3 Things You’re Probably Doing At The Gym That You Shouldn’t Be Doing

And what you should be doing instead

You’re in the gym working out to get that body which you’ve always wanted and you’re working hard for it. You hit the gym at least 4 times a week and you put in the time and effort for it.

Somehow, progress is slow and the time you spend in the gym doesn’t seem to be doing much.

Sound familiar?

If it does, then there are probably some things that you’re doing which perhaps, you shouldn’t.

These are 3 things that you could be doing in the gym which you shouldn’t be doing and what you can do instead.

You’re too distracted with your phone

This is something that I see way too often and I’ll put my hands up and say I’ve been guilty of this a lot of times in the past too.

Very often, we have our phones out when we’re doing cardio on the treadmill. It’s placed nicely where we can watch our favourite videos on YouTube or shows on Netflix while we walk/run.

To be honest, that’s fine.

There really isn’t anything else you can do when you’re on the treadmill.

The problem, however, is when you’re doing weights and you have to rest in between sets. That’s when I see the phones pop out from pockets or picked up from wherever it was placed.

Which again is fine, if it’s not done too often.

The thing is, resting in between sets should usually last between 30–45 seconds only. But when the phones are out the 30–45 seconds then becomes 2–3 minutes. When that happens, your sets are no longer as effective as it can be and that’s not what you want from your workout.

Put your phones away.

You don’t need to use them when you’re lifting weights. If you need to listen to music, you have your earphones on. Most earphones have buttons to control your music, be it volume or to change tracks.

Focus on your workout.

Social media, text messages, etc can all wait until after you’re done.

You try to do too much within a short period of time

Our bodies are not made out of metal and oil. We’re not robots. We’re humans and we’re vulnerable. There’s only so much that our bodies can take. That being said, when we do our workouts in the gym, we need to pace ourselves.

Another mistake that I see a lot of people do — especially new-comers — is that they try to do everything in a single workout.

Chest, shoulders, back, bicep, tricep, legs, abs — everything.

There are full-body workouts that you can do but when you’re lifting heavy weights with minimal rests in between sets and trying to squeeze everything into a 45 minutes workout, you’re not going to get the best out of your workout.

Also, there’s a chance that you can injure yourself.

Instead, plan out your which muscle group you want to focus on what type of exercises you want to do.

Try to not focus on more than 3 muscle groups at a time.

Do chest, shoulders and biceps today. Tomorrow, you can do back, triceps and legs.

And when you’re doing your exercises, don’t go TOO hard. You can push yourself but know your limits. Know the weights your body can carry and don’t go overboard until you suffer from injuries.

If you want to push hard, just go slightly above what your limit is and do slight increases from there.

You don’t clean up after yourself

I know that after many heavy sets, you’re tired and you just wanna hit the sauna or shower to cool off and pat yourself on the back for a good workout.

And that’s fine.

That you should.

You deserve a good pat on the back for putting in the time and effort. But that doesn’t excuse you for not cleaning up after yourself, especially when it comes to the gym equipment that you share with others.

If you have a home gym and you’re the only one who uses the equipment, then, by all means, do whatever you want with them and use them however you want to use them.

But if you’re using a public gym where you share the equipment with others, please be considerate.

There’ve been many instances where I see sweat not wiped off properly from the bench or seats and other stuff like dumbbells and weights left all over the place.

Please clean up after yourself.

If you’re using the benches for presses or other equipment, please bring your own towel to use as a layer so that you don’t leave your sweat stains all over it and wipe them after you’ve finished using them.

As for dumbbells, place them back on the rack that you got them from.

It’s really not hard to do all of that and to keep your gym neat, tidy and clean. Besides, I’m sure you’d want to work out in a clean gym and find all the equipment right where it is supposed to be.

So please, clean up after yourself.

Leave the gym how you’d want to use it.

And whether you realize it or not, this indirectly shows the amount of discipline that you have. Not cleaning up after yourself may show that you lack the discipline needed to keep going and be consistent in order to achieve the body and fitness that you want to achieve.

This year could be the year where you finally achieve all those fitness goals you’ve been wanting to achieve. There really shouldn’t be any reason why you can’t achieve them.

No more excuses and no more mistakes.

It’s time you get out there and crush your fitness goals.