Exercise mistakes to avoid I Gym mistakes for beginners I How to workout effectively
In this instructional video, fitness coach Eric Roberts outlines the ten most frequent errors beginners make in the gym and provides practical guidance to avoid them. He begins by emphasizing that obsessing over calories burned during workouts is largely irrelevant for most people, citing inaccuracy of trackers and the disproportionate effort required to burn calories versus eating them. He then discusses the fallacy that more training volume always yields better results, advocating for sustainable, consistent programming over all‑or‑nothing approaches. The third mistake tackles the myth of spot‑reduction, clarifying that fat loss is systemic and driven by a calorie deficit, while muscle building can improve definition. Fourth, he warns against overly short rest periods that diminish performance, recommending at least 90 seconds to several minutes depending on the lift. Fifth, he stresses the necessity of a structured training plan and tracking workouts to ensure progressive overload and confidence. Sixth and seventh cover weight selection: lifting too heavy too early compromises form and injury risk, whereas not lifting heavy enough limits intensity and progress. The eighth mistake is over‑emphasizing cardio at the expense of strength training, suggesting a balanced approach with 2‑4 strength sessions weekly and moderate cardio. Ninth, he highlights the problem of using momentum in isolation exercises, urging controlled, deliberate movements for proper muscle activation. Finally, he addresses perfectionism and the all‑or‑nothing mindset, encouraging flexibility, consistency, and the principle that “something is better than nothing.” Throughout, Roberts uses a conversational, motivational tone, blending personal anecdotes with clear, actionable advice.
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YouTube, what is going on? Welcome to this video. Welcome to— welcome back to the channel. Hope you're doing well. In this video, we're going to cover the 10 most common workout mistakes. And I found my red marker. If you follow the channel, you'll know what I mean. I tried to use my red marker in a previous video, but I couldn't find it. But I found it. It was under my TV. So there you go. That is your sign to go clean your house today. Um, all right, so we are gonna dive right in. There's gonna be— obviously you can see there's a mix of like, I don't even know what this thing is called, like ad-lib or like, I don't know, just guessing basically, right? So we're going to dive right in. And none of these are in any particular order, by the way. So it's not like this is the most common and the most like you have to focus on this one the most and that one the least. That's just like a list I made up. So let's run through them and make sure that you are doing the right things inside of your workout program so you can see the best results. All right, that's why I'm doing this, because I love you and I want you to win. I want you to succeed. I want you to have great workouts. I want you to see great results. Me and you are pals. We're best buds. So I'm just trying to help my best bud out. All right, number 1 most common mistake is worrying about how many calories you burn during your workouts. It literally doesn't matter at all unless you are a professional athlete, which Right now, I am working with a professional athlete. She is a— she actually was— she is the number one pick in the Women's National Hockey League. She's a freaking beast. Someone like that, she burns a ton of calories because she skates and she does her lifts and she does her cardio and she does all these things, right? Professional athlete. She might have to worry about how many calories she's burning, and not from a weight loss perspective, more so we can make sure she's actually intaking Enough calories to fuel her workout performance. Unless you are a professional athlete, you do not need to worry about how many calories your body is burning during your workouts for 2 or 3 main reasons. Number one, they're not accurate to begin with. So all of those like calorie trackers that you wear, whether it's your Fitbit or your Apple Watch or what the treadmill says or what your heart rate monitor says or whatever the thing says how many calories your body burns, It is not accurate. So, for example, they can be anywhere from 27% to 91% inaccurate. So, let's just say, for example, the thing says you burned 500 calories. Nope. You maybe burned 250. Who knows? You have no clue how many calories your body burns. They are not accurate. So, trying to worry about that is just gonna cause you more frustration than it is— Anything good because number one, they're not accurate so you can't really figure out anyway. And number two, it really doesn't play that big of a role when it comes to seeing body composition changes. Number two, trying to worry about how many calories your body burns as a tool to help you lose weight is gonna backfire every single time. Number one, like I just said, they're not accurate so you can't really know. Number two, it takes you, let's just call it, 50 minutes to burn 500 calories. Probably takes you more than that, but it takes you 50 minutes to burn 500 calories, right? Cool. It takes you 5 minutes to go and eat 500 calories. Do you realize how— like, do you realize what 500 calories is? It's like half a PB&J or like 2 handfuls