10 Mistakes Guys Make in the Gym

Spend enough time in a fitness club or gym, and you will eventually see someone do something that makes you ask, “did that really just happen?” or “what were they thinking?”  This goes beyond making mistakes with exercise technique or struggling with a program due to lack of knowledge or experience.  At some point in time, everyone, me included, is a beginner.  There is nothing wrong with making mistakes.  If you do make mistakes; learn.  Better yet, save yourself some pain and embarrassment by learning from others.

Being a member of the male gender I have had my fair share of moments shining in brilliant stupidity, and yes, in my younger and more foolish days, I was guilty of more than one item on this list.  This list is far from all-inclusive and is not restricted to mistakes made while exercising.  It includes some moments lacking in common sense and some of complete douche-baggery.  After fifteen years spent in gyms and fitness clubs as both a member and an employee, I present a list of ten of the most common training and etiquette mistakes guys make in the gym.  Consequently, discontinuing these behaviors would improve the entire fitness experience for everyone.

10.   Wearing Nipple Shirts.  Or worse, no shirt.  After polling a few women that I train, I come to a couple of conclusions based upon their feedback: this is not the beach and it makes women uncomfortable. Even if you are in such great shape you make Channing Tatum look like a porpoise, the nip slip is nauseating, not tantalizing the ladies. Cover up!

9.       Selfies.  Those wonderful self-taken (hence the name “selfies”) post-workout photos that show you in all your vascular glory? Yeah, the ladies are not digging those either. It makes a guy come across as self-absorbed.  If you really have to take one, go to the locker room.  It is the one place where no one will get upset with you for taking your shirt off.  However, be warned that taking photos in the locker room may result in awkward conversations with management and the police.

8.       Carrying a gallon-size jug of water.  Hydration is important but this is overkill.  It is hard enough to drink a gallon of water a day much less during a workout.  If a person actually drank an entire gallon of water in a single workout, so much time would be spent in the bathroom that gym staff may call an ambulance to check on the guy.  Carry a normal 20-32oz bottle.  It is all the hydration needed for a workout lasting less than one hour.

7.       Talking on a cell phone.  Unless you are a doctor on call or other emergency personnel like a police officer, leave the phone in the car.  Cell phones are so common now that no one is impressed that you have one.  Walking around talking loudly for several minutes is annoying.  It is also rude to spend several minutes sitting on a piece of equipment while talking on the phone and not using the equipment.  If the call has to be taken, get up and let someone else use it.  In my opinion, if the world cannot give you 30-60 minutes of uninterrupted “me” time three or four days a week, it does not respect you.  Exception: always answer if your wife calls.

6.       Failing to properly warm up and cool down. If you spend all day behind a desk or if you work out before the sun comes up, a proper warm up is a must.  This prepares the mind and the body for the task ahead.  Going from sitting behind a desk all day or jumping straight out of bed into intense exercise is a recipe for injury.  The same can be said for properly cooling off after a strenuous workout.  A proper cool down is more important than immediately downing that post-workout shake.

5.       Choosing heavier weight and sacrificing form.  Outside of a poor diet, this is perhaps the biggest results killer of workouts for men.  Exercising is more than just picking up and putting down weights.  Regardless of the exercise, each movement is most efficient and offers the best results when moved with steady control through a full range of motion.  Unless a guy is in serious training to become a competitive power/Olympic lifter, using momentum or partial repetitions are advanced techniques that are best saved for highly trained individuals.  It is only after mastering fundamental movement patterns that a person can learn to cheat movements for positive results.

4.       Treating the Bench Press as the Holy Grail of exercise.  I get it, having a huge number on the bench press is considered the hallmark of a fit man.  I am not saying that the bench press is a bad exercise, however, it gets far more attention than it deserves.  This is because there is not a lot of practical application outside of the gym where having a strong bench press is beneficial.  Think about it, name a sport or real life setting where lying flat on your back pushing a heavy weight off of you is a good thing.  If you are flat on your back, you lost.  Also, this where most guys are guilty of number five and suffer lifelong shoulder issues because of it.

3.       Confusing cardio with conditioning.  Conditioning prepares you for battle. Cardio trains you to run away…slowly.  Do not get me wrong, endurance training has its place in just about every type of training program.  But, using a treadmill to plod along for hours and miles on end only makes you good at plodding along on a treadmill.  Conditioning focuses on increasing intensity training specific movement patterns that enhance performance and improve fitness while also training cardiovascular fitness.  Conditioning can incorporate bodyweight resistance, weight training, agility, and endurance.  Conditioning creates a fitter, more athletic man.

2.       Favoring isolation exercises over compound movements. The point of strength training is to get stronger.  Strength progress more quickly with more muscle recruited in a movement.  Training should focus on and be prioritized with heavy compound, multi-joint movements: Squats, Deadlifts, Cleans and Presses.  Far less emphasis should be placed isolation exercises, using just a single joint, like on curls and press downs.  The biceps and triceps can handle far more weight, and thus, receive greater stimulus, when working with other muscles.  The greater the stimulus, the great the strength and muscle gains.

1.       Confusing a post-workout protein shake with a solid nutrition plan.  I am not against protein shakes.  The body has a higher need for protein immediately post workout than at any other time and shakes are a great way to get it.  But do not think that simply downing a protein shake and not improving the entire nutrition program is going to get results.  If a workout is done right metabolism will stay elevated for up to 48 hours, not just a 30 minute “anabolic window,” every meal is important.  Failing to recognize this will kill any chance at results.  It is impossible to out-exercise poor nutrition.

Success in anything ultimately comes down to how coachable a person is: how hungry is someone to learn, and, are you willing to be humble enough to learn? Most men and I will freely admit that there are areas of my life where I am guilty of this, seem to think they can figure everything out on their own.  A little bit of manly pride is not a bad thing.  But when it comes to improving your health, especially, if you want the most out of the time and effort you are putting in at the gym, be coachable.