Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Don't Sabotage Your Time In The Gym With These 7 Mistakes

By Victoria Jamison

In case you hadn't noticed, it's nearly impossible to set aside the time you need at the gym each day. It seems there are always more "important" things to be doing. When you do get into the gym, avoid these 7 time wasters.

1) Believe it or not, one of the first things that wastes your time in the gym, is spending too much time at the gym. I realize that may not make sense, but it's true. You don't necessarily need to do cardio for 90 minutes everyday. Once you go beyond what your body needs, you're wasting time.

2. Resting to long- If your goal is to lose unwanted body fat and stay lean, you should keep your rest between sets and exercises to a minimum. Thirty to sixty seconds is all you need. This isn't time to talk with your friends. Set up time after your workout if you schedule can accommodate it.

3) Plan, Plan, Plan. If you walk into the gym with no idea of what you're going to do, I can promise you there will be a lot of time wasted. Figure out what you're going to do before you even step foot into the gym.

4 - Have two exercises in mind. You've most likely got a set routine you want to use to work all the muscles in a group. If, for some reason, someone else is using the machine you need, this can slow you down dramatically. I like to have two exercises using different pieces of equipment in my plan book. Exercise A and if that isn't available exercise B.

5) Work hard than you think you should. If you're building bulk, you should be doing 8 to 10 reps of each exercise. If you find you're doing more than this before you run out of steam, you need to increase your weights. If you're workouts aren't intense enough, it's going to take a lot longer to get the results you're hoping to see.

6 - No "cheat reps". If you're like me, you've had a few cheat reps when you're starting to run out of steam. It happens and you don't want to beat yourself up over it. But, you do need to realize it's not helping you. You're almost better off just not doing those reps. Fewer reps with perfect form is always better than more reps dong incorrectly.

7) Get some help from someone who knows what they're doing. There aren't many golfers better than Tiger Woods, but, he still has a coach. A coach isn't someone who knows more than you, it's someone who can observe and motivate you from outside of yourself. They can see things you're doing wrong. They can motivated you when you don't have it in you. Seek out a professional even if it's just for a periodic check-up for yourself. It will pay huge dividends.

I'm sure you didn't relate to all seven items. You may only relate to one of them. If that's the case, fix that one time and gain back some time for other areas in your life. If you could relate to them, focus on a few at a time and lean out your gym time while you lean out your body. - 16083

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