8 Exercises You’re Maybe Doing Wrong at the Gym

Getting in shape takes a lot of dedication, discipline and hard work. However, small mistakes that we can make during the exercises, without even realizing it, can end up ruining our efforts. In some cases, such mistakes can even lead to serious injuries.

We, from awesome.club, we followed workouts carried out in gyms to find out which are the mistakes most commonly made by people during physical activity. So you, the reader, will know how to avoid them.

Lunges are great resistance exercises that strengthen your lower body, including your quads, hamstrings, glutes, and calves. However, bodybuilding fans often make mistakes when performing the exercise, despite it being quite simple.

Errors:

Although lunging helps to increase body balance, it is not exactly a balance exercise. During execution, people tend to put one foot well in front of the other, as if they are walking on a rope, and that is wrong. With each step forward, your foot should be almost in line with your hips, just a little farther in. Another mistake many people make is take small steps during advances🇧🇷 If you keep your feet too close together, they will form a triangle with your legs, and that’s not the point here. Ideally, the space between the legs during the lunge should form a rectangle. With each advance, your knee must not touch the floor🇧🇷 It’s okay if he touches the ground once in a while, but you have to be careful to prevent that from happening. Otherwise, you can not only injure the knee, but also prevent the correct work of the muscles that should be required.

Those who want to work arms, shoulders and abs need to bet on the parallel bars. Only the wrong execution of the exercise can undo the effects of all your effort.

Errors:

It is common to see gym goers performing partial movements for not having enough strength in the triceps to bring the body down to the ideal point and then back up again. This must never be done. If you don’t have the strength in your triceps to perform the full movement, do exercises to increase muscle endurance before trying parallel bars. There are still those lower your body too much when doing the exercise, which is also not recommended. Otherwise, you will put too much pressure on your shoulders. Furthermore, many people try keep the upper body very straight in an upright position when doing the exercise. Even if your intention is to concentrate the effort on the triceps, the ideal is to take the pectorals slightly forward, surpassing the hip line, when using the parallel bars.

Bench press exercises are great for gaining strength and developing pectoral muscles. On the other hand, they can cause injuries if executed the wrong way.

Errors:

Keeping your elbows too close to each other it’s something that many “marombeiros” end up doing. However, with this, the person ends up not working the pectorals much, taking the pressure to the triceps and the front of the shoulders. Another common mistake is just the opposite of the previous one: elbows out farther apart🇧🇷 By doing this, you will strain your shoulders and rotator cuffs a lot of unnecessary strength. When doing the bench press, you Also, you should not exaggerate the curvature of the back.🇧🇷 Simply lower the shoulder blades while maintaining the natural curvature of the spine—no more, no less. It is also necessary to remember never end the movement just above or just below the shoulders🇧🇷 At the end of the movement, the weight should be in line with your shoulders.

The crossover is widely used to strengthen different muscle groups, such as chest, triceps and shoulders. If chest development is among your goals, your workout needs to include this exercise.

Errors:

Many bodybuilders tend to to take your arms far back, increasing the risk of hyperextension and consequent shoulder injury. As you bring the weight back, you must stop the movement in line with your chest. Among beginners, the most common mistake when performing the exercise is to keep the elbows locked🇧🇷 This puts intense pressure on the elbows, reducing the work that should be required of the pectoral muscles.

The barbell deadlift is excellent for working muscles in the back of the body, depending on which variation you choose from the many that exist. Perfect for developing both strength and muscle volume.

Errors:

A very common mistake during the practice of the exercise is to curve the spine. Instead, you should throw your shoulder blades back and bend your spine slightly downward, maintaining your natural lumbar curve. Another frequent misconception is raise the bar using your hands, when the correct thing is to use the elbows to pull the weight up.

The pulley triceps extension exercise works this muscle group when you extend your arms in front of your body. The movement is a must if you want to define your triceps. However, performing it improperly compromises the results and also paves the way for possible injuries.

Errors:

When performing the movement, many people forget to lock your elbows in the right spot. This leads to an activation of the dorsal muscles, which end up “stealing” the work that should be done by the triceps, compromising the result. Another mistake we see a lot in gyms is when people keep the upper body upright during exercise. To do it correctly, you need to slightly lean your body forward, in order to make the movement in all its amplitude, and work the triceps to the maximum.

The barbell lat pulldown is a compound exercise that works your back muscles. As it couldn’t be otherwise, it needs to be performed correctly so that the person feels the benefits over time.

Errors:

Exaggerating by throwing the back to the back while pulling the barbell in front of the body is the mistake most often made by people during the exercise. “Swinging” the body in this way is very risky, as it can injure the back. The correct thing is to keep the body exactly below the bar, avoiding taking the torso backwards. Furthermore, it is necessary to avoid too low the bar🇧🇷 The best way to do this exercise is to bring the barbell down below your chin line, or until it touches the top of your pecs. And remember not to keep the elbows very close to each other🇧🇷 Try to bring your elbows behind your back, but stop when the bar passes your chin or touches your upper chest. Then slowly return to the starting position.

The triceps test is a strength exercise that targets the entire upper arm muscle group.

Errors:

many people take the elbows out 🇧🇷 don’t be one of them. One must keep the elbows close to each other during the practice of the exercise. Because by keeping your elbows wide apart, it’s impossible to work your triceps properly. Do not forget that you should not bend your back too much when doing this exercise. It is necessary to bring the shoulder blades back and maintain the natural curvature of the lower back. No need to strain your back.

Another common mistake is take the bar too far back, going over the head line, when it comes to descending with the weight. Perfect movement requires you to bring your weight toward your forehead. After all, the exercise is called triceps forehead curls for a reason, isn’t it?

When reading our post, did you realize that you do some exercise incorrectly? Leave a comment with your story, and don’t forget to tell if you’ve already suffered the consequences of improperly performed exercises.