Thread: whats the biggest mistake people make?

I see it every day of every year in the gym.
Over training ( and usually not training the entire body)
or they are just lazy.

not training!

Probably everything you listed. I think that most people do all three of those things wrong.

By the numbers my guess would be overtraining, because many people still dont realize you have to eat more to gain weight (regular gym goers). Secondly I would vote for poor bulking diets, "eat everything in sight" = see-food diets, and some people think bulking is a free meal ticket.

Undereating and overtraining. Very bad combination. That's why I bump my caloric intake to 4500-5000 and drop the set to the minimum and I see strength gains every time.

Definitly overtraining.

Originally Posted by chunky34

Undereating and overtraining. Very bad combination. That's why I bump my caloric intake to 4500-5000 and drop the set to the minimum and I see strength gains every time.

post your routine please

Over training can go undetected with me at least.

Actually, I see two major mistakes people make. The first one's overtrain. And the Second one is cheating.

yea...overtraining.

While I do agree that many people overtrain, wouldn't you say that more people just neglect diet (or screw up terribly) and are therefore guilty of that? I'd say the least prominent is incorrect form because at least they try (usually) and for the most part they get at least one exercise right.

I would say first mistake is diet. I see most ppl faithfully dragging their ass to the gym, paying attention to their routine and doing it with great dedication. All the while paying little or no attention to diet. 80-90% donot even bother with a pwo shake. Next would be overtraining (working out with the mentality that more is better).

I was one of those people. I paid attention to my routine and perfected it to a science so that it worked great for me. After that was down, I decided to start working on my diet. It's already working because I've lost some weight but I'm still gaining in strength. It doesn't get much better than that.

The biggest mistake I see (I mostly see teens train) is only doing bench press and curls, and doing bench press and curls too much.

not eating enough.

Believing everything they read on a message board

Using heavy weights before one is ready to use them properly.

Originally Posted by AKIRA

Using heavy weights before one is ready to use them properly.

Good post I was just thinking that.
I see these kids in the gym doing 2 or 3 reps for every set and its just too funny......when you are a competitive power lifter then its ok ( at times ), but when you are benching 185 for sets of 2 or 3.....please stop it

Originally Posted by ForemanRules

Good post I was just thinking that.
I see these kids in the gym doing 2 or 3 reps for every set and its just too funny......when you are a competitive power lifter then its ok ( at times ), but when you are benching 185 for sets of 2 or 3.....please stop it

That's how you train for strength. There is no problem with that.

FORM!! Everytime I am working out at school and this senior or some other kid is lifting and im curling near them. They bend their back and use very high weight. I never give them advice because why would they listen to me??!?

Originally Posted by ihateschoolmt

That's how you train for strength. There is no problem with that.

I was just about to say that.

Originally Posted by ForemanRules

when you are a competitive power lifter then its ok ( at times ), but when you are benching 185 for sets of 2 or 3.....please stop it

So they aren't as strong as you, yet they want to be stronger. What is wrong with that? If they are respectable reps I see nothing wrong with it. I wouldn't expect someone benching 800 to scoff at my lifting just because I am not at their level.

I'm going to guess they dont have 20 inch arms either. Should they just give up and never go to a gym because of that?

What about the "three sets of ten" crowd, these people think you just have to do 3 sets of 10 for everything, even if they could do 18 reps with their choosen weight, they have no concept of failure, forced reps, sets of 5 etc.
And then there's the people who think you can get the body of the bow flex guy (or girl) if you just bow flex for 20minutes 3X/wk.

Originally Posted by ihateschoolmt

That's how you train for strength. There is no problem with that.

If thats all you do......................yes there is a problem

Originally Posted by Mudge

So they aren't as strong as you, yet they want to be stronger. What is wrong with that? If they are respectable reps I see nothing wrong with it. I wouldn't expect someone benching 800 to scoff at my lifting just because I am not at their level.

I'm going to guess they dont have 20 inch arms either. Should they just give up and never go to a gym because of that?

power lifters do not only train in the 1-3 rep range......you know this

Originally Posted by ForemanRules

nope

Are you saying nope to the part were I said that is how people train for strength, or nope to the part were there is nothing wrong with that? If you're disagreeing, how do you think someone should train for strength?

Originally Posted by ihateschoolmt

Are you saying nope to the part were I said that is how people train for strength, or nope to the part were there is nothing wrong with that? If you're disagreeing, how do you think someone should train for strength?

I changed the quote because it was unclear...

Originally Posted by ForemanRules

power lifters do not only train in the 1-3 rep range......you know this

I didn't know you watched these peoples lifts on a regular basis, I dont see why you would care.

And, most of what Metal Militia does is very low rep work. They aren't Westside guys.