As a North London Personal Trainer I spend around 1000
hours a year training my clients and have discovered that 7
reoccurring mistakes are made on a frequent basis. Just by
taking note and correcting these 7 issues will dramatically
improve your results and prevent injury.
1. Learn to breathe
Breathing correctly is vital when exercising. Deep breaths
provide more oxygen to the body and in turn provide you
with the ability to work harder; they also prevent you from
becoming dizzy or light headed. Breaths should be taken
deeply and from the pit of the stomach or diaphragm. Get
into a good habit of breathing out during the hardest part
of the exercise and in during the easiest. For example,
when performing a push up breathe in on the way down and
out on the way up. Never hold your breath, even when
stretching!
2. Take your time
This is one of the most common mistakes I see and the
harder the exercise becomes the more tempted you are to
rush through it. Muscles need time to work and be
stimulated, unless you are training for speed. A good test
is to ask yourself whether you would be able to pause at
any part during the exercise movement, if not then you are
moving too fast. Chances are no matter how slow you think
you are moving, you are probably moving too fast. A squat
should take around 5 seconds, 2 seconds down, pause for a
second and 2 seconds up.
3. Think technique
Concentrating on your technique and good form will ensure
that you target the correct muscles and don't develop bad
habits. Bad technique is a sure fire way to get injured, if
your technique starts to fail then stop the exercise. The
last thing you want to do is develop a motor pattern for an
incorrect movement. Start off with the correct movement and
concentrate on that movement the whole time, think about
what muscles are working and how it feels.
4. Tighten your core
If you want to develop 6 pack abs, a strong core and
prevent injury then you must switch on your core. By switch
on I mean brace your stomach as if you were about to take a
punch ' pull your navel in towards your spine and squeeze.
Performing this action not only protects your spine but
also gives your stomach muscles a thorough workout. If you
switch on your core during every exercise the chances are
you won't need to do many individual core exercises to
develop your stomach. The fact is that your core is working
hard during most exercises (providing you are not lazy and
using machines) and so the need for targeted stomach muscle
exercises should be at a minimum.
5. Reduce your rest periods
I don't believe in long cardio sessions, in fact research
has shown that they don't work anyway. If you want to get a
good cardio workout then reduce the rest periods between
your exercises. I see too many people at gyms idly standing
around talking or reading magazines. To get the most out of
your workouts reduce your resting times and increase the
intensity. I like to put 2 or 3 exercises back to back with
no rest periods to really get the heart rate up and lungs
working.
6. Warm up the correct movement patterns
Starting your exercise programme without a warm is just
asking for trouble. Not only do warm ups prepare your body
physically but also prepare you mentally. The warm up
should replicate the movements that you will be performing
in the actual workout. If you are going to be pressing
things over your head then make sure you push your arms up
and down overhead a few times first. If you are going to be
doing heavy squats then some body weight squats first will
prepare you for this.
7. Stretch only the tight muscles
Everybody is designed differently and we all have some
muscles that are tight and others that are more flexible.
It is pointless performing a stretching routine that
focuses on your most flexible areas; you should leave these
alone and work on you most inflexible muscles. In order to
neutralise your posture and improve your range of movement
you should only stretch the areas that really need it.
----------------------------------------------------
Greg is a health and fitness professional based in
Hampstead, North London. He achieves fantastic results for
his clients by using his indepth knowledge and the most up
to date techniques.
http://www.gbpersonaltraining.com
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