Massive Gym mistakes I see all the time...
We’re now into the second month of 2020 and I’ve got an info-laden email for you to print off and read today.
If you want change…
…which I presume you do if you’ve signed up for these emails
then don’t start the new year by doing the SAME things as last year!
Many lessons and insights I’ve had over the past 14 years of coaching have come from my own mistakes
I love making mistakes!
Because all you have to do is think the opposite way and you’ll be successful
Perhaps last year you made some mistakes?
Maybe you could’ve worked harder on your training?
Could your nutrition have been cleaner?
Whatever your goals are right now my aim is to help you RIGHT NOW
So read the following common mistakes I see
And then do the opposite
For example, maybe you never have clean foods at home when you’ve been working all day and come home late, so you eat takeaways.
^^^ let’s flip this around
Simply stock up on clean foods, snacks and clean ready meals so when you’ve been working all day and come home late, you eat clean!
Simple, perhaps patronisingly so, I know
But the greatest success comes from looking in the mirror and being honest with ourselves
Honest self reflection.
Anyway, here’s a list of just SOME of the mistakes I saw throughout 2019….
Not buying the weekly food shop on the same day each week and ending up with no food in the house
Not stretching, doing daily mobility work and then wondering why you’re getting injured
Taking the best quality supplements yet not sleeping more than 5 hours a night
Eating 100% perfectly clean and on target 6 days per week yet one alcohol binge derails progress
Thinking that you’re eating the right amount of calories, carbs/fats/proteins but you don’t track foods with myfitnesspal or write down what you eat. Then it turns out you aren’t hitting your targets when you finally do track
Allowing the chimp brain to convince you that an evening off the gym is somehow deserved because you’ve had ‘such a hard day’ (who doesn’t?!)
Complaining that you’re busy and don’t have time to set out your nutrition plan, look at recipes and spend time prepping meals…. But you watch at least an hour of TV per day
Not taking alone time, at least 20 mins a day, to think, meditate, breathe, walk, stretch and look after yourself
Spending too much time on facebook looking at random people’s lives instead of creating goals or writing a meal plan you love or having a great conversation with an old friend
Never taking a holiday, travel has never been easier or cheaper than today!
Being duped by herbalife, forever living and other crap – instead of living off whole foods
Not eating enough protein
Not drinking enough water
Not using your free time effectively to clean your home, tidy the kitchen, go somewhere nice for a walk with family, friends or by yourself. Wasting time binge watching TV is a huge time drain! Then you wonder why the weekends feel so short….
Spending way too long reading fitness and nutrition information and not enough time DOING it.
You drink a glass of wine every evening and ruin your body’s ability to burn fat (Now don’t say that ‘a daily glass of wine is healthy’… it definitely is but, a) research studies show a daily glass as being 125ml, not your enormous home measures, and b) the benefits are typically in relation to a Mediterranean diet – which is high in fresh local produce, a relatively stress-free lifestyle and lots of good fats and protein)
Not training hard enough. Training is a stimulus to the body to change, literally an ALARMING amount of stress is the only thing that will change the body. We’re talking safe, sensible training of course, but at your limits every time.
Not doing anything for recovery. People think about training all the time, but recovery is the other side of the story. Not stretching, performing yoga or active recovery, ice baths, hot baths, meditating, proper post-workout nutrition, SLEEP, posture at work and at home. It all counts.
Working 24/7 and pretending that you’re a machine, you’re not. Work stress, loss, pain, illness, lack of sleep, hormones/time of the month, ageing, nutritional deficiencies, hangovers, chemicals in foods, sugar, medications and a ton more ALL affect how you feel, how productive you can be at work, how quickly you can burn fat and build muscle, how you train and how you recover.
Not keeping a journal for your thoughts. How much do you think you learn each day? Not writing it down somewhere means you will forget it and repeat the same mistakes again. Which is inexcusable.
I’ll always listen to someone who’s making or about to make a mistake for the FIRST time.
But I have very little patience for someone who repeats the mistake KNOWINGLY.
Self-reliance and discipline is the key to living a great life and having the body that you want.
Yes, it seems hard because you may require 12-18 months of constant training and nutrition to get to your goal. Maybe less, maybe more.
But there’s so many great programs and coaches out there right now that your success is INEVITABLE.
do the work and look after yourself along the way.
Take a little positive step, then reinforce it until it’s part of your life
Then add on another one, and another one.
The list above is a great place to start as this is the most common themes I get asked about or observe with our members every single week.
Go take ACTION!
Anthony Shaw
Head Coach
Raw Strength Gym, Warrington