Gym Mistakes
What Not to Do to Look Good
By Outrage Magazine’s very own Muscle Mary

A former friend, Eric Carl S., frequents the gym – he’d be in one (he’s a member of many) at least, say, five to six times a week, averaging over two hours per visit.  He’s actually been doing this for over seven years now, something I would say as obsessive (even for frequent gym goers, unless you’re into competitive bodybuilding, which would make the number of visits not enough), because, as he used to say himself, “I just want to get the body I want, and then keep that.”

Fast forward those seven years (and more), and he still didn’t get the body he set out to achieve – he’s nowhere close, actually, his weight on the fat side for quite a while, before dropping to the thin side (and not because of the gym, too, but because, as rumour has it, because of... never mind). 

“I work hard,” he says to me one time, just before moving to another gym (yet again), blaming the one we went to together for “failing to help me achieve my goal.”

By then we were not very good friends anymore (no, nothing to do with the gym), so I didn’t see the need to tell him to, among others, move his ass more than he moves his tongue (now there’s a reason for NOT being friends) – he chats everyone up, for pick-up or what, I don’t know, while they lift weights, when he should be doing what they’re doing: shut up, and just lift weights.

But that is only one of Eric Carl S.’s many mistakes – for that matter, many gym-goers’ mistakes.  And these are things that, to look good, really good, should be closely paid attention to.  These are the MUST NOT do’s in the gym.

• Go to the gym every day.  Aside from the muscles needing to rest, too, “if you go every day, you won’t be able to maintain a useful intensity and you’ll get bored,” says Lee Archer, director of Pro Fitness in Bristol in the UK, in Maxim.co.uk.  “It becomes a chore and you’ll start missing sessions, beating yourself up about it, and losing motivation.”  Thus, “incorporate proper rest days into your schedule.”
• Lifting too much, too soon.  Same with the above, the muscles need to rest.  Don’t overdo it.
• Repeat what you always do.  Yes, we love routines – there’s comfort in doing things over and over and over and...  With workouts, though, sticking to routine is counter-productive, so “change your programme after four to six weeks, otherwise you get into a pattern and you stop producing results because your body has hit a plateau,” Archer says.  Try cross training – it may just make it more exciting for you.
• Imitate hardcore gym goers.  Yes, when hardcore gym goers lift weights, they look oh-so inspiring, sweating and all that, with those muscles there to prove that what they’re doing works.  But they’re not called hardcore for nothing – they do it as professionals, many even for a living; and you’re there just to look good.  So stick to your program.
• Dillydally.  Having mentioned the program, get one.  There’s no use going to the gym not knowing what you are, or will be doing there.  You’re wasting time – and that chance to look better than you do now.  Here, Eric Carl S. should serve as a good example on the focus on dillydallying.
• Train on your own.  “Ideally, you want someone who’s got the same goals as you and whose strength and fitness levels are just a bit better than yours,” Archer says. “You’ll be pushed in every session and each will make sure the other goes to the gym.”
• Find excuses.  Just because your mind is tired, doesn’t mean your body is – in weightlifting, meaning, if/when you go home instead of heading to the gym, but not do anything but be a couch potato when already there, you’re wasting precious gym time.  “People think they’re tired when all they’ve done is sit at their computers.  Their brain is knackered but their body is keyed-up and ready for exercise,” Archer says.  “By going to the gym, you’ll get your energy levels surging and de-stress yourself in the process.”
• Lose sight of the long-term goals.  Just because the muscle isn’t coming as fast as they are supposed to, doesn’t mean they won’t.  But they won’t come just like that – work on them.  Else, reconsider going to the gym as the way to attain that body (consider, say, dancing, or Muay Thai, or boxing, or triathlon, or swimming, or... – the choices are actually limitless, as far as staying healthy is concerned, with the body you want possible to be attained, too).

I caught up with Eric Carl S. Yesterday, and, yes, he still doesn’t have the body that he has been aiming for.

“Gyms are useless,” he says to me.  “They never work.”

They did for me, I wanted to say.  But I didn’t want to rub it in – his failure is enough of a punishment as it is.

“I might as well just try something else,” he says.

“You do that,” I say back.  And I really mean it.

Because with gym-going, you have to be willing to put in the sacrifice before you reap something in return.  If you can’t hack it, move elsewhere; but if you do give in to the joys it can bring, that is what you will have.

Now, work it!