The Biggest Mistakes beginners make (and how to avoid them)

We have all been there, and no matter how many articles we read or helpful videos we watch, we are likely all going to still make our own mistakes. If you never hit your head on a barbell racked in a Smith machine, or slid a weight plate onto a bar and trapped your fingers, then you're doing better than me!

Below, I shall include a list of a few helpful items that will hopefully provide a bit of guidance, and chip away at any uncertainties. Feel free to ignore any or all advice, because perhaps you'll want to do your own thing.

#1 - Plan the workout!

Turning up to the gym thinking “I’ll just start on the treadmill and see what else is available…”, or simply, “I know I want to use the pec fly machine.”, leaves you open to too many variables. If the machine or equipment is taken or being used, you do not want to find yourself stumped, frantically scanning the gym for something to do whilst swigging from your bottle, desperately hoping it seems as though you strode toward the pec fly just to hydrate.

Your plan should include around four different exercises, with alternate equipment or another means of working out that muscle-group in mind.

By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail! 

• Benjamin Franklin

#2 - Improper Hydration & Drinking the Wrong Thing!

If you’re a beginner at the gym, and if your goal is to tone and lose weight, it’s probably a good idea to ditch the sugary energy drinks. Drinking a small bottle of sugary energy drink, for example, could take around 30-40 minutes to burn off its calories. 

If your goal is fat loss, regularly consuming sugary drinks around your workouts can make maintaining a calorie deficit more difficult. 

Instead, ensure you're hydrating throughout the day and during the workout with water or a non-sugary drink. Aim for around 1ltr a day or something like 6-8 glasses of fluids.

The NHS state that, generally, the clearer and lighter the urine, the better.

#3 - The Ego or overly self-conscious exercise

It isn't always a conscious thing. Sometimes we expect too much of ourselves and sometimes we lose focus and become too self-conscious. 

The only person you are competing with, is yourself. This will shape your whole process. Nobody in the gym cares what you lift. If you see a giant pick up 2kg dumbbells, you don’t think they must be weak, you assume that they know what they're doing, and that they’re doing it right, because they're a beast, or they're toned and ripped.

If unable to complete the planned repetitions with good technique, reduce the weight. Quality form and movement should come before ego. Better to lift more repetitions of a lower weight, for example, and start to recognize that mind-muscle connection as the correct muscle responds and burns, than to feel as though you look strong or skillful all the while increasing the risk of  damaging yourself in some way, or to simply make no progress whatsoever. 

You need only be in the gym around an hour, so make that time really count!

#4 - There is no uniform.

You don’t need to wear the latest skin-hugging lycra,  bottom-hugging, outfit. You don’t need high socks and certain style shoes. You really don't need lifting gloves for the most part. 

Obviously some gyms will have a preference of footwear (trainers are usually acceptable). 

Just wear something that you find comfortable, boosts confidence, and wont get you banned from public spaces in a twenty-mile perimeter.

#5 - Gym Etiquette

Its a simple one, but many people struggle with it.

• Return your weights once you're done with them.

• Don't take more weights than you'll be using at one time.

• Maintain good personal hygiene so others don't have to smell you.

• The weight racks are not a support for exercises - get yourself a bench.

• Don't just sit on your phone. If you want to use it to pass the time, just ensure you’re not sitting scrolling for prolonged periods as others are trying to utilize their time effectively.

#6 - Protein and supplements

It's a market flooded with opportunistic marketing, unhealthy options, and the down-right useless. You'll no doubt have heard or read that if you work out, you need protein. The calculations will vary, the products are mind-boggling, and the variety can be confusing. Nowadays food items in shops are even marketed as ‘high protein’. So where should you start?

Don’t assume that something labelled as ‘high protein’ is necessarily a healthy choice. Always check the ingredients; the protein content, calories, sugars, fats, and overall nutritional value. Some ‘protein bars’ are essentially highly processed snack bars.

Many ‘protein drinks’ on offer are nothing more than milk with added sugars, colours, and flavourings.

If in doubt, a nutritional consult and some nutritional advice or planning would help establish a confident foundation upon which you can build your goals whilst avoiding over-priced junk.

#7 - Gloves and Straps

Straps certainly have a place and a use. I use them myself from time to time. As a beginner, you likely will not need lifting straps. You'll be forging a mind-muscle connection, learning breathing techniques, and to control the eccentric whilst progressively overloading after a time. 

You'd do well to develop your supporting muscles and grip-strength alongside the primary muscles you’re training. Whilst straps can be useful when your grip becomes the limiting factor in an exercise, they arent something most beginners need to rely on.

Unless for recovery or injury support, the purpose of lifting gloves seem to be to ensure any calluses don't develop on one’s hands whilst lifting… 

As a beginner, straps might not be necessary, but you could try them and see if your lifting improves, and gloves probably aren't necessary, but if you want to wear them then do so proudly!

#8 - RECOVER!

So you're hitting the gym, eating well, hydrated and eager. 

Are you ready for DOMS? (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness). You’re likely to experience some DOMS, particularly when you’re new to resistance training, or introducing your body to exercise it isn't accustomed to. DOMS often develops within 12-24 hours, and lasts up to about 72 hours.

Have soothing baths, massage the muscle, and ensure good nutrition and hydration as a means of management of this pure evil.

The important thing that you must do after working out is recover. So planning an alternating workout programme will be beneficial as not only will it ensure you have a purpose and goal in the gym, but you can ensure muscles have time to recover, repair, and develop! 

The best workout isn’t necessarily the one that destroys you, it’s the one that you can recover from, come back to with consistency, and develop at your own pace.