The following three mistakes are not only the most common mistakes for beginners to make, but also the biggest possible mistakes that one can make when training. I know because I learned all of these lessons the hard way. This article assumes that the beginner in question is actually committed to attending the gym (which is obviously the first step) and is realistic enough to understand that a successful fitness program will take time and that there is no magical potion which will make them look great over night.

1. The Workout Itself Is Inappropriate

Very often beginning fitness enthusiasts can be spotted at the gym just by seeing which exercises they do. A skinny kid hoping to "bulk up" by doing every machine in the gym or an overweight person doing set after set of cable crosses or crunches hoping to "spot train" away fat in those places. Unfortunately, few people are willing to approach these individuals and explain to them what they are doing wrong, because all too often beginners won't listen to advice anyhow, which results in them being discouraged and discontinuing their attempts at self-improvement altogether when their programs fail.

Beginners often do not know how many sets they should be doing (I have one friend who began training his chest at 24 sets per workout!), how many repetitions per set, how many days per week they need to train (and how often to do each body part), as well as the role of cardiovascular training in their programs. Most beginners are either making it up as they go along or have read up on the workouts of specific pro bodybuilders whom they wish to emulate and simply take similar workouts upon themselves (a sure-fire way to fail). Beginners need to speak to experienced individuals about their goals, both long and short term, in training and come up with a comprehensive, coherent, scientifically devised program which reflects their needs. Most people need to be told that the most basic, simple exercises are the most important, and a few sets of each can comprise an excellent beginner workout. Instead we see them overtraining muscles and over-taxing themselves, turning working out into a futile burden which they usually throw off after a month or two.

In fact, the problem of overtraining ought to be addressed specifically. Most motivated beginners make the mistake of overtraining. This is because in most areas of life, the more work you put into something, the more you get out of it. If a musician practices a piece ten times, that is surely better than nine. The same is not true of working out. There is a threshold that one's body can endure and afterwards benefit from, and beyond that one is only abusing his body, and possibly working counter-productively.

A good metaphor to explain overtraining is to compare it to "traumatizing" the muscles. If a person experiences a traumatic injury, such as burns or a car accident, they do not recover as an extraordinarily muscular version of themselves. Although trauma damages and overtaxes the muscle, it still does not result in strength and mass gains. Though muscle growth is stimulated by damaging the muscle fibers and having them regrow, going too far is more comparable to simply traumatizing them. As logical as pushing yourself well past your limits (and "burning out") may seem, it just does not work, and most people who are only starting to work out in a gym do not know this yet. This is one of the reasons why we see so many of them using inappropriate workouts in the gym.

2. They Do Not Know How To Execute The Movements Properly

This one is almost stereotypical. Beginners usually advance quickly, picking up heavier weights every time that they come to the gym for the first few weeks. Eager to continue the upward growth they try to do this even after their gains in strength have slowed. Aspiring fitness enthusiasts often don't know how to perform even the most basic lifts so they don't know that a biceps curl does not involve the back and cheat too much. They don't know to hold their elbows in when doing triceps exercises. No one tells them that rows should not involve momentum, and if they train legs at all they probably do not squat deep enough or sit properly on leg extension/curls machines.

Much of this would be alleviated if they would just lower the weight but even so, improper form is sure to take away from the effectiveness of their workouts, and can be seen in virtually every gym by virtually every beginner. Another facet of properly performing the lift is knowing how long to wait between sets and how to keep a proper rhythm in the gym. New gym members cannot really be expected to know how to do this, so it is no wonder how often beginners can be found either waiting several minutes between sets or hardly waiting at all. Knowing how to pace one's training is an important aspect of the fitness program and when they gather more experience their entire workout will be changed for the better (and typically shortened).

3. They Do Not Understand How Their Lifestyle Outside Of The Gym Impacts Their Performance In The Gym

Rest, diet and supplementation are all important pillars of working out which have nothing to do with the training program itself. Many gym-novices are unaware that there is even a correlation between their life outside of the gym and the success of their workout programs. If one does not rest enough (both by getting enough sleep and giving himself sufficient time between workouts) he will overtrain and accomplish little if anything. Beginners also tend to party too hard, drink too much, and ignore the importance of relaxation in their fitness goals. While it is important to have a good time, doing things which put stress on your system are counterproductive to building an attractive physique. Also, diet causes many people problems.

Often, a skinny person will simply not eat enough food to make substantial muscle gains . A fat person will think that he needs to eat more to gain muscle and get fatter (or will try to diet to lose fat and lift weights to gain muscle simultaneously- a common mistake). People eat low quality foods like ice cream to "get calories" thinking that this will help them bulk, which it will, but not in terms of muscle. Beginners sometimes think that they need to eat nothing but protein which leaves them with no readily available energy which is commonly gotten from carbohydrates. Beginners don't know that two or three meals a day is not enough. I could go on and on, but I think that the point is made. Another facet of the "home program" is supplementation.

Many beginners make mistakes in terms of supplementation. Some do not understand the importance of supplementation, believing that a piece of chicken after a workout will be just as good as a post-workout whey protein shake. Or sometimes they simply don't know which ones will be good for them. People with weight loss goals sometimes take creatine and people with mass gain goals sometimes drink shakes which are pure protein (as opposed to weight gainer shakes, which are more complete and will help them much more). Or they take the supplement incorrectly. In general, beginners do not understand how supplements work and which ones are to be used for which purpose, which leads them to fail to utilize these vital tools in their fitness programs.

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