1. Don’t move too fast. When you move weight fast you UNLOAD your muscles through momentum. This makes exercises easier not harder. Just compare 10 fast push ups to 10 very slow push ups for proof. Remember momentum in exercise is useless and counter-productive.

The next common mistake is training mainly your best traits rather than focusing on your weaknesses.

2. Don’t work only what you are good at. The point of strength training is to address your weaknesses if only for the sake of balanced body function. Stick to making 75% of every workout centered on your weakest muscle groups – the stuff you aren’t naturally good at! Go slow and you will be safe and overtime your abilities will equalize.

Finally a much less known problem but especially with first year types it is almost epidemic in the fitness world.

3. Avoid training too often. When you are weightlifting you are trying to improve muscle function NOT see how much you can endure. How much strength training you can endure is not a function of strength or even stamina but of what “you can tolerate. Getting stronger isn’t like training for a marathon. Strength increases during recovery as your body rebuilds and protects itself from the stress by becoming stronger. Recovery doesn’t happen in the workout it happens during rest.

Remember always – how much you exercise is not the issue but how well you exercise. This simple fact is usually the difference between people giving up and those who enjoy a fit life over the long-term.

Put these points in proper perspective and you will immediately be far ahead of the curve and well on the way to a stronger life.

Be well, be strong,

Andrew and Tierney

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