4 most common mistakes beginners make at the gym

http://buffblogger.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/5.jpg

We all have to start somewhere.

We have all been beginners at something and felt lost. But in this day and age, where everyone carries a cellphone with a camera, and is waiting to pounce on the latest and greatest "fail", mistakes or lack of knowledge rarely go undocumented in the gym. Some mistakes will get you on someone's fail compilation, while other's will just inhibit your ability to get the results you want. To follow are 4 of the most common traps that beginners and even more experienced exercisers fall in to that will stunt your growth and limit your results.

Isolation exercises
Beginners often take their programs from magazines, ads, and media content. There are 2 major problems with this: 1) Most workouts in magazines are from interviews with body builders, not real people with jobs, kids and responsibilities 2) The media doesn't know squat about real fitness. Chances are, they are trying to sell you something. Remember, sex sells. A fitness model in booty shorts doing a single leg glute extension is sexy, and it sells magazines, supplements, clothes, etc, but if your goal is to lose 20 pounds, the only thing this exercise is making an ass out of, is you. Don't waste your time on isolation exercises. Because they don't involve compound movements (ie. activate multiple muscles) they don't burn many calories and don't give you much value for your time. For instance, instead of doing a bicep curl, do a reverse pushup; not only are you working our your biceps, but you are getting back, shoulder, and core engagement, to boot.

Following fads rather than mastering the basics
Functional movements are good, but beginners on the fail list seem to have mastered a new category of fitness: Dysfunctional Movements. Not every exercise needs a twist, a roll, or 12 pieces of equipment. Before you do anything else at the gym, master these movement patterns: squat, deadlift, lunge, chest press, row, shoulder press. All other movement patterns stem from these foundational lifts. Once you master these, then you can add a standing back tuck. There is a reason that there are "classic" lifts, it is because they have withstood the test of time and are shown to bring results. Period.

Mixing up workouts too much (routine is not overrated)
I get it. You don't want to be bored at the gym. You want new and exciting exercises that will stimulate your muscles and challenge your brain. But if you don't repeat some of the same exercises, you are missing the basic foundation of resistance training, progressive overload. Progressive overload is the act of gradually increasing the amount of weight you lift in your exercises to continually challenge your body to become stronger. If you do an exercise twice a month, you are not allowing your body the repetitions it needs to adapt and overcome. In addition, it is rare that a newbie comes in to the gym and has perfect form in all exercises (like rainbow unicorn rare), if you don't repeat exercises (essentially practicing them), you will struggle with making the minor adjustments to form that produces optimal results.

Lifting with your eyes instead of your muscles
Picking up a lot of weight off the floor is sweet, I agree. Having your lumbar spine rip out of your lower back as you deadlift is less sweet. Perhaps the biggest epidemic among young male lifters is lifting eye heavy, rather than muscle heavy. Too many times have I seen exercisers squirm and twist and bend under weight that is simply too much for them. I always say form and function over fashion. Lifting heavy weight LOOKS cool, but if you have to cheat to lift it, chances are it isn't doing what you think it is for your fitness. A perfectly formed squat through a maximal range of motion at 100lbs is infinitely better than a sketchy half squat at 200lbs any day of the week.

The gym is not a place I take satisfaction in seeing people fail. In fact, as a personal trainer, there are few things more painful and gut-wrenching than seeing an exerciser doing something that is un-beneficial and even dangerous. If you are new to the gym or wonder whether you are doing exercises properly, I recommend enlisting the help of a trainer for 2 or 3 sessions. This can save you a world of grief, will get you faster results, and will keep you off of the 2015 Youtube Gym Fail Compilation.

@BrendanRolfe 

Want underwear model abs?



Of course you do. They're fun to look at, fun to play with, and I'm not going to lie, they are fun to own. I owe a lot to my abs. They've made me memorable, they've made me money, and I'm 99% sure that my wife wouldn't have married me unless all 8 were present and accounted for on the blessed day.
I'm not trying to brag, I'm just saying, life is better with abs.

