Weightlifting mistakes that are messing your workouts

Lifting weights can help you drop pounds, lower blood pressure and improve bone density, but there’s way more to lifting than just dragging around whichever weight is available at the gym. Your weight-room errors may, in fact, be hindering your results. As compiled from Women’s Health and Men’s Health magazines, here are a few changes you can make to train smarter and recover faster.

You don’t eat enough

“Fitness-minded guys often under-eat on purpose, thinking it will help uncover their abs,” says nutrition advisor Dr Mike Roussell. “Or they unwittingly develop a calorie deficit, while attempting to eat more healthfully.” Either way, the result is detrimental. “Not eating enough slows your metabolism and makes it easier for you to over-train because you don’t have enough nutrients to fuel recovery,” says Roussell. Nutritionists suggest add 150 to 300 calories for two weeks, which is the equivalent of including a handful of almonds to your daily diet. After two weeks, add another 150 calories a day and stay there. The gradual calorie boost will help you gain muscle, not fat, especially if the bulk of the additional calories come from protein, say researchers at the University of Texas. 

You skip cardio

This one’s especially for the guys. Hang around the weight room long enough and you’ll hear them talking about the ‘interference effect’, a term referring to cardio’s supposed inhibitory influence on muscle-building. Ignore those guys since the weight of scientific evidence suggests otherwise. Indeed, a recent study in the Journal of Applied Physiology found that cycling for 45 minutes, in addition to resistance training, resulted in a 14 per cent increase in leg-muscle volume. Doing strength training minus cardio resulted in a gain of only nine per cent muscle mass. 

You’re forgetting about your core

When you lift weights, you’re almost certainly focusing on your arms, but you might be neglecting your centre, says Cosgrove. If your core isn’t on your radar, you could end up injuring yourself, she says, “Because your back will have to compensate.” In order to make sure you’re using the right technique, pay attention to your ribs, says personal trainer Rachel Cosgrove, author of Drop Two Sizes. If they’re sticking out, your core is definitely not engaged. To assume the right position, think about bringing your ribs together and bracing your core, as if someone were about to punch you in the stomach. 

You’re using too-light weights

This tip is directed towards the ladies. “Women tend to be really good at high reps with light weights,” says Cosgrove. But if you want to see permanent fat loss, you have to stick to heavy weights, she states. You’ll build strong lean muscle — the kind that helps burn body fat faster and save time in the long run. Go for a weight with which you can only get six to eight reps at most, Cosgrove says. The trick is to focus on your body while strength-training. “Start light with good form and only add weight as you get stronger and can maintain form,” she says. 

You’re sacrificing form for technique

No one will be impressed by the weight that’s on your bar if you look like you’re about to kill yourself with it. Using correct form with less weight will get you way better results, which mean stronger, more toned muscles. It’s definitely great to challenge yourself time and again, but your form while lifting must be the first priority at all times because bad form not only sabotages your workout but can also mess up your back plus rupture and cramp up precious muscles. If you can’t keep that up, then suck up your pride and take some weight off. 

You’re forgetting your body is weight

Why are you touching weights if you can’t handle your own bodyweight? As much as it hurts, you must realise that if you can’t do push-ups, pull-ups, dips, lunges or bodyweight squats efficiently, there is no reason for you to be doing exercises that involve weights or simply weight-lifting. Weights are meant to make exercises more difficult. If you haven’t ever lifted before or if you are rusty after taking a long break from the gym, get into the groove of things by doing bodyweight exercises for the first couple of weeks. Become competent at them before hitting the weight rack —  that’s how you will gain the most initial strength. 

Published in The Express Tribune, April 13^th,  2015.

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