Are you wasting your time in the gym?
/So you’ve committed to a gym membership and feel motivated to achieve your health and fitness goals; what are the common pitfalls which might hamper progress or waste your time? The following list are things to look out for:
Not having a structured program to follow which adheres to the stress/recovery/adaptation cycle. If you’re not ready, willing and able to budget for a good coach either in-person or online then make use of quality programs such as Starting Strength. Self-directed training is hard enough without the support, guidance and accountability of a coach so never try to improvise workouts based on what you feel like doing on a given day.
Chatting too much to other gym members during a workout or in other words “making friends”. Talking between sets about this-and-that will destroy your mental focus and prolong your workout so you may never even finish it. Leave the chatting to after the workout if you have the time or a separate occasion. If you train with a partner or in a trio then verbal encouragement/technique cues are helpful.
Staring at your phone between sets or exercises. If you’re looking at emails, social media, text messages, websites, watching movies/shows or even playing games you are wasting your time, taking up equipment which other members could be using and draining mental energy which could be directed towards your training. Note that if walking on a treadmill then watching a movie/show is not what I am referring to. A phone is useful if you follow a training program on it to record weight lifted, reps and sets completed and if filming your technique for self review or to send to your online coach.
If you do have access to structured training, are your weights progressing up over time or are you getting more reps at the same weight if that is what the program is targeting? An example is the low-barbell back squat: if you start out squatting (hip apex just below knee joint at bottom is full range) 60kg or 135 pounds for 3 sets of 5 reps in January, then excellent progress would be squatting 150kg or 330 pounds for 3 sets of 5 reps 9-12 months later. You will obviously be much stronger and your physique will have changed dramatically too. If however, you are still squatting 60kg or close to you have NOT made progress.
Being aware of the above points will help prevent you wasting your valuable time.