Top bodybuilder training mistakes to avoid.

Going to the gym is one of the key components to bodybuilding. You hit the weights, work hard, and get results. You do this every week; every month; every year. All in the hopes of growing stronger, building that physique into your idea of perfection. But as you do this day in and day out – you start to get into a groove, a routine if you will.

Turning weight training into a habit is fantastic. When it becomes second nature it also becomes less of a chore – but what happens when you get into such a comfortable groove that you start to develop bad habits?

It’s very easy to lose sight of the mistakes you are making in a workout when it all becomes routine. Are you working out wrong? Let us help you find out by listing the top training mistakes that you should avoid.
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Resting Too Long Between Sets

Sometimes it happens without you even realizing it. The rest between your sets are getting a little bit longer than they used to. Your daily workout is becoming so routine that you are losing a second here and a second there.

General consensus is that the optimal rest time between sets for maximal gains is around 30-90 seconds. Make sure you stick to that number or else you’ll start to notice that you aren’t getting the kind of results you are working so hard for.

Not Enough Sets

Are you doing enough sets per exercise per week? It’s easy to just pick a number and stick with it – but what you should be aiming for is 15-20 sets per week (usually between 8-12 reps) for each muscle group.

So when you break that down into your daily workout routines – are you hitting the mark? Try not to hit up a few sets and then call it quits. Make sure that you have goals set up to hit the right numbers – or else you’ll be significantly cutting away from increasing muscle size.

Mishandling Weights/Not Avoiding Injury

It’s often common for an athlete or fitness enthusiast to get lost in the intensity of a workout. You feel that rush of energy – that animalistic spirit and you just push so hard that you don’t even know what exactly you are doing.

While having energy and motivation is always a great thing – always know how to focus. Keep your technique and form correct and don’t get sloppy with your posture. Even if you want to smash through those last few reps. If you aren’t doing them correctly – you are going to get hurt.

Sometimes it’s possible to do a workout incorrectly for weeks before you start really noticing the injuries. Do yourself a favor, pay attention and start making changes the minute you feel pain (and we’re not talking about sore muscles).

Not Isolating Muscles

If you are a beginner bodybuilder, your first instinct might be to workout as hard as possible and cover as many muscles as possible. But there is a difference between compound exercises and isolated exercises.

Compound exercises workout many muscles – but when you do this, the strongest muscles do most of the work and the weakest perform the least. So if you only do compound exercises, you will never really see high quality muscle gain.

You need to isolate specific muscles in order to maximize muscle gain in the naturally weaker areas. That’s the point of bodybuilding – to create a perfectly sculpted physique. Sometimes that means stimulating very specific muscles that would accidentally get ignored with the wider range workouts.

Focusing Only on Favorite Body Parts

Here’s another common beginner mistake. You have your favorite areas to workout so you start to favor those exercises over other muscle groups. This can be for a wide variety of reasons. Maybe you really like the look of having big pecs and biceps. Or maybe they are the areas you have the most success with and you absolutely hate working other harder areas.

The problem with this, which might seem obvious to most, is that you will have a completely unbalanced body. While the biggest problem with this is you will have an awkwardly sculpted physique – it can also lead to injury. A good workout is exactly that – hard work. You can’t only workout what you enjoy doing – you have to work hard to perfect every inch of your body.

Are you guilty of any of these common mistakes? Or maybe seen other people around the gym having these problems? Share your story below and be sure to hit us up on Facebook or Twitter. Stay pumped.