What’s the purpose of strength training? To get stronger, of course! But sometimes the way you train can unknowingly hold you back from reaching your goals. Suppose you’ve been strength training for three months, but you haven’t managed to increase your bench press or squat by even one rep. You’re frustrated and you’re not sure what to do about it. It’s a common problem and usually comes down to improper training and diet. Here are some of the most common mistakes people make while strength-training, so that you can avoid them and get moving towards getting your best physique ever!
You Don’t Rest Long Enough Between Sets
Strength training requires that you rest between sets so that your muscles can recover enough to complete another set. If you don’t rest long enough between sets, your performance on the subsequent set will be sub-optimal and you won’t maximize your strength or hypertrophy gains.
How long should you rest between sets? Usually, one to 2 minutes between sets is sufficient for recovery, but if you’re lifting heavy weights to maximize strength, your recovery time could be as long as 3 to 5 minutes. Likewise, if you’re lifting lighter weights, you might rest less than a minute between sets. Adapt your rest between sets to your goals and the intensity with which you’re lifting. Higher intensity and heavier weights require a longer rest between sets.
Your Form Is Terrible (or Non-Existent)
If you’re new to strength training, it’s easy to get caught up in the excitement and forget that form is just as important as the weight you’re lifting. If you do not have proper form while performing an exercise — or if you simply don’t know how to perform an exercise correctly — then you won’t get the results you’re looking for. Here are some tips for improving your form:
- Squeeze your glutes at the top of each squat exercise. This helps protect your lower back from injury and also activates more muscle fibers in the gluteal region.
- Keep your core tight throughout the entire movement. This reduces strain on your lower back and increases stability in your body.
- Move slowly through each repetition (or rep), focusing on contracting your muscles and increasing tension on them at all times during the movement. You should feel every rep working from start to finish — this will help prevent injury because it allows you to maintain control over the weight. This also reduces the risk of “cheating” by using momentum instead of muscle power to lift it.
- Use a full range of motion on each repetition.
- Start with lighter weights until you’ve mastered your form.
You’ll get better results in the long run when you focus on quality over quantity.
Your Warm-Up is Too Short
It’s important to warm up before any type of exercise session to increase blood flow and boost flexibility in your muscles and joints. A simple warm-up should include five minutes of light cardio activity followed by 10 minutes of stretching exercises at a slow pace. Try marching in place with high knees or walking lunges.
Warming up helps your muscles work more efficiently. It also loosens your joints and relieves muscle tension, making it easier to train with good form. Too many people skip the warm-up and it’s shortsighted.
You Don’t Cool Down After You Work Out
As with warming up, cooling down helps bring blood flow back to normal in your body after exercise and does it in a controlled manner. If you stop exercising too quickly, blood can pool in your extremities and cause lightheadedness or dizziness. A proper cool-down should last about five minutes and include static stretches such as hamstring stretches at the end.
You’re Not Using Progressive Overload
If you’re not using progressive overload, your strength and hypertrophy gains will slow – or you won’t make progress at all! Increase the weight or volume you do progressively over time to keep your muscles growing. A common mistake people make is getting too comfortable with a routine and never increasing the challenge.
Your body adapts quickly to whatever exercise and weight load you give it, which means after about six weeks it stops responding as well to the same routine or workout plan. To increase the challenge, add more resistance. A good rule of thumb is to increase the weight you lift by 5% at a time.
You’re Lifting Too Fast or Too Slow
Lifting too fast can lead to injury or poor form and reduce gains in strength and size because you don’t allow your muscles enough time under tension for them to adapt properly. The ideal lifting speed is 2-3 seconds per rep — slower than 2-3 seconds per rep means your muscles don’t have time under tension. Also, when you lift faster you use momentum, which removes some of the force on your muscles.
To build muscle mass and improve your performance over time, lift slowly enough for each rep to count. Don’t rush through reps at a pace that makes it impossible to focus on proper form. This is especially important when performing free weight exercises like squats and deadlifts where form is even more critical.
A faster repetition tempo is useful for increasing a muscle’s power capabilities, the ability to move a weight through space quickly. Being powerful improves vertical jump height, which is important for sports such as basketball and volleyball. So, know what your goals are when you train. The tempo is faster for power training and slower for increasing muscle strength and size.
You Don’t Focus Enough on Nutrition
Strength training alone is not enough to build muscle mass or to get stronger. You also need enough calories so your body has plenty of energy to repair and grow new muscle tissue from all your hard work. If you want to get bigger muscles, then make sure you’re getting enough protein and calories for muscle gains.
The Bottom Line
Take these points into consideration. Avoiding these mistakes will help you take a step forward in your strength training and make greater gains.
References:
“Progressive Overload: What It Is, Examples, and Tips.” 30 Jul. 2020, https://www.healthline.com/health/progressive-overload.
“Progressive Overload Explained: Grow Muscle & Strength Today.” https://blog.nasm.org/progressive-overload-explained.
“Strength training builds more than muscles – Harvard Health.” 13 Oct. 2021, https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/strength-training-builds-more-than-muscles.
Related Articles By Cathe:
Strength Training: Why the Last Two Reps Are the Most Important
High Reps vs. Low Reps for Fat Loss: Which Works Best?
Weight Training: Low Reps or High Reps for Weight Loss?
For More Effective Workouts, Science Says You Need Exercise Variety
What Does Research Show about Partial Reps vs. Full Reps for Strength Training?
Why We Use Compound and Combo Exercises in the Low Impact Series
What Types of Exercise Cause an Afterburn?
Rep Speed: Are Fast or Slow Reps Better for Building Strength?
Do Forced Reps Make You Stronger?
Related Cathe Friedrich Workout DVDs:
STS Strength 90 Day Workout Program
All of Cathe’s Strength & Toning Workout DVDs