Here's a template of how I got mine, with variations underneath:


*walk dogs 20 mins

6am - Breakfast: 1 cup cooked brown rice, 1 scoop EPIQ Isolate Vanilla, Chia seeds, Raisins, Cinnamon, 250mL water

*walk 20 mins to gym

7:30am - Workout: Supersetted, 3 sets, 8-10 reps of: Back squats/Pullups, Deadlift/Bench Press, Db Shoulder Press/Any ab exercise (20 reps), EPIQ Rush w/500mL water

*walk 15 min to work

1:30pm - Lunch: 3 cups mixed greens, 1 fish fillet, Pumpkin seeds, Sunflower seeds, 1 handful grated cheddar cheese, 2 tbsp. dressing (vinaigrette), 1L water

*walk 20 mins to home

6pm - Dinner: Lettuce wrap chicken fajitas, 1 handful shredded cheddar cheese, oven baked yellow potatoe French fries w/vinegar, Green peas, 250mL water

7:30pm - 2 cups plain Greek yogurt, 1/3 scoop EPIQ Isolate Chocolate, 1 handful raisins, 1 tbsp raw honey, 250mL water

8pm - EPIQ green monster shake, 2 handfuls spinach, 1 scoop EPIQ Isolate Chocolate, 1 banana, 1/2 cup frozen blueberries, 500mL water

*walk dogs 30 mins


Variations
For the most part, my breakfast always remains the same. I wake up ravenous, and I not only look forward to breakfast...it is my favourite meal of the day. On occasion I may substitute steel cut oats for brown rice...but I'm not happy about it.

Lunch: Sometimes I skip lunch. There. I said it. I don't skip it so much because I am intentionally doing an intermittent fast (though I sometimes mark it down as much), but because I am too lazy to pack one (I regret it every time, but confounding enough, still choose laziness).

Dinner: 1) Turkey bacon, chicken cesar salad with a vinaigrette cesar dressing 2) Ground turkey, rice pasta penne with tomatoe sauce and green peas 3) Bass or Tilapia filet on Quinoa and Edamame beans 4) Iceberg lettuce salad bun, chicken burger with avocado, turkey bacon and grated cheese, and baked potatoe wedges 5) Shredded chicken pita with green peppers, cucumbers, spinach, vinaigrette, and carrots 6) the occasional pepperoni pizza or 7) salmon burger on sliders (2 or 3 times per month on a Friday).

Workouts: I workout 4 or 5 times per week in the gym and practice/play a sport once twice per week. My workouts involve as little rest as possible and are ALWAYS super-setted, but they rarely last more than 50 minutes in length.

Abs are about quality, not quantity: It's about the quality of your workout and about the quality of food you eat.

How do you get your abs?

@BrendanRolfe

5 exercises no real athlete will touch

When I go to the gym, I can instantly separate athletes from exercisers, both in the quality of their movement, and by the exercises they choose to fill their programs with. Here are 5 exercises you won't catch any real athlete doing at the gym.

[1]

Seated Hamstring Curls - There are only 2 occasions that call for leg isolation exercises: 1) Recovering from an injury 2) Body building...and when was the last time you saw a body builder do something athletic?


[2]

INSTEAD
try Deadlifts




[3]

Pulldowns - Studies have shown that doing pull ups will increase the amount of weight you can use while performing a pulldown, conversely, increased pulldown capacity has not been shown to do the same for pullups. 'Nuff said.

[4]

INSTEAD try Eccentric Pullups

[5]

Tricep Kickbacks - The body positioning required by kickbacks cuts off potential range of motion and opens up more opportunities to cheat. 


[6]


INSTEAD try a Sphynx Pushup

[7]

Concentration Curls - Single arm isolation exercises are great...if you have 4 hours per day to spend at the gym. Not only do you get secondary bicep activation when you do real exercises like pullups and rows, but there are about a million more effective bicep exercises that don't make you look like a tool.



[8]

 INSTEAD try a Zottman Curl



[9]








Machine back extensions - I have tried this one at different stages of my fitness journey, and every time it feels awkward, uncomfortable and unnatural. That is because your lower back is not built to move independently of the rest of your posterior chain. Because it is easy to grip tight and cheat, people load up the weight on this exercise and risk injury for very little benefit.




