You want to loose weight, get fit, and get that perfect form back. But without a plan, you’ll probably not find your workouts to be very effective. Putting together an effective fitness plan includes avoiding those things that may make your efforts either less effective, or maybe even ineffective. Here’s some fitness mistakes that you should avoid.
Fitness Mistake #1 – You’re Not Properly Fueled For Your Workout
There are foods that can make for a more effective workout. And there are also foods that can make what would have been a great workout less effective. Eating fatty foods just prior to a workout is something you should avoid. Foods like avocados or nuts are great for your diet, but eating them right before a workout can be problematic. These foods are harder to digest, so your body has to direct extra blood supply to your digestive system – blood that your muscles need during your workout. It’s better to have a few carbs rather than fat, as those carbs can give you extra energy to power what would have been a mediocre workout ,into a great, intense, effective one!
Fitness Mistake #2 – A Bad Cardio Plan
Cardio is a great part of your overall fitness plan, but only to a point. Cardio is great for boosting your cardiovascular health, burning calories, burning off stress, and even zoning out for a bit. But, too much cardio can eat away at your lean muscle mass. And, as you loose muscle mass, your metabolism slows, meaning you burn less fat. Plus, endurance training can actually make your body store fat – if your body thinks your over-stressing it, it will store fat so you have reserve fuel for those extra long workouts. If you add strength training to your workout plan, you’ll be adding muscle, helping to counter the effects of the cardio when it comes to avoiding loosing muscle mass.
Fitness Mistake #3 – You Don’t Plan Your Post-Workout Recovery
So, you’ve now added strength training to your workouts to avoid Mistake #2. But your muscle growth doesn’t happen when you are lifting weights – it happens when you’re resting and recovering after your workout. You need to make rest an important part of your workout plan, not just so your body has a chance to repair itself after your workout. When you put your body under stress, it releases a stress hormone called cortisol. This hormone boosts not only your appetite, but your fat storage as well. So, vary your workouts (cardio one day, strength the next, upper body one day, lower body another day) – and make sure you get a proper amount of sleep as well.
Fitness Mistake #4 – You’re Not Sweating
The first syllable in “workout” is “work”. If you’re not working enough to sweat, you don’t have enough intensity to your effort to make a difference in your results. Unless you’re challenging your muscles, they have nothing to adapt to. When your muscles have to adapt and grow to deal with the stress you’re putting on them, your metabolism then picks up – both short term to deal with the initial stress, and long term due to muscle growth. So, if you’re not having to put any effort into lifting those weights (i.e. 10 reps don’t take any effort) – it’s time to up the amount of weight your using.
Fitness Mistake #5 – You Are Eating Too Much Protein
If a little bit of protein in your post-workout snack is good, more must be better, right? Not really. You only need about 20 grams or so of protein right after your workout (if you weigh an average of 150 lbs). Women who weigh less may only need 12-15g of protein for their post workout snack. Anything more than this your body can’t process at one time, so it will convert it to fat. Which is counter-productive.