of almonds. Like, you eat 500 calories in 5 minutes. It takes you at least 50 minutes to burn 500 calories, at the very least. That math equation is never going to— unless you plan on doing like 9 hours of cardio per day, which if that's you, I don't know how you have this much time on your hands, but maybe me and you should talk and like maybe, I don't know, you won the lottery or I have no clue, but the math is never going to add up. So you using it as a tool to try to lose weight is going to backfire every time. Is it going to help you lose weight? Of course. But think of it more as the cherry on top. As opposed to your main sundae or your, your main ice cream sundae sounds really good right now. Your main ice cream sundae workouts are just the cherry on top. Your nutrition is your ice cream sundae because your nutrition is going to take care of your fat loss because like we just said, your workouts and calories burned aren't really accurate anyway. So using that as a tool, gonna backfire, all that stuff. Your nutrition takes care of your fat loss. Your diet takes care of your fat loss, eating in a calorie deficit. It takes care of your fat loss. So you need to make that be your main focus when it comes to trying to lose body fat as opposed to the little cherry on top of exercising. And last but not least, it just starts to create this unhealthy relationship with food, with exercise, with all of the things combined. Because let's say for example, a lot of people struggle with this. It might be you. You have a day where you overeat on calories. Where most people's heads go is, alright, I'm gonna make sure the next day I just do tons and tons and tons of cardio to make up for it. Number 1, you don't gotta make up for anything. It's all good. You just like, I don't know, you're a human and you're not gonna be perfect on your diet, which is like, you know, normal. Number 2, this creates a cycle of you overeat so you feel guilty so you do a bunch of cardio. You do a bunch of cardio so you get super starving, super tired, super worn out. This then leads you to then overeat again. You overeat again, this then leads you to do more cardio and it's just this never-ending cycle. of just like binging, restricting, binging, and restricting. Okay? Stop it. Stop worrying about how many calories you burn during your workout. But Eric, what should I do instead? Great question. You should focus on increasing your workout performance. Chef's kiss. Increasing your workout performance, doing more reps, doing more weight, getting a better mile time, improving your pushups, improving your chin-ups, getting a better plank time, anything to improve your workout performance. That is what your workouts should be based around not how many calories you burn during your workout. All right? That's number 1. Now, number 2, something is not equal to something. More doesn't always mean it's better. And I can give many examples of this. People, when they first start a program, they're like, oh, I need to work out 6, 7 days a week, hour to 2 hours each time. I need to do more cardio, more exercises, more reps, more, more, more, more, more. I just said improving your workout performance over a period of time is what you should be doing in your workouts, but there's a fine line between doing that in a sustainable fashion versus like most people have this all-or-nothing mentality with exercise. Oh, I'm going to do everything. They do it for like a week or two and they're like, never mind. I'm doing nothing because this is fucking awful. There's no way I can sustain this. I cannot keep doing 7 days a week. I cannot keep doing 2 hours of cardio per day. It's just not sustainable. So you're diving into something where you're basically setting yourself up for failure in the long run because you're trying to do all of this stuff at once and it's not sustainable with your lifestyle. The vast majority of people, the vast majority of people, they would benefit from strength training 3 to 4 days a week and getting 5,000 to 10,000 steps per day. That is what 90% of my clients have done in the past to see Insane, incredible, tremendous results. You don't need to work out 5 days a week, 6 days a week, 7 days a week in order to see great progress. I've had a handful, like literally a handful of clients of mine who have worked out more than 4 days a week. None work out 6, none work out 7. I just, I won't allow it. It's just not smart, especially for the general population person. If you're a professional bodybuilder, maybe you work out 6 days a week, but even then, like a lot of people don't do that either, but whole separate conversation. Point being, working out 3 to 4 times a week is way more than enough to see progress because that is going to allow you to be consistent. More isn't always better. Better is better. What you can be consistent with, that is going to be better for you. I don't care if the 6-time-a-week workout is like better on paper. I would much rather you— I would much rather you follow a 3-time-a-week workout program with 100% consistency, or call it 90% consistency, than follow a 6-time-a-week workout program with 45% consistency because that 6-time-a-week program that you just start and stop, and start and stop, and start and stop because you can't actually be consistent, that's not going to get you results. But the 3-time-a-week workout with 90% consistency, that's going to get you a lot more results from that