10 Exercise Mistakes Beginners Should Avoid

Finding the motivation to begin your fitness journey can be exciting. You might have just started your program and have already found your rhythm, but have you taken the time to consider the exercise mistakes beginners should avoid? Unfortunately, you may be making these mistakes without realizing them.

There are many benefits to exercise, and we all want to obtain our desired results, but first, you want to ensure you are exercising safely, efficiently, and optimally. And to accomplish this, you need to know the beginner’s mistakes in order to avoid unnecessary setbacks, injuries, and frustration.

The following mistakes are common for beginners, and at least one of these has been made by many of us when we first began our exercise routine. This list will help you identify some mistakes and pitfalls when you start a new exercise program.

10 Exercise Mistakes to Avoid

1) Not Planning Realistic Goals: 

When you are finally ready to start your fitness journey, you can get excited and quickly start exercising while you have the motivation. But not having a set goal can sometimes leave you with a disorganized exercise regimen and eventually a decrease in your motivation since you don’t have a specific aim. Goals are great to keep you motivated and continuously see results. However, with goal setting, you want to make sure they are realistic; this is where making smaller goals is more beneficial. Although you may have your larger goal, these smaller goals will allow you to see results consistently, giving you the incentive to stay on track.

2) Not Seeking Professional advice and resources: 

Asking for help or doing research about starting an exercise plan can help you progress quicker and further than you may realize. It can help you create a sustainable and safe workout routine that will decrease the chances of injuries and setbacks. By taking the time to research, you can learn about the appropriate amount of time you should exercise and the amount of time you need to rest. Or you will learn more specific information, such as how many miles or sets to perform or what is the correct form for an exercise. Having information on topics like these will give you more confidence in what you are doing while avoiding possible injuries and setbacks from exercising inappropriately.

3) Over-Exercising:  

Do you tend to jump right out of the gate when starting an exercise program? New motivation to exercise can make you feel invincible but in the beginning, excessive exercise could be detrimental to your body. First and foremost, if you haven’t exercised regularly in a long time, your body will require an adjustment period. It doesn’t mean you don’t challenge yourself; however, steady advancement in your exercise routine will allow your body to accommodate the workouts better and avoid excessive soreness, fatigue, and potential injuries.

4) Avoiding Pre- and Post workout routines

Often at the beginning of a new exercise program, you may not know how vital pre- and post-exercise practices can be for your exercise program. Although the evidence is inconclusive on whether warm-ups can prevent injuries, warm-ups have been shown to provide increase range of motion, decreased stiffness, increase oxygen availability and body readiness. The evidence is also inconclusive on whether stretching prevents injuries; however, you can still see the benefits that an improved range of motion will provide. If you haven’t yet incorporated pre- and post-workout routines into your exercise regimen; you should do so immediately and see the difference it can make to your performance.

5) Changing your exercise plan too soon: 

Many times, when we first start something new, we can fall prey to immediate gratification and want to see results as quickly as possible. But as we know progress takes time and this especially rings true when it comes to your body. Each individual has a unique body, so it’s essential to realize that the results will differ for everyone. Many factors can affect the time frame in which you will see results. The time frame also varies for each exercise goal.

Experience has shown the minimum time to see improvements is about 4 weeks for strength training and 8-12 weeks for improved endurance and weight loss. When starting a new exercise program its best to adjust the intensity of each exercise in the program as your body starts to outgrow your initial exercise program. For example, if you have been performing 3 sets of 6 pushups instead of switching to an exercise like bench press, you can work on steadily increasing to 3 sets of 10 pushups. Patience is key, and giving your body time to see progress with one plan at a time is beneficial.

6) Not advancing your exercise program: 

The opposite of point five also rings true. Although you shouldn’t constantly change your exercise plan, you also want to avoid remaining stagnant. By consistently doing the same exercise, your body will eventually get used to a particular routine, and you may hit a plateau. You want to determine how to safely challenge your body when this occurs. Any form of movement is excellent for your health, but consistent small shifts and adjustments in your routine will provide more benefits in the long- term while also keeping you engaged. If your workout has become too easy, that may be a sign to increase the intensity or length of the workout slowly.

7) Exercising through an injury: 

When beginning a new workout program, it is not uncommon to sustain an injury. However, you may not take an injury seriously because of messages such as “no pain, no gain” that associates exercise with pain. Yes, exercising can cause soreness, but this is different than pain from an injury. If we pay close attention to our bodies, we usually know the difference between injury pain and exercise soreness.

An injury is our body’s way of telling us that an area needs extra care and we should listen and respect it. It is best practice to assess if your pain is, in fact, an injury by taking time to rest the area and avoid the exacerbating exercise. During this time, you can still work on other parts of your body that will not aggravate the injured area.

If you are unsure that you have sustained an injury, seek advice from a medical professional before resuming exercise that may worsen the injury. Once you return to exercising, start at a lower intensity and gradually increase to assess whether the pain returns. It is better to respect the injury than to push through it and end up with a much more extended recovery period.

8) Ignoring your nutrition: 

Food is crucial to your overall health. But now that you have incorporated exercise, optimizing your nutrition is even more essential. As a result of burning more calories from exercise, you must obtain the right amount of calories and the vital nutrients that benefit your exercise program. Your current program will determine what and how to maximize your nutrition. It can be confusing, so reaching out to a nutritionist or taking time to research the topic will assist you in making the best choices. Ignoring your nutrition could be the factor that hinders your progress and hence optimizing nutrition could be the breakthrough your body requires.

9) Not incorporating mobility and flexibility: 

Various exercises and workout regimens exist to improve your fitness. Often beginners tend to focus on the intensity of their workouts and neglect mobility and flexibility practices. Working on your mobility and flexibility from the beginning is overall beneficial for your body and can improve your workouts. Improvement in mobility and flexibility helps you have proper form during each exercise and gain the most results from specific training. Avoiding them can eventually catch- up to you in the long- term by causing potential injuries or leading to a plateau in your advancement.

10) Not practicing self-compassion

What I mean by this is being too critical of yourself. Everyone has to start somewhere, and as a beginner, you can easily get frustrated from not seeing results, losing motivation, or having setbacks. It can sometimes feel like you’re trying your best but seemingly in vain. During these times take a moment to appreciate that you are at least trying something new and challenging which is no easy feat. You are making the time to invest in your health, and that in itself is already a win. So keep at it, be patient; the results will come, and most importantly, enjoy the journey.

Have a wonderful day!

Sweet Lyfe Daily

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Disclaimer

The post represent our opinions and experiences and are for informational purposes only. We are not acting as medical professionals and this posts does not represent medical professional advice. 

The goal of the post is to provide you with information so you can make your own informed decisions – not to tell you what to do or how to do it.  The information is not a substitute for medical professional advice.  Consult a medical professional and do your own research before making any critical life decisions.