What am I doing wrong during my home workouts? 8 mistakes that slow down progress

During a long period of self-isolation, many of us managed to get acquainted with home workouts, and some of us even got involved in them. And there are good reasons for this: exercising in the apartment is convenient, accessible to everyone and no less effective than going to the gym.

If you still doubt their effectiveness and frustratingly notice that there is no progress, you should think: are you doing everything right? We tell you about eight typical mistakes that keep us away from the positive results of training.

Neglecting warm-up and stretching

Warming up is an essential part of any training session. It warms up the muscles and ligaments, preparing them for further loading. If you neglect this part of training, you can get injured and also reduce the effectiveness of the main session. After all, it is unlikely that you will be able to perform conditional leg swings in full amplitude if you do not properly stretch the hip joint.

The same goes for stretching – it’s a must after your workout. Stretching improves muscle elasticity, joint mobility and speeds up recovery. Without such activity, your body will be sore the very next day after an intense load, so you will not be able to return to the classes soon. And this will break the regularity!

Training too often

If you are not a professional athlete who devotes his whole life to sports, then it is not necessary to train every day. Otherwise, your muscles won’t have time to fully recover – they need at least 48 hours to do so – and therefore grow.

The desire to jump over the top

It entails a number of mistakes. Firstly, you should not embark on high-intensity advanced workouts at the beginning of your athletic journey. For example, fat-burning HIIT sets attract beginners with a promising description, but it is difficult to perform them even for advanced people. Without experience, you’re unlikely to do all the exercises correctly and end up collapsing completely exhausted – well, if without injury.

Fitness experts recommend starting with simple exercises that familiarize the body with the load, and gradually increase the intensity. In the case of the interval training mentioned above, you can first do cardio, gradually increasing the time of exercise from 10 to 30 minutes.

Secondly, training with heavy weights at first is not a good idea either. People with good physical fitness can freely use equipment, but the rest should not neglect exercises with their own weight. Remember: the goal of training is not to squeeze all the juices out of yourself. You should load yourself moderately, but not excessively.

Breaking the order of exercises

If you have already joined an online training program, do all the exercises in the order the instructor suggests. The exercise program is created with an eye on getting the most out of it and working all muscle groups correctly. Therefore, it is important to take into account two things: choose a really good session, which was compiled by a person with experience and proper knowledge, and do not engage in amateurishness.

Incorrect pace of training

One of its most important components is rest between approaches in exercises. It should not be too short or, on the contrary, too long. In the first case, the body will not have time to restore energy for a qualitative continuation of training, and in the second – you will relax too much, and the effect of the exercise will fade.

Another factor that affects the result is the pace of exercise. If you do approaches faster than the online instructor advises, progress will not get closer. Perhaps even vice versa: the muscles will simply not have time to engage in work, and the joints will overload. There’s little benefit from a pace that’s too slow, either.

Emphasize quantity over quality

At any stage of training, correct exercise technique plays a huge role. Only after mastering it, you will be able to exercise qualitatively, taking into account all the nuances. And the pursuit of quantity, we advise you to postpone: the wrong base in combination with the maximum number of repetitions will not bring positive results.

Lack of progression

It is caused by constant repetition of the same training. In this case, the body gets used to the load and simply stops progressing. It is necessary to increase it in time, increasing the intensity, the number of repetitions and adding weights. And, of course, it is necessary to try new programs and activities, rather than repeating the only lesson learned on YouTube.

Not paying enough attention to nutrition

Even a perfectly executed workout will not lead to muscle growth or weight loss if the daily diet is not adjusted. The nutrition plan is individual for each person, but it should definitely exclude unhealthy foods, include maximum nutrients and an optimal amount of protein, and stay within the daily calorie limit.