because you're able to be consistent. So that's the first kind of concept of this, you know, more isn't always better. Second thing is, people think, oh, I'll just do more exercises, more reps, more sets, just pile on all this more stuff during my workouts. They do, you know, 4 sets of squats, 4 sets of deadlifts, 4 sets of lunges, 4 sets of leg press, 4 sets of step-ups, and they're just like on and on and on and on. They're doing all these exercises. Again, more isn't always better when it comes to changing your body. One of the most important things, if not the most important thing, is the intensity you are bringing to your workouts. And intensity, I do not mean like, oh, I'm really sweating and my heart rate is super high. No, I mean how close Are you lifting weights to failure? That is what I mean by intensity. That is what the research has shown us is the biggest indicator, the biggest driving factor of creating change within your physique. And so people think, oh, I'm just going to do more and more and more. You can do all the workouts you want to. That's great. It's amazing. Congrats. If you're not bringing enough intensity to those workouts, you are not going to see change. I don't care how much you work out. I don't care how many sets you do. I don't care how many reps you do. If you are not bringing proper intensity, lifting heavy enough weight close to failure, you will not see change in your body. If you want more in-depth insight on that, I've done a video here on YouTube. I'll link it here above. Feel free to check out that video. I go over it all in depth. But that is another case where more is not always better. Better is better. Again, I'd rather you follow a 3-time-a-week workout program where you bring, you know, 100%— I'm sorry, 90% consistency, with 100% intensity than follow a 6-time-a-week workout program. Even if you do follow it with the same consistency, if you're always burnt out, if you're always tired, if you're not able to bring enough intensity to that— excuse me— workout program, you're going to see less results doing 6 times a week. I promise you with all of my heart. I promise you, you will see less results. So more is not always better. Quality over quantity. Got it? Got it. Cool. Number 3, trying to spot reduce body fat. It's not gonna happen. You cannot— let me say this very clearly— you cannot spot reduce fat on your body. The 2 biggest— my nose is really itchy— the 2 biggest things I see is like people ask me, hey, how do I get rid of my batwing arms? They're like, oh, what exercises can I do? Number 1, there are no special exercises. Here's, here's what happens. You will build muscle in an area. So if you want to lose your back fat, your whatever, like underneath your bra, whatever it is, your love handles, whatever the case may be, that's great. You can build muscle in a certain area. Let's just take your arms for example. You can build muscle in your arms, but just because you are doing exercises for your arms does not mean you're going to lose body fat in that area. Please understand this. The way you lose body fat is through eating in a calorie deficit. That's how you lose face fat. It's how you lose arm fat. It's how you lose back fat. It's how you lose any fat on your body. There are no special exercises to spot reduce fat on your body. Now you can build muscle in that area. So as you lose body fat, if you're building some muscle in that area, that area will become more defined, more toned, more lean. That can happen, but unless you lose the necessary body fat, it is not going to show because you have body fat there. Now also remember, you can't pick and choose where you lose body fat. I guess unless you go and do a surgery, that's up to you. You know, to each his own, but your body picks and chooses when and where it loses fat on your body. Not you. You can't say, oh sweet, okay, I'm going to go into a calorie deficit and I'm going to lose fat on my arms. You'll lose fat on your arms eventually, but it might take 1 month. It might take 6 months. It might take 12 months. Who knows? Everybody's body's different. And unfortunately you cannot choose that. Your body's going to choose that for you. So stop trying to do exercises to try to spot reduce fat on a certain area. Again, you build muscle through lifting weights, which is going to make the area more toned, defined, whatever you want to, whatever word you want to use. And then you lose body fat through eating in a calorie deficit that will make the area show more defined. So Again, please make sure we are clear on that. All right. Now, number 4, taking too short of rest periods, man. This is by far one of the biggest things I've seen when it comes to people making mistakes in their workouts. And I actually, I'm not, I'm not ashamed to say this. When I was a younger coach, I was in an environment where I didn't necessarily know. I don't, I didn't know as much as I do right now, but also I was under the influence of some other, Companies and so on and so forth. I fell to this trap. I thought, oh, if I have my clients just go, go, go, go, go, they're going to just feel like they're absolutely trashed and feel like they're dead and they're going to see the best results. I knew it wasn't really right, but again, the environment I was in was kind of dictating my actions at the time. I don't want to go back. If I could go back and change it, I would, but obviously I can't. Now, I just educate and I'm