I wish I had more confidence when I first started lifting weights. I wish there were someone to teach me how to get results. I had to learn it on my own, but you can save years of effort by avoiding these mistakes!
You Don’t Follow a Plan
Following a plan will get you better results.
We all have training biases. Men skip leg day. Women skip push-ups. If you follow a plan you’ll stop skipping exercises and you’ll know exactly what to do.
If last week you did squats with 225 lb for 5 reps and a 3021 tempo, this week the goal is to hit 6 reps. Having workout goals will motivate you to push harder and you’ll get better results.
If you want a plan, find a coach you admire and buy a training program or sign up for coaching. This can save you years of effort failure.
You Don’t Check Your Ego
Lifting weight that’s too heavy for you is stupid. You increase injury risk, make worse progress, and look stupid.
If your technique has to change for you to lift the weight, that’s wrong.
If you bounce your deadlift to get more reps, that’s wrong.
If you do half-reps to get more reps, that’s wrong.
If your butt lifts off the bench to get more reps, that’s wrong.
Lifting weights with bad form is not cool and you look stupid to anyone with knowledge and experience. Choose a lighter weight and perform perfect reps because that’s impressive!
Your Reps Look Different
If you want to build muscle, move with control. Slower repetitions will create more tension and build more muscle.
If you want to get stronger, move with control. Lower the weight slowly and explode as you raise the weight.
Regardless of the goal, each rep should look the same.
Tempo is the speed you lift with. Each exercise should have a tempo goal, for instance a 3131 tempo is great for hypertrophy while a 2010 tempo is great for building strength.
You Don’t Rest
Recovery is more important than training. You build muscle outside the gym.
I used to workout 6 days a week because that’s what Arnold did. Now I workout 2-3 times per week because that’s what I can recover from.
The amount of time you need to be in the gym is far less than you think.
If you workout 6 times per week, you will be lean, but you’re not going to build much muscle and you’re definitely not going to get stronger.
4 high intensity resistance training workouts per week should be your maximum.
If you train more often you’re likely to get injured or not recover.
You Want Short Term Results
Think 5 years into the future.
Few people survive working out because they get injured.
Injury is your body telling you that you’re making a mistake, dummy!
If you don’t learn from your mistakes and adjust, you’re going to get worse.
If you squat and your knees hurt, find out why before squatting heavy again.
If your shoulders hurt when you bench heavy, find out why or you’re going to get hurt again.
For the first time in my life I feel like I’m doing everything right, and if you follow these tips then your next 5 years of progress is going to be phenomenal!
If you want to be coached by me to get results that will blow your mind, apply for coaching here.
Hope this helps! - Tom
