Cut Down on common Gym Mistakes.

Get the best out of your visits to the gym and being alert to mistakes and other nitty-gritty will only help achieve that. Let me list some of them.

• Not warming up before aerobic activity: Muscles need time to adjust to the demands aerobic activity places on them. Rather than hitting the treadmill running, for example, take a few minutes to walk, build up to a light jog, and then hit your stride.
   

• Not cooling down: Take a few minutes to lower heart rate and stretch muscles. Hold each stretch for a minimum of 10 seconds before and after workout.
   

• Not drinking enough water: This cannot be said or heard too many times. Unless you're exercising for more than two hours per day, water can fill all your fluid needs.
   

• Training too long: Keep your training sessions between 45 minutes to one hour MAX! Any longer and you are either just breaking your body down or not working hard enough to get results.
   

• Technique is everything: Position your body so that each joint is stabilized and thus protected from injury and also is most efficient at performing its task.
   

• Using a weightlifting belt: A belt is very effective for stabilizing the abdominal core area. However, it is so effective that your core muscles aren't challenged and don't develop effectively This can leave them weak and your core unstable, fostering a reliance on the hell. You could use the belt in case of power training/lifting really huge weights.
   

• Forgetting settings on weight machines: Many people sit on weight machines and begin exercising without changing the settings of stacks or the stool. A short person may be using the settings for a 6-footer. Failing to adjust settings may put you at an increased risk for injury The right way: You should sit comfortably in the machine with your body at 90 degree angles 90 degree at your hips and 90 degree at your knees. This is lining up your joints in their most stable and efficient position.
   

• Tone up vs. Bulk up: There is a myth circulating in the fitness world that people should train differently if they want muscle tone, muscle size or deep cuts. The fact is that you're muscles only know two states: flexed and un flexed. You either work them or you don't. Good muscle tone is achieved.
   

• Wrong Stairmaster workout: An incorrect way to work out on the stair master is to step only on the tip of your toes the whole time and lean forward too much. Leaning forward can compromise your lower back. It is best to get variety in the way you step - place your whole foot on the steps and take large steps, do little ones on your tip toes, go fast, go slow, etc. And try to stay more upright as you step.
   

• Not setting goals: Know what you want to accomplish before you step into the gym for each and every workout. This will cut down the amount of time you spend working out because you waste less time when you are focused. Arrive at the gym with an outline of what you want to accomplish. Check off each exercise you complete on your exercise log. This will help you stay focused and make you feel good about accomplishing your goals. When you do not know what you want to do, you socialise more, you stand around more trying to decide which machines to use, and you rest too much during your workout. Also, avoid socializing in the gym; wear a headset and keep your eyes focused on the gym equipment and your workout.
   

• Choosing your exercise: The meat and potatoes of your routines should be a big compound that involves the use of a lot of muscles to move a lot of weights. Dead lifts, squats and bench presses are the most important exercises — in that order -- for packing on size. Isolation movements like concentration curls for biceps and leg extensions for quads are movements for refining the shape of muscle that's already sizeable, but they should not be the centerpiece of your routine. Think of them as side dishes.
   

• Exercises with barbells and dumbbells tend to be more effective than machines for the simple reason that your muscles were designed to operate through certain planes of movement while working against the force of gravity. There are, however, some exercises that you simply need a machine for and that are essential in every bodybuilder's routine at one point or another.
   

• Exercise machines: Simple cable movements like triceps pushdowns and tat pull downs have been around for a long time for one reason: they work. Same goes for low pulley rows, hamstring curls and leg extensions. I am also a big fan of the leg press machine. But its amazing to see a novice trainee working on cables.

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