able to help my clients more and help you more and help people more. Taking rest periods, very important. The way I describe it is this. Let's say, for example, you are in a pool and you're trying to hold your breath underwater for as long as you can. You go underneath the water and you hold your breath for 60 seconds. You come back up and that's as long as you can hold it for. Come back up and you rest 20 seconds. You're trying to catch your breath because you just held your breath underwater for 60 seconds for That was as long as you could. And then you're like, okay, cool. I'm going to rest 20 seconds and then go try to hold my breath as long as I can. Again, when you go underneath the water the second time, you hold your breath for 35 seconds this time. Why? Your performance decreased, right? You went from 60 seconds the first time to 35 seconds the next time. Why did it, why did your performance decrease? Because you didn't rest long enough to actually catch your fricking breath. Like you were underneath the water and you're like, oh my God, I haven't like, I haven't caught my breath yet, but I got to go back underwater and try to hold my breath for as long as I can one more time. So you go underneath the water, you're like, I haven't even caught my breath from the first time, let alone, you know, trying to hold my breath again. So you come back up after the second time and you're like, all right, cool, like sweet. But again, you're like, oh, rest 20 seconds and go and do it again. And you're like, dude, I haven't caught my breath from the first time, let alone the second time. Now I got to go underneath the water again and try to hold my breath for as long as I can. So you go underneath the third time and you're like, wow. 25 seconds goes by and you're like, screw this, I'm gonna pass out, I gotta come up for air. Every single time your performance decreased, right? Set 1 was 60 seconds, set 2 was 35 seconds, set 3 was 25 seconds. Why? You didn't fully recover to allow yourself to have that maximum performance every single time. The same thing happens with you and your muscles. If set 1, let's say you do 30 pounds for 10 reps, If you're trying to take 20, 30, 40 seconds of rest time, you are not going to recover from that. So what's going to happen? You're going to have to drop down. You're going to do 25 pounds for 8 reps, rest 30 seconds again. Again, you're going to have to drop down because you are not going to be able to recover enough to push yourself as hard as you possibly can for the next set. So again, you drop down to 20 pounds for 6 reps. You started with 30 pounds for 10 reps. You ended with 20 pounds for 6 reps. Over that period of time, your performance decreased. That is not good if you're looking to see your body change, as opposed to 30 pounds for 10 reps, rest 2 minutes, 30 pounds for 10 reps, rest 2 minutes, 30 pounds for 10 reps, rest 2 minutes. Every single time, your performance was as best as you possibly could. You lifted the maximum weight for the maximum amount of reps you possibly could. Just think about it from a logical standpoint. If you're lifting 30 pounds for 10 reps, 25 pounds for 8 reps and then 20 pounds for 6 reps versus 30 pounds for 10 reps for 3 sets. What do you think is going to get you better results? The one that you're performing better in, right? It's, it's like, it's really common sense. But when we think about it from an emotional standpoint of like, oh, I want to feel sweaty or feel like I'm dying or whatever the heck people do these days, like we often lose sight of the logical side of things. So Taking proper rest times. I would strongly encourage you at the very, very least 90 seconds, if not more towards 2, 3, 4, 5 minutes sometimes. Like when I program a workout for my clients, our bigger compound movements, things like squats, deadlifts, overhead presses, bench press, we're taking at least 2 minutes of rest. At least. Yes. 2 minutes. What do you do during the rest times, Eric? You rest, chill out, do anything, do anything besides getting your heart rate up and doing burpees. And again, like during your rest time, You don't need to be doing burpees during your rest time. Like rest, chill out, let your heart rate come back down so you can have the best performance going into your next set, which is going to keep a higher level of performance, higher level of, higher level of intensity. We just talked about intensity, higher level of intensity, which means you're going to see better results. And so rest times, stop taking 20-second, 30-second, 40-second rest times. Please take longer rest times. All right. So that's number 4. And number 5, it's gonna sound very, really obvious, but not having a plan. Um, the amount of people who go into the gym or go into their workouts when they're just like, oh, I, I don't know, I guess I'll do this today, or I guess I'll do this machine today, I guess I'll do this workout today, like I'll do this swipe workout on Instagram, I'll do this random HIIT workout on YouTube. Like, nothing against those kind of workouts, and if, you know, what, it gets people moving and it's exercising. But there's a big difference between exercising and following a real training program. Those are two different things and they produce two different results. Again, nothing against like YouTube video workouts and those kinds of things. If that's what gets you exercising, then obviously it's better than nothing. But if