up below.
2. Not including compound movements
Compound movements are exercises that include multiple joints and muscle groups. These are exercises like push-ups, squats, rows, and deadlifts. These exercises deliver the best results because they allow you to use heavier weights and place more stress on your body and muscles. This stress is what allows you to burn more calories, shred more fat, and improve both the shape and strength of your muscles.
Most exercise programs make the mistake of not including compound movements and focus solely on isolation exercises that only work one muscle group like bicep curls, tricep kickbacks, and leg extensions. While these exercises have their place, they should only make up 10-20% of your overall workouts.
3. Not adding variety to your workouts
One of the biggest workout mistakes we see is doing the same set of exercises, with the same amount of weight, done with the same intensity. This is a recipe for no progress. Instead, what your workouts need is variety.
Variety keeps your workouts fun and fresh. It will keep you engaged and excited to try new things and make progress. Aim to switch up the equipment you use and the exercises you do every 3-4 weeks.
4. Not tracking your workout progress
According to the Harvard Business Review, tracking your health and fitness progress makes you 2X more likely to reach your goals. Progress tracking is a fantastic way to keep you motivated, consistent, and moving in the right direction. It also allows you to see what's working and what needs to be adjusted when it comes to reaching your goals.
The problem is, many of us make the mistake of not tracking anything, tracking the wrong areas, or focusing solely on one aspect of progress (like the scale). Then if we don't see improvement, we quickly lose momentum and motivation. That's when many of us quit.
Start to track your areas of workout progress like:
The weights you use during your strength exercises
How many push-ups you can complete
The pace of your walk or run
How fast you were able to complete a workout
How long you can hold exercises like planks
Aim to improve upon these areas every 1-2 weeks.
5. Doing too much cardio
No, you don't need more cardio to see better results. In fact, the opposite is typically true. This is a big mistake we see people make as it's easy to think more cardio = more calories burned = better results. What happens though is more and more cardio takes a toll on your body and can drastically increase your chance of injury, especially at your feet, knees, and hips.
Secondly, more cardio can have a negative effect on your strength and muscle, including burning your own hard earned muscle for fuel. This actually slows your metabolism and ability to lose weight as the more muscle you have, the faster your metabolism will be.
Aim for 2-3 strength training focused workouts and 1-2 cardio focused workouts each week. Or focus your workouts on cardio strength training (circuit training) for a perfect blend of each. Check out some great examples of cardio strength training, HERE.