Avoid the frustration that comes with starting a new fitness routine and achieve your goals faster.

Everyone starts as a beginner. But even after you ditch the training wheels, you could still make rookie mistakes—sabotaging your progress and leaving you frustrated, confused, and exhausted. Even if you worked out for years, it could still happen. You must avoid these nine worst beginner mistakes to build an incredible body and take your fitness to the next level. Learn how they happen and how you can beat them. 

Overwhelming Yourself

Beginners say: “I want to gain 20 pounds of muscle and start eating healthier.” “I want to lose 15 pounds of fat and cut all carbs.” “I want to work out six times a week and start running every morning at 6 a.m.” Tackling a mammoth goal all at once can lead to failure, and you’ll exhaust your limited amount of time, willpower, and energy. You’ll also frustrate yourself because it takes so long to achieve. Instead, break that massive goal into smaller, more manageable steps: “I’m going to switch from machines to free weights to build more muscle and strength.” “I’m going to increase the weight on my squat by five pounds each time.” “I’m going to eat at least 150 grams of protein daily.” These are all simple habits you can measure, use to build confidence, and get closer to your overarching goal. 

Not Tracking Anything

“What gets measured gets managed,” Austrian business visionary Peter Drucker once said. Beginners never take notes. But if you measure nothing, what can you improve? Record everything in your workout: what exercises you did, what weight you used, how many reps—everything! Also, track your physique by taking photos and periodically measuring your body weight, circumference, and body fat percentage. This will highlight your successes and failures, so you can adjust your exercise program and diet to upgrade your results. For example, if you try a new diet, but your physique stays constant, you need to change something. But if you try a new workout and your body fat drops while your circumference grows, you’re doing great. People who skip taking notes also commit the next error…

Not Having a Plan

Without a plan, beginners roam the gym looking for something to do or switching their routines endlessly. But you will never build a great body this way because there’s no system or foresight. Instead, you’ll prevent yourself from mastering exercises, waste time, and miss out on great results. With so many great beginner programs available, pick one, get started, and stick to it for at least eight weeks. This will give you a system to follow and hold you accountable for each step. 

Relying on Supplements

Beginners always ask which supplements they should take. Then you find out they ate a pizza last night… and the night before… and the night before. It’s simple. Supplements are useless against a bad diet. Make sure you have a solid diet of lean meats, veggies, whole grains, and a lot of water before thinking about muscle gainers, pre-workouts, amino acids, and creatine. The food you eat impacts your physique far more than an expensive cocktail of powders. 

Not Warming Up

When some beginners warm up—if at all—they’re jogging for a few minutes on a treadmill and doing some stretches they learned back in Physical Ed. But this does nothing to prepare your muscles, joints, and nervous system to lift weights. Instead, do a comprehensive warm-up filled with dynamic stretches, activation exercises, and movement preparation to help your body feel great and lift a lot of weight. 

Ignoring Your Legs

When someone says, “I run for my legs” or “I don’t need to train my legs because I play tennis.” Running, tennis, biking, or any other exercise will never build the strength, size, and endurance in your legs that barbell exercises can do. Lifting weights also strengthens your bones and joints and builds total-body balance. Over time, strong legs lead to more gains, more growth hormones throughout the body, and even a stronger upper body. If you want to build a big and powerful physique, you must work your legs. 

Training to Failure

If you’re still training to failure every workout, you’re still a beginner. Your workouts must stimulate your muscles, not pulverize them. If you coax them into size and strength gains, they’ll happily respond, and you’ll advance for years. But if you batter your muscles every time, they’ll get fatigued, obstructing recovery and growth. A simple rule of thumb is to stop a few repetitions before failure to give your muscles a break. If you think eight reps is the maximum you can do for an exercise, stop at six. 

Missing Workouts

Beginners skip workouts if they’re feeling tired, sore, or lazy. They forget that the secret to building a fantastic body is simple: consistency. Honor the commitments you make to yourself. If you decide to work out on Mondays and Thursdays, schedule it in your calendar and get it done. If that’s too hard, cut your routine to just one day a week, but never skip it.

Working Out Too Often

There are, however, beginners who live in the gym, work out six times a week, and split their days between back and bis, chest and tris, shoulders, abs, arms, legs, and cardio. Unless you’re an elite athlete or a high-level bodybuilder, avoid working out too often; doing too much too soon will slow your progress (because of the constant fatigue) and lead to overtraining. For most beginners, three times a week is perfect—you’ll give your muscles, ligaments, and tendons ample time between each workout to recover, grow, and get stronger. 

If you want to find out where to start, sign up for a comprehensive fitness assessment. The results will broaden your understanding of your health and fitness goals while providing baseline measurements of your current endurance, strength, flexibility, and coordination. Get your free personalized fitness assessment today and find out where your greatest potential lies. CLICK HERE to schedule a free assessment.