you are looking to optimize your workouts and make the most of your time, you know, the 30, 40, 50, 60 minutes you spend 3, 4, 5 times a week, whatever it is to work out, which I know you're probably very busy. So you want to make the most of your time. Follow a real training program. Um, people are asking, well, what's a real training program? I've done videos here on YouTube, so feel free to check out those videos. I've written articles, so feel free to check out those articles. If you head to the description, I also have basically a membership site where I have all of my training programs. I'll link it down here below. And listen, like, training program design I could talk about for, I mean, literally days at a time. But the point being is you need to have a plan to what you're doing. Like, When you have a plan, number one, you're going to see better results, but number two, you're going to have more confidence. What does more confidence do? More confidence is going to be able to allow you to be more consistent because you actually have confidence in what you're doing. You're not wondering, is this right? Is this wrong? Am I getting actual results? You're going to know you're going to get results if you follow the plan. And then number two, you can actually put more effort into your workout programs because you know these things are going to produce results for you. So Have a plan. It sounds so simple, but you gotta have a plan in what you're doing. And then piggybacking right off of that, actually, when you have this workout program, track your workouts. People, like, it's such a foreign concept to a lot of people to, like, track your workouts. How many reps did you do? How many sets did you do? How much weight did you lift? Because what you'll see is over time, I'll put a picture here above of, like, one example, one of my clients, like, over time you'll see From week one to week two to week three to week four, you increased your workout performance. This does two things. Number one, it guarantees results. If you go into your workout knowing, all right, last week I did fifty pounds for eight reps. This week I'm going to do fifty pounds for nine reps. You're increasing your performance over time, which is going to allow you to see results. And then also number two, when you see this like progression over the course of weeks, you feel great. Like who doesn't want to see themselves get stronger? Like I've never heard anyone complain about. Like getting stronger. It feels great and it fuels you to be more consistent. It fuels it. It gives you motivation to keep going because you're working out, you're seeing progress, you want to keep seeing progress, so you keep going and that allows you to be consistent, see more progress, da da da, so on and so forth, right? So track your workouts. It's very simple again, but it makes a huge, huge difference. So don't not track your workouts. Track your workouts. All right, so number six. Lifting too heavy early on. This is— I don't say it's mainly with guys, it's guys and girls. It happens with both people. It's happened with me before. I mean, trust me, like going back and looking at the stuff I was doing back when I was, you know, just starting, 16, 17, 18 years old, I was like, oh wow, like probably shouldn't be doing that. But we live and we learn, don't we? Lifting too heavy earlier on. I would, again, going back to this like quality over quantity thing. I would much rather you lift a bit lighter weight earlier on to really feel confident in the form that you're doing, really feel confident and comfortable with the technique that you are performing with that exercise. Like if you're doing a squat or a deadlift or an overhead press or whatever it is, like especially earlier on, like trying to make sure you actually feel comfortable and feel confident with those movements. I would much rather you do that than trying to like, oh well, I gotta lift 30 pounds because so-and-so lifts 30 pounds, or I want to get stronger and all these things. Like, and I love the ambition, I love that you want to lift heavier and push yourself and all those kind of things, but if you don't have the right form and if you don't have the proper like technique and motor control— one of the things with people who just start working out is like your brain needs to get used to what's going on here. Your brain and your joints and your ligaments and all these kind of things like You need to get used to what's going on. So earlier on when you first start, you're not going to be as proficient as you are 6, 12, 18 months from now. Shocker, right? Like when we first start doing things, we aren't that good. And when we, when we do them more often, we get better. It's, it's, it's a crazy concept, right? But it's true. So especially earlier on, and even as you get into your training career, like I would much rather you have proper form than going too heavy in weights, having not proper form, Which is going to do 2 things. Number one, probably get you injured, but number two, it's going to delay your results and it's going to, it's going to take away from your results because you're not actually working the right muscles anymore. You're just kind of like, I don't know, slinging weights around. And so lifting too heavy, especially earlier on, but even as you get into your training career, just make sure again, quality over quantity. So that's number 6. Number 7 is going to be a direct