Gym Commandments

Having a solid diet plays a major factor in achieving your fitness goals. But even with the perfect diet, achieving your goals will be next to impossible unless you learn how to exercise CORRECTLY. In this segment I’ll get into the fun stuff; general tips to improve your actual workouts.

Before I start I want to clarify a few terms I will be using throughout this blog and future blogs.

Compound Exercises: Compound exercises are basically any exercise that works MORE THAN 1 muscle.
 Examples of some good compound exercises include

-Dead-lifts

-Squats

-Bench press

-Military/ any overhead press

-Pull-ups/Dips

Isolation Exercises: Isolation exercises are exercises that focus only on ONE specific muscle. Examples of some isolation exercises include

-Bicep Curls

-Tricep extensions

-Pectoral fly’s

-Calve raises

*Note* I just want to get you familiar with the TERMINOLOGY right now, I will go into much more depth on compound exercises and isolation exercises in my next blog.

Muscle failure: There’s a difference between stopping a set because you are uncomfortable, and stopping a set because you are completely exhausted. In simple terms, muscle failure is when you can no longer perform a rep.

 

Drop-Sets: A drop set is when you perform a particular exercise until muscle failure, and then without taking a break, reduce the weight load, and repeat. A drop-set is a valuable tool to help you exhaust the muscle and achieve complete muscle failure.

Super-Sets: A super set is when you perform an exercise, and then immediately proceed to another exercise with NO breaks.

Now that you have an understanding of some basic gym terms, the first thing I’m going to start with is the BIGGEST mistakes people generally make in their workouts that’ll severely hinder their progress. The following is a list of some of the most common mistakes made INSIDE the gym.

 Ø  Incorrect Form: If your form on every exercise in NOT correct, you’re wasting time. By performing exercises incorrectly you are unable to properly isolate the muscle you’re trying to work, and could result in serious injury. I CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH, make sure your form is on point!

 Ø  Bringing your EGO with you: It’s as simple as this; LEAVE THE EGO AT HOME. I see countless people consistently coming to the gym only to lift weights that are way to heavy for them and having their spotter do all the work. By doing this not only are you ASKING for an injury, but also lifting weights that are TOO heavy for you usually leads to bad form, which once again hinders your progress.

      

 Ø  Getting too fancy: For some reason everyone has the misconception that super-setting and drop setting EVERY exercise will help you build muscle and get in shape because you burn more calories. Don’t get me wrong, super-sets and Drop-sets ARE extremely valuable tools, but shouldn’t be performed on EVERY set. Stick to the basic's and build a solid foundation, don't get caught up in these new "miracle muscle building workouts" being promoted everywhere. Keep it simple.

      

 Ø  Socializing: Don't be what I like to call a "social lifter". A person (usually guy's) that tweet or make a Facebook status every time they set foot into the gym. Once they're at the gym they start scouting for girls and talking to their friends.You will have countless opportunities to catch up with your friends outside of the gym, but always remember as soon as you enter the gym your mind should be FOCUSED. Talking to your friends or other people excessively not only ruins your workouts but ruins theirs as well. Also if people are waiting to use a machine that you may be exercising on, it wastes their time as well. Don't come to the gym to just stare at all the pretty girls, (lady's that goes for you too, don't be checking out all the dudes!), make it a habit to put away the phone, stay focused and get the job done.

       

     

 Ø  Cardio BEFORE weightlifting: This one may surprise a lot of people, but yes, performing excessive cardio BEFORE your weight lifting session IS counterproductive. Why? Recall that your body utilizes glycogen as energy fuel your workouts. Doing cardio burns burn energy and exhausts your glycogen stores which you would need later on in the workout to weight lift. Don’t get me wrong, it is EXTREMELY important to make sure you warm up properly before weight lifting, but save the cardio for                                                                               AFTER your weight training sessions.

 Ø  Lack of a routine: and of course there will always be those who have no idea what exercises to do. It’s very important to come into the gym FOCUSED and know exactly what exercises you’re going to do and the sequence in which you’re going to them. Its important to include both compound and isolation exercises in your routine. Staying organized and focused with your routine is crucial for achieving your fitness goals.

