The 10 most common mistakes at the gym –

The objective is the same: we all want to conquer a great body and gain well-being. But, in this quest, many get lost due to haste, lack of guidance, anxiety… And they make mistakes that impair performance and put their health at risk. Check out the most common mistakes and ensure impeccable performance, which, believe me, will translate into incredible curves.

1 mistake – Starting to work out without warming up the body

Incredible as it may seem, there are those who get on the treadmill and set the speed to ten – right off the bat – or go straight to the weight machines with a full load. “The effort has to be gradual, increasing, in order to wake up the organism”, says Cristian Becerra, technical director of the Bio Ritmo West Plaza (SP) unit. Warming up, which should be done with light movements, such as walking, prepares muscles, tendons and ligaments for the greater effort – the training itself. The warm body moves faster and produces more force. This care also promotes joint lubrication, facilitating movements.

What to do: respect your body and understand that it needs to be warned that it is going to move from rest to movement. Walk or cycle slowly for 5 to 10 minutes and rotate your elbows, shoulders, and ankles slowly until your body feels oiled.

Mistake 2 – Dismissing Stretching Later

It’s not freshness. “It is fundamental for anyone who runs, pedals, does bodybuilding, swims, plays tennis or practices any other sport”, says Eduardo Caldeira, professor at Academia Competition (SP), who has a postgraduate degree in sports training. Movements should be smooth, executed slowly, to relax the musculature. Practice avoids injuries, distensions and inflammations.

What to do: if you only have an hour at the gym, save the final five minutes. Ask the teacher for guidance to do the exercises according to the activity you practice.

Mistake #3 – Exercising with Overload

Whether in the local class or in bodybuilding, the student often works out with a load that is too high for her conditioning level. Don’t go on this one! Excessive weight impairs execution or reduces range of motion. And that’s not all: you could still get a serious muscle or joint injury or be so sore that you’ll want to skip the gym for a few days. By the way, speaking of which, be aware that pain is a sign that something is wrong.

What to do: put the brakes on anxiety and faithfully follow the plan set up for you. “The ideal load is the one that allows you to do exactly the number of repetitions proposed in the series, that is, after the last one, you practically cannot do any more”, observes Alfredo Lima, bodybuilding coordinator at Academia Estação do Corpo (RJ).

Mistake #4 – Overdoing Your Training

In the expectation of getting big changes in a short period of time, many people exaggerate in the volume and intensity of the exercises. Do 30 minutes on the treadmill and another 30 minutes on the transport and then an hour on spinning – because, after all, everyone is made of iron (whoops!). Do you have a body that can handle it? Excess generates intense fatigue, weakness, drop in performance, injuries, generalized body aches and, later on, loss of motivation and health problems. There is even a term to define the problem when it becomes chronic: overtraining syndrome. In this case, the symptoms are more serious: high blood pressure, constant colds, insomnia, diarrhea, nausea…

What to do: become aware that haste is the enemy – really! – of perfection. Afterwards, follow the training designed by the teacher, adapted to your conditioning and which includes the necessary recovery periods to achieve good results.

Mistake 5 – Working out on an empty stomach

It seems that half of the population still believes that training on an empty stomach helps to lose weight. None of that. “The lack of food during exercise leads the body to an ‘economy’ system, reducing caloric expenditure”, says Izadora Guimarães, technical manager of Academia Companhia Athletica (SP). In addition, the lack of nutrients considerably increases catabolism – loss of lean mass –, which means “goodbye, muscles”. In extreme cases, stomach rumbling causes pressure drop, fainting and other problems.

What to do: eat a light but consistent snack before starting your marathon at the gym (up to an hour beforehand). Good options are fruits, in natura or in the form of juices, and Minas cheese sandwich or turkey breast. If the bread is wholegrain, even better, as it gives a longer-lasting feeling of satiety.

