5 Mistakes All Noobs Make In The Gym

Are you a noob in the gym? Even if you are not, there is a chance you could be doing something wrong that is easily fixed. Check out these 5 mistakes all noobs make in the gym.

Everyone begins from zero. Everyone is a noob in the gym when they just started. Perhaps you are a noob as well, even if you’ve been going to the gym to work out for a few months now. Yes.

Perhaps you’ve never been to the gym and want to begin on the right foot. Or maybe you’ve been doing the same exercises over and over and over again and when you try something different, you realise you’re still a beginner.

If this applies to you, check out these 5 mistakes all noobs make in the gym according to Jeff Cavaliere.

Jeff Cavaliere was the head physical therapist of the New York Mets for 3 years and is now a YouTube sensation. He delivers clear information without noise on his ATHLEAN-X YouTube channel.

5 Mistakes All Noobs Make In The Gym

1. Over Relying on Machines

It’s normal to want to jump into a fitness machine when you first step into the gym. It seems safer and more comforting than taking the centre stage to lift dumbbells or a barbell. It is normal for a newcomer to be self-conscious in a room surrounded by guys much bigger and experienced.

Although machines do serve their purpose, over relying on them can expose you to some weaknesses and, maybe, even injuries later. That is because machines usually limit the coordination you need for an exercise and when you jump to free weights you might think you’re stronger than you actually are, put on a heavy barbell, just to find out that leg press is not even close remotely to doing barbell squats.

2. Lack of Body Awareness

Continuing from the previous point, when you rely on machines, you don’t know which muscles are supposed to be firing to perform the lift “is easy to substitute momentum and limit the effectiveness of the exercise,” Cavaliere says.

“Even if you knew which muscles were supposed to be working but didn’t have an ability to contract them fully then you would be limiting your results due to a bad mind-muscle connection with the muscle.”

3. Lack of Use of Full Range of Motion

When strength lacks, full range of motion suffers and you don’t get the proper stimulus you should

Rather than lowering the weight to accommodate the strength in the weakest range, people tend to focus on the portion of the lift that they are most confident in.

“Either way, this is not an ideal strategy since it is one that will eventually be exposed down the road in the form of injury or unimpressive gains.”

4. Order of Performing Exercises

The order in which you perform your exercises is very important and, sadly, one that many people do and that is why it is in this list of mistakes all noobs make in the gym.

If you randomly attack your workouts without thinking about the order, you can be hindering your muscle gains.

At the beginning of a workout you have the most energy. Use that energy for big compound lifts.

Leave isolation exercises for the end of the workout.

5. Not Knowing When to Switch Up

This can either be switching up too early from one exercise to another, or not switching up when it should. But when is it right to do it?

If you are looking to build more muscle, you want to switch things up a bit with progressive overload. If you don’t, or can’t add more weight to a barbell, then you should choose a different exercise that target the same muscle group.

The fact that is a new exercise should be stimulus enough to grow your muscle. Learning how to progressive overload is crucial. Understand how to tell if you’re training hard enough.

And those were Jeff Cavaliere’s list of 5 mistakes all noobs make in the gym. For a more detailed explanation of each point, you can click on the video below.