[10]

 INSTEAD try Scorpion Extensions



@BrendanRolfe

Image Credits
[1]http://buffblogger.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/VR1-Seated-Leg-Curl_13060.jpg
[2]http://www.menshealth.com/mhlists/cms/uploads/1/barbell-deadlift_1.jpg
[3]http://www.carrienyden.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/lat-pulldown-start.jpg
[4]http://nicktumminello.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/pullup_negative.jpeg
[5]http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/exerciseImages/sequences/348/Female/m/348_2.jpg
[6]https://loseyoself.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/sphinx-pushup-garcia.jpg
[7]http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/exerciseImages/sequences/136/Male/l/136_1.jpg
[8]http://munfitnessblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Zottman-Curl-Workout-Woman.jpg
[9]http://www.fitsociety.nl/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/back-extension1.jpg
[10]http://m.ufc.com/news/mma-power-training-cub-swanson

 

The 5 exercises every fitness model does

...Not a secret at all. You can take your hamstring curls and ab rollouts and shove 'em. Any trainer or knowledgeable body-builder worth a drop of sweat knows that there are 5 basic lifts, that, when done properly, are guaranteed to make your body aesthetically pleasing (look good). This applies to both men and women equally. Every other exercise is just a variation on these five, designed to decrease monotony, increase balance and stability, and perhaps add an element of functionality. Keep in mind, athletes, whose sport demands strength through all dimensions (unilateral, linear & and rotational) won't adhere to just these exercises strictly, but you can bet these are part of their foundational strength workout.

http://www.bottomlinefitness.com/2013/05/26/how-to-get-killer-abs-cooking-with-coconut-oil/

While heavier weights with low reps should be safely built up to, EVERYONE should lift heavy if their goal is aesthetics. What dictates your results, based on your goals, is how much you eat. There is a simple maxim in lifting:

You want to be big? Lift heavy and eat lots.

It's not rocket science. But guess what? As lifting heavy burns more calories (7-9 rep range) than light lifting at 15 reps (the common conception of how to "stay lean"). If you eat less and eat clean, you will burn fat, but also maintain muscle tone. That's not to say you won't burn muscle as well, that is unavoidable when at a calorie deficit, but you will maintain a baseline of muscle tone if you eat properly.

If you are trying to gain mass, eat plenty of lean protein, plenty of veggies, and plenty of grain and nut based carbs. You will need to eat at least 1000 more calories than you burn in a day to add noticeable muscle. (The carbs are vital, because carbs are your primary energy source. If the body burns through all of your carbs, it moves on to protein as a secondary macro-nutrient energy source (ie. burns your muscle as energy).

If you are trying to get lean, eat lean proteins as well, but consume most of your carbohydrates as veggies. You can incorporate grains and nuts as well, but to lean out, you will need to run a calorie deficit each day. Consider a deficit of 1000 calories to be a safe goal, depending on how quickly you want to cut weight (remembering that 3500 calories burnt is roughly equal to a pound of fat).

Without further ado, here are the Big 5 exercises...the only ones you need to do to look like a beach hero: Squat, Deadlift, Bench Press, Seated Row, Military Shoulder Press

1) Squats

http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2009/07/08/why-you-need-squats-in-your-workout-and-how-to-do-them-right/

2) Deadlifts

http://fitness.makeupandbeauty.com/every-girl-needs-to-learn-to-dead-lift/

3) Bench Press

http://www.homeexercise.co/power-lifting/204/

4) Seated Rows

http://www.myfreckledlife.com/2013/10/03/bicep-blues/

5) Military Shoulder Press

http://fitfinity.net/2010/09/20/exercise-essentials-part-4-overhead-press/

Boom. That's it. 100 years of body building knowledge summed up into what every body builder already knows. If you are mindful of precise form, always actively engage your core in every exercise, and go until failure with heavy weight, you will get the results you want...guaranteed. Perform 4 sets of each, 7-9 reps, 4 days per week with one day of rest in between. You can even superset them for time-efficiency (Squats with Rows, Deadlifts with Bench, Military with Abs -- if you really want to -- although it's not necessary to isolate abs if you are doing the lifts right). Abs are a reflection of diet and form. If you absolutely must do cardio, do high intensity interval training. You will get far better results and a bigger bang for your buck then a standard jog.

So there it is...the secret is out! So you can continue to buy your body building and curve magazines and do those exercises (they are good to mix things up), but if you have the drive and commitment and don't easily get bored, the big 5 will get you the beach body you want.