      

Ø  Taking too long between Sets: you shouldn’t be taking longer than 30 seconds to a minute between sets UNLESS your strength training in which sometimes your body needs a little longer to recover between exercises. This also ties back into socializing, remember others are also waiting to use your machine and taking too long between sets results in your heart rate decreasing and slowing down the blood circulation to your muscles. The last thing you want to do in a workout is take too long between sets and lose the “pump”.

 

While we’re on the topic of most common mistakes made in the gym, enjoy this short little video of the most EPIC gym fails. If you don’t laugh I will give you your money back.

Now that you guys have an idea of what you SHOULDN’T do, its time to start talking about what you SHOULD do. The most important and absolutely CRUCIAL concept that any gym-goer MUST grasp to reach ANY kind of fitness goal is the “Progressive Overload Principle”. Before I explain what this is, write it down on your wall, in your phone, on your face, wherever, but ALWAYS remember this principle and more importantly APPLY it.

Progressive Overload

If there was a kung-Fu panda scroll on how to build muscle, it would have the word progressive overload in it.

The human body was made to ADAPT and RESPOND. Think about it, when you have the flu, your body will adapt by increasing its internal temperature to sweat out the virus, and respond by releasing anti bodies and white blood cells to help combat the sickness. You get the chicken pox? Your body ADAPTS to the sickness and responds by recovering in a way in which you’ll never get the chicken pox again. The easiest example to understand is the process in which your body develops callouses. When your skin is frequently exposed to pressure for an extended period of time, your body adapts and responds by hardening the skin in that area and creating callouses as a defence mechanism. BUILDING MUSCLE WORKS THE SAME WAY.

We all know the story of the 3 little pigs. To sum it up the big bad wolf blows down the first pig’s house. Second pig builds a STRONGER house, but once again the wolf huffs and he puffs and breaks it down. The third pig builds up the house even STRONGER and this time the wolf cant blow it down.

Why is this significant?

When you weight lift the goal is to break down muscle tissue during the workout, and with the aid of proper nitration, that muscle not only builds back, but builds back STRONGER THAN BEFORE. Essentially, your body adapts to the weight overtime and it gets easier to lift because your body responds by increasing your strength and building the muscle. Think of it as your brain telling your muscles “hey the weight this person is struggling to lift is kind of heavy, lets adapt to the weight by becoming STRONGER and BUILDING muscle so the next time this person lifts the weight it’s a little bit easier”.

The progressive overload principle requires you to expose your muscle to an increased amount of stress every gym session. This stress doesn’t necessarily mean you have to increase your weight load, it could also mean performing more exercises, repetitions, reducing rest between exercises, basically anything that exposes a stress to the muscle that it has not been exposed to before. When you “overload” the muscle with more stress than it’s capable of handling, the body MUST respond and adapt to that stress so in the future IT IS capable of handling it. Your body responds to this stress by building the muscle BIGGER and STRONGER after its broken down from exercising.

If you perform the exact same repetitions, with the exact same weight load every workout, your body has nothing to ADAPT to and thus no longer has a need to grow. I’ve said this before, our body’s priority IS NOT to build muscle, it is simply to SURVIVE. Therefor if your body already has the capacity handle the stress you expose to it in the gym, it no longer needs to adapt, and therefor stops growing stronger.

How to achieve progress overload?

1. Increase the weight load

2. Increase the number of sets

3. Increase repetitions

4. Increase how often you train that muscle

5. Increase the number of exercises you perform

6. Reduce Rest

Every gym session you should always be aiming to improve. If you're not improving anymore, or your lifts are even going down, it may be a sign that you need to improve your diet or rest more. Remember even if you can do ONE MORE REP than last week, its still GOOD. One rep may not seem a lot, but thats one rep your body was not ABLE to perform the week before. Slow progress is STILL progress. Be patient, keep good form on all your lifts, and eventually you WILL improve. Don't compete with your friends or other people, your only competition should be who you see in the mirror. 

In this segment I wanted to focus on basic gym tips. My next few Blogs are going to keep building on how to improve your actual workouts, and what TYPE of workouts you should be doing to achieve your desired fitness goals. As always Feel free to message me with any questions, or just leave my a comment underneath, and please continue providing me with feedback! Thanks.

God bless your Gains.