Mistake 6 – Doing Exercises Incorrectly

It can happen on the treadmill, on the bike, in a boxing class, in yoga, in bodybuilding… And, motivated by haste, lack of prudence and knowledge, inattention and even the desire to skip gymnastics. However, if the mechanics of the movement are incorrect, one of the two: either the exercise will not have the desired effect or you run the risk of getting hurt in this story. Sometimes, the error seems minimal – the knees should be slightly bent and not stretched – but, believe me, the consequence can be maximum. “There is a right position to perform any exercise and this must always be respected”, emphasizes Eduardo Caldeira.

What to do: the teacher is not there for nothing: if you need to approach him ten times during the series, do it without embarrassment. Only by carefully examining your posture, the position of your body, the speed of movement, breathing and everything else will he be able to assess whether everything is ok.

Mistake 7 – Thinking you know everything and don’t need guidance

Personal trainer for what? Teacher of this and that for what? That’s how some students think, usually cool marombeiras, who have been moving their bodies for so long to the point of considering themselves experts. The truth is that you cannot dispense with the advice of those who have a degree in the subject. It is also wrong to change the schedule without consulting the teacher. “Everything has a reason for being. No exercise should enter or leave training without a specific objective”, says Cristian Becerra. Who dispenses guidance runs risks, ranging from delay in results to health complications.

What to do: follow the sequence stipulated by the teacher. If there are exercises or activities that you don’t like to do, sit down, talk, explain – and participate, together with him, in changes. Doing a clever little table with the ‘coach’, believe me, is the best way to speed up your training.

Mistake 8 – Not hydrating properly

During physical activity, your body loses a lot of fluid through sweat. The organism causes this sweating to prevent the temperature from rising too much. Water is too important and needs to be replenished. It interferes with mechanisms such as transporting oxygen to the muscles, eliminating carbon dioxide through breathing and regulating blood pressure for the proper functioning of the heart. However, even knowing all this, there are gymnasts who forget the bottle…

What to do: stick to your squeeze while at the gym. Tip: the absorption of cold or icy liquids is faster. Another: if you train more than two hours a day, it might be worth changing the water for an isotonic drink, which is also efficient to replace the mineral salts lost in sweat. What is not valid is soda (obviously), drinks with caffeine (because of the diuretic effect) and acidic fruit juices (weigh too much).

Mistake 9 – Not Respecting Rest

Your body needs both rest and exercise. To understand, know that the body has two distinct phases: catabolism, which is the consumption of energy, and anabolism, the synthesis or storage of energy. “When you work out, what happens is the first stage and, at rest, the second comes into play”, explains Alfredo Lima. Simply put, during training you gain nothing, in fact you lose, as you are destroying muscle fibers and consuming energy reserves. But here comes the good part: you also generate muscle stress to, during rest, have your moment of anabolism – recovery of energy substrates and reconstruction of muscle fibers.

What to do: working the same muscle groups every day is a steal, you can’t skip the recovery period. Only after this phase do the muscles grow and appear, literally. The way to do this includes sleeping six to eight hours a night and soaking your muscles for at least 24 hours. Then it’s worth working out every other day, or splitting the training, putting exercises for upper and lower limbs on interspersed days, for example. Also, be sure to respect the rest time between series and exercises, which must be determined by the teacher.

Mistake 10 – Leaving aside much-needed regularity

We are talking here about the so-called gym tourist. She often arrives excited, takes a month of class with fierce application and suddenly disappears without a trace. It’s also not good to show up just once a week. In addition to not achieving benefits, there is a risk of injury. “It is essential to create a routine so that the body is constantly stimulated and you actually gain conditioning and a nice aesthetic”, suggests Izadora Guimarães.

What to do: adopt the mantra: it’s only worth working out if you do it regularly. What it means? At least three times a week, and ideally four or five. Imagine yourself as a machine that needs fuel to function well, in an orderly and systemic dose. If you don’t have a lot of time, no problem, it’s already been proven that 30 minutes are effective – so all you have to do is plan ahead and fit this gift for yourself into your schedule.