Mistakes I did in the gym !

MISTAKE MISTAKES MISTAKESSS....

In this post I will be sharing with you some of the mistakes I committed in and out of the gym as a result of which I lost a lot of time and energy. 90% of them was because of my lack of knowledge. So have a look and save yourself from repeating the same mistakes.

Here goes my confession ;)

• INSECURITY IN GYM

This is not a mistake but more of an attitude problem.This happened to me when I was newbie and just started my training in the gym. During those days, my trainer instructed me to use free weights and told me they are the best tools to build the foundation. But I was so insecure and shy to go that region of the gym. WHY? Because those region was filled with experienced lifters who has well built physiques. Their grinding and arrogant faces while lifting heavy ass weights kept me away from that zone. I was worried what those guys will think of me, a fat little kid. It bothered me a lot.

However with my thrust for building the physique I love I moved to free weights zone. And to my surprise the more I got to know about them, I understood none of them judges you and most of them are even ready to help you. I understood people who looked arrogant while lifting are actually teddy bears by heart and always willing to help the fellow lifters. One of the most important lesson that gym teaches you. 

So friends...especially girls out there.., if you are keeping yourself away from free weight zone just because of the same reason as mine, please don't shy away. I can assure you that those musclemen will only help you out.

• NOT TRAINING LEGS

I started my training during the summer of 2012. During the first two years I hardly had any "Leg Days". My attitude was - 'Nobody is going to see my legs anyway ! So why should I waste time on legs'. During that time I trained my calves once in a blue moon. That was one of my biggest regrets ever. 

And the result was : Chicken Legs :(

I had a decent upper body and loved wearing sleeveless tees to gym which showed off my arms. But I never had the guts to wear shorts. Because I was the perfect example for 'a guy who skipped the leg day'.

Solution: Seeing my imbalance in the mirror, I decided to include leg exercises into  my training plan. I improved the size and definition of the muscle in the next 2 years.

So train your lower body with equal intensity as you train your upper body. Experts proved that heavy weight training (Squats, Deadlift, Bench press) enhances the release of human growth hormones and testosterone. Both of which are crucial for muscle growth and fat loss. 

• NEGLECTING THE BEST AND TOUGH EXERCISES

Like I mentioned, I never trained legs. And I neglected the two best lifts - SQUATS AND DEADLIFT.

Even after I started training legs, I neglected squats. Well, the reason is kindof silly. During that time I believed squats are for girls to develop their butts. And genetically I am blessed with a biggg butt(you know, people call me 'petti' for a reason *wink*) and I didn't want it to get any bigger. But trust me, when I finally started squatting.. BOOM ...my legs started growing !

And as for deadlifts, I was scared I would hurt my lower back and spine. But that was again another misconception I had. Doing a deadlift correctly will not injure the back. It will only increase your strength and muscle mass. Now I am on my way to deadlift double my bodyweight. 

You can see my progress here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7ju47bGZRY

Squats and deadlifts are the most important exercises and at the same time they are the one that can gift you serious injuries if done wrong. So always learn these exercises from experienced guys and practice it thoroughly before using heavy weights.

• LIFTED WEIGHTS INSTEAD OF TRAINING MY MUSCLE

I was a big ego lifter. My attitude was 'the bigger you get, more weight you should lift'. I even went ahead and did 100 pounds biceps curl. The next day my traps and shoulders were sour and biceps were all fresh. This attitude costs me a lot of opportunity & time to build muscle. Luckily ,even though it was a bit late, I was smart enough to learn from experienced lifters and I corrected this mistake.

If your aim is to build muscles and loose fat, use weight with which you can perform the exercise that feels the muscle being targeted. Concentrate on the muscle that you are training and visualize its movement as you perform. Mind-muscle connection is very important to build muscle.

• I DIETED INSTEAD OF EATING

I was  dieting and was eating the same pattern clean food day in day out. I never enjoyed my food. And it never lasted very long. In the quest for six pack abs I tortured myself to hunger. As a result on cheat meal days I ate all the wrong food and in huge amounts. This eventually led to a lot of fat gain. And to loose the fat I had to do a ton of cardio. In the end I did get visible ABS but at the cost of my precious hard earned muscle mass. 

•  RELYING ON WHEY PROTEIN TOO MUCH

There was a time I believed whey protein was a magic powder to build muscle. When I started using whey protein I didn't really care about real food. There used to be weeks I had only a single egg a day. Whey Whey Whey Whey... was the only protein source. That was one big mistake. After all protein powders are called supplements for a reason. Real food is the ultimate source of nutrients and proteins. Before using a protein supplements please make sure that you are getting 80% of your protein from whole food. A supplement is a supplement to your whole food. It will only fill the gap.

THROWING AWAY EGG YOLKS

I was scared of yolks ! There I said it. 

I believed the common myth that yolks are high in cholesterol and is very unhealthy. But I later learned I was actually throwing away something very high in proteins and vitamins. And now I consider each egg yolk as a mini multivitamin power house. But don't get me wrong, this doesn't mean you can eat 5-10 egg yolks a day. 2 or 3 whole eggs (white+yolk) a day is well and enough. You can increase the number as long as it is well within your daily fat intake limit.

FOCUSING ON GETTING TIRED

I was focusing on getting tired rather than exhausting the targeted muscle. Yeah... To me training in the gym was getting tired..getting sweaty..But as I learned more about bodybuilding I understood that Gym is not for burning away your calories. Its not the place to torture yourself for eating that extra scoop of ice cream. 

Gym is the place where you tear down the muscle using weights...GYM is a temple where you will understand that you are lot more stronger than what you think you are physically and mentally..Its the place where you build your character.

I hope this post helped you. Tell me about the mistakes you made at gym. I would love to hear about it and correct myself if I am also making those. 

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