dichotomy of number 6, um, which is not lifting heavy enough, lifting too light. And I know, but hear me out. Again, once you've gotten the form down, once you feel pretty confident with the form, once you feel pretty confident in your movements, once you feel pretty good, like, you do need to try to lift heavier weights. One of the, you know, one of the main questions I get a lot is like, oh, Eric, I only have, you know, 10-pound dumbbells at home. Like, what, what can I do? And I'm like, hey, listen, you know, nothing wrong with that, but like, your results are going to be limited a bit. Your ceiling is going to be limited because you only have 10-pound dumbbells. And so When you have access to heavier weights, it is going to allow you to see better results, more results in your physique, better results in your physique. Again, going back to what we talked about earlier, which is intensity. If you're not lifting close enough to failure, you are not going to see as good of results as you could possibly see. Obviously, the more weight you lift, the closer you get to failure. I see this often with, again, actually guys and girls. If you have a set of 10 reps, you need to get done that set of 10 reps and say, man, I maybe could have done like 1, 2, or 3 more reps max. Like max. Otherwise I would have like completely actually failed. Like I would have dropped the weight, I would have dropped the bar, I wouldn't be— would not have been able to get back up from my squat, whatever the case may be. That's how, that's how heavy you need to be lifting. I think oftentimes people are afraid to lift heavier weights because they don't think they can, or they don't think they're strong enough, or whatever the case may be. Trust me, you're probably way stronger than you think. Again, this is for somebody who you've been lifting for 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 months, whatever the case may be, and you're getting the movements down pretty good. You've got to make sure you are pushing the weights and pushing yourself close enough to failure. Listen, heavy weights are different for everybody. What's heavy for me is not going to be heavy for a professional powerlifter, but what's heavy for somebody else might not be heavy for you, and all those kind of things. Right? So heavy is relative, but that's why I'm saying you need to get done your sets and say, I maybe could have done 1, 2, or 3 more reps max. So don't be afraid to lift heavier if you have the form down. If you feel pretty confident, you've got to start pushing the weights up a bit. And so if you don't have access to heavier weights, I would strongly recommend finding a way to get access to heavier weights, whether it is buying some, or going to a gym, or whatever the case may be. So that's number 8. I'm sorry, it's number 7. Number 8 is going to be doing too much Cardio. Doing too much cardio. Most people, when they think about— I don't wanna say most people, some people when they think about exercise and weight loss, they think, oh, I gotta do a lot of cardio. And this, again, this is where like, you know, HIIT cardio and like boot camps and Orange Theory and all this stuff comes into play, which again, to each his own. And if that's what you enjoy doing, who the hell am I to tell you otherwise? But there's no denying the benefits of strength training and lifting. Like, a real strength training program, again, following a real plan, A real strength training program and lifting weights. I mean, improve bone density, improve your metabolism, improve core strength, improve insulin sensitivity, insulin resistance. So many things come with lifting weights. Just feeling like a total badass. Like, it's— nobody's— I've never heard anyone say, oh my God, I'm getting too strong, or, you know, wow, I feel so bad that I couldn't do push-ups and now I'm doing push-ups. Like, I don't think anybody's ever said that in the history of I don't know, the entire world. So nothing ever goes wrong from strength training. And so doing— people do too much cardio and not enough strength training. Now, I'm not saying don't do cardio. Again, if you enjoy it, do it. And cardio is good for your heart health, it's good for your mental health, it's good for your cardiovascular system. Like, yes, do some cardio that you enjoy. Again, most of my clients, what they do is they walk 5,000 to 10,000 steps per day, you know, whether that's all at once or whether it's throughout the day or whatever the case may be. You know, get your steps in, get your cardio going on, but most people put way too much emphasis on cardio, trying to do hours and hours and hours of HIIT cardio boot camps or, you know, elliptical or treadmill or whatever the case may be, and they don't put a big enough emphasis on strength training, lifting weights, getting stronger, building muscle. That is what your main focus should be. Cardio can be a supplement to that, yes, but your main focus should be strength training and lifting weights at the very least 2 times per week, if not 3 to 4 times per week. That's typically what I recommend to people. So if you're not doing that, again, find a way to get on a real strength training program. And I promise you, you will see great results. So number 8, too much cardio. Number 9, too much momentum in reps. And this kind of goes with like lifting too heavy and a few of the other things over here. But let's take a bicep curl. For example, if you're doing