I just saw a video from a creator I like, which presents a lot of good advice succinctly:
Wanhee: "Mistakes everyone makes when they start lifting"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_1ZOf3nugQSummary of the mistakes:
1. prioritizing machines over compound movements
2. training until exhaustion
3. not sticking to fundamentals
4. cardio immediately before/after lifting
5. going to failure & not tracking workouts
It overlaps with something I've been thinking about lately that I see friends and family miss out on...I believe strongly that one can increase fitness faster (and without extra effort) with a
"training for sport" as opposed to
"working out" mentality. This is how I distinguish them:
Training involves measurable medium-term goals, like being able to do squat X lbs, or run Y miles. Sessions are planned based on progressing towards it at some rate, and each one is a link in a chain.
Working out has short-term goals, like burning calories that day, or just getting exercise in, so the measure of success is: did I get sweaty / did I get sore / did I get a pump? None of these things are actually a sign that the person is getting fitter, and chasing them can be counterproductive. ("Losing weight" is a long-term goal, but notice that there's no direct connection between that and a specific exercise, or even exercising at all.)
The training mindset guides the selection of movement, too. I've had much better results just focusing on powerlifting than what I'd done previously (and I wasn't even doing that many more lifts before), even where physique is concerned, even though my goals are only strength-related. And since want to get those few lifts up, I avoid doing things that will rob me of energy for them. Contrast that with the recent spate of IG influencer fitness program apps where every day is a different and widely-varied set of movements.
Now that I've also been doing a couch to 5k program, I'm seeing the same themes there too. If I'd said, "let me do some cardio," I wouldn't have progressed as quickly towards being able to run a road race, because it'd have been more of a mix of things. But having the road race as a goal is important because it keeps me coming back to train! By the end of the year, I hope to be able to run 10 miles/wk comfortably, and that's going to burn a lot of calories -- but getting there will have required that I worry about running for its own sake.