a bicep curl, right, you've probably seen that person in the gym or on videos where like they're doing a bicep curl and they're like swinging the weight up the entire way. They're using their hips, they're throwing their arms around. You're not— at that point, you're not working your bicep anymore. You're just using momentum to swing yourself back and forth, which, great, whatever. I guess that's cool, but the intended muscle that you are trying to work is now no longer getting worked. So what are we really accomplishing here? Are you just going in to move the weight around? Which, if that's what you are, that's great, but if you actually want to see a change in your physique, Slow down and make sure you have full control over the weights that you are using for that specific movement. I don't care if it's a lunge. I don't care if it's a bicep curl. I don't care if it's an RDL. And I'll say some caveat here, bigger compound movements like squats or deadlifts or those kinds of bigger movements. I don't need you like intricately doing every single thing to make sure, like, yes, make sure your form is good. But like there's a big difference between like, A deadlift. That is a concentric explosive movement. And concentric just means like on the way up, right? So that's like a— you do the deadlift and like you're done. That's the deadlift, right? But like a reverse lunge or a bicep curl or a shoulder raise or any one of these movements, like that's a whole different movement than like a very concentric explosive-based deadlift or a squat or a bench press or those kind of things, right? So make sure when you're doing these movements with the caveat of like Like the power, the big 3, squat, bench, deadlift, those 3 movements may be a bit different, but anything else, like slow down, take your time, make sure you have proper form, make sure you are controlling the weight you're using, not the weight controlling you. Because the more you control the weight, the more results you're going to see because you're going to actually work the correct muscles that you are trying to work, which means, remember, the weight is just a tool for your muscles. So if you're trying to improve your bicep, The weight is just a tool for that. And the same way, if you have a nail right here and you have a hammer, you're going to fucking nail the hammer in, right? You're going to nail the hammer, nail the hammer, the nail in. Oh man. Hammer the nail in. Same thing with your weight. Like the weight is just the tool to work that intended muscle group. So slow down, make sure you have good form, make sure you control the weight. And I promise you, once again, you'll see better results. Right? And last but not least, trying to Be perfect. Again, we talked earlier about the all-or-nothing mindset. So many people think that, ah well, if I can't work out six days a week, what's the point? If I can't you know do all the all this exercise and all this cardio and hit these ten thousand steps every single day and like da da da, then what's the point? You know, oh I might as well not do anything. Oh if I can't work out these six days a week, I might as well not work out at all. If I have you know a day comes up where I can only work out for thirty minutes instead of forty five minutes. Might as well not do the whole workout at all. Like, do you understand how crazy that is? Think about that for a second. Let's say your workout normally takes 50 minutes and something comes up one day where you're like, alright, cool, I can only get 30 minutes in. Why would you skip the whole workout and not do anything just because you have to miss 20 minutes? Like, does that— like, how does that in any world, how does that make sense? No, if you can get 30 minutes, get 30 minutes. If you— again, you don't have to work out 6 days a week. Work out 3 days a week, you'll be totally fine. Work out 2 days a week for all I care. You'll be totally fine. You do not have to be perfect, nor is every workout gonna be perfect. You're gonna have some workouts where they're great, you're super motivated to do them, you're pumped. You're gonna have some workouts where— you're probably gonna have most workouts where you're not super motivated. Like, I can tell you myself, I love working out. Every day I wake up, I'm like, oh sweet, I get to go work out today. Like, yeah, I mean, some days I have that, and some days I'm like, wow, like, I'd really rather stay in bed or work or do whatever. Like, I have a lot of stuff going on. There's gonna be some days where you're not motivated, and that's normal. But even then, like, when you do work out, there's gonna be some great days, some not so great days, and some mediocre days. And you know what? Like, that's normal for all of us. So don't think you have to be perfect, and don't think just because, oh, one day I can only get 30 minutes instead of getting 60 minutes, oh, I'm just not gonna work out at all. No, do the 30 minutes, man. Something is better than nothing. I don't care if it's 15 minutes. Something Is better than nothing. Stop trying to be perfect, focus on being consistent, and again, third time, something is better than nothing. All right? So that is the 10 most common workout mistakes. I hope you enjoyed this video. If you did, please feel free to leave a thumbs up, subscribe to the channel, and click that notification bell somewhere down there to get notified when new videos come out. All right? Thank you.
