10 common mistakes made by beginners in the gym

Injuries and incorrect technique

No matter how many videos you watch on the Internet, it is difficult to control the equipment yourself at the initial stage. Not a single trainer monitors the correct execution of the exercises.

If you have had injuries, then some exercises will be contraindicated. For example, if you have a knee injury, you should not squat with heavy weight. With osteochondrosis, exercises in which the back muscles work asymmetrically are prohibited.

Coach Alesya controls the technique of performing a squat with a barbell: the knees should not go beyond the line of the feet, the back is straight, the shoulder blades are brought together.

With a coach

Before starting classes, a personal trainer, together with a therapist at the fitness center, evaluates your health status and asks questions about diseases, injuries, and contraindications. They create a program to strengthen lagging muscles and tell you what exercises you should not do.

8 out of 10 clients squat incorrectly in the first lesson. Your knees should not go beyond your feet, your back should be straight, you should squat without leaning forward or backward. Track the position of your legs and body in the mirror, this will help you perform squats correctly.

Alesya Zaitseva
Personal trainer of the Fitness House network of fitness clubs

During the lesson, the instructor will tell you and show you how to properly perform the exercises and set up the equipment. Controls the position of the feet, pelvis, back, shoulders, and head.

Bent-over barbell row. Alesya checks the arch in the back and the retraction of the shoulder blades

Triceps rope extension. Elbows pressed to the body, back straight

Dumbbell lateral raises

Alesya belays Andrey while bench pressing the barbell at an angle of 30 degrees

I was constantly chasing the weight of the projectile. For example, in the “bent-over barbell row” exercise, I overloaded my lower back and worked more with my arms. With Alesya, we reduced the weight, which made it possible to fix the barbell in the upper position for a few seconds. The lower back has stopped getting tired, and the back muscles are being worked out.

Andrey
Works out with trainer Alesya

Advice

Record your workout on your phone. From the outside, you will see your mistakes and won’t repeat them next time.

On one's own

1. Practice the exercise with an empty bar or a small weight, standing in front of a mirror. This makes it easier to control your body position.
2. Ask the trainer on duty to check your technique.
3. Always warm up before exercising. Warm muscles are less susceptible to stretching.
4. If you work with heavy weights, ask your colleagues in the gym to back you up.

Bodymaster.ru recommends Training Plans:

Solution . To prevent this from happening, it is best to perform squats correctly in front of a mirror so you can see your squat form and track exactly how your knee joint is moving.

If you see that it is moving slightly unevenly, correct its path before going lower. If this error occurs consistently, there is a good chance that you are simply lifting too much weight. Then regular weight loss will solve the problem.

Good alternatives would be to replace the apparatus with kettlebells and use a Smith machine in the initial stages.

Deep squats with kettlebells

Smith machine squats

Overtraining

Overtraining syndrome. Diagnosis, treatment, prevention (in English).

Beginners mistakenly decide that the more training, the more ideal the body. They work out until exhaustion, but there is no result. Let's figure out why this happens.

During training, you get tired and your muscles weaken. After training, the body's recovery begins. This period depends on physical fitness and the type of load. Lasts from one day to two weeks.

Muscle recovery cycle after training

After full recovery, the body increases strength and endurance for several days so as not to experience stress during the next exercise. If you have not trained during this period, the body understands that there will be no “war”. The muscles return to their previous state.

The effect of training frequency on strength and endurance

1. When you exercise too often, your body does not have time to fully recover. Each subsequent workout takes place until the increase in strength and endurance begins. The result is constant fatigue.

2. If you exercise rarely, your body does not need to become stronger. Too much time passes after recovery and the muscles lose their accumulated potential. You are marking time in one place.

3. You achieve maximum performance when you train at peak levels of strength and endurance. You have time to recover and not roll back.

With a coach

Sleep more

Athletes who increased their sleep to 10 hours significantly improved their performance

The trainer knows your physical and genetic characteristics. He will select a training program to gradually increase the strength and endurance of the body, and therefore the speed of recovery. Before and after each workout, the instructor will measure your pulse and blood pressure. This will help determine the speed of recovery of the body and choose the right frequency of exercise.

When training independently, I did the same “selected” exercises every time, working only on certain muscle groups. Alesya explained that the body suffers when the muscles are unevenly developed and get used to the same exercises. We tightened up the lagging muscle groups in 2 months of training. At the same time, the volume of the “desired groups” of the chest, biceps, and legs increased noticeably.

Andrey
Works out with trainer Alesya

On one's own

1. Two to three times a week is the optimal regime for strength training. Moreover, each workout should be for different muscle groups.
2. Sleep at least 7 hours. During sleep, muscles recover faster. Try to go to bed and wake up at the same time every day.
3. Record how you feel before your workout. Ideally, you should feel energized before every workout. If you do not feel any improvement after 3-4 workouts in a row, take a break for 2 days. Gradually you will find a regime that suits you. The main thing to remember is that you should not feel tired all the time. This effect can only occur in the first 2-3 weeks; then training should give you vigor.
4. Skip your workout if you feel tired and unwell.

Technique for performing the barbell curl

Error . This is typically seen when athletes attempt to lift weights heavier than their current physiological maximum. So they try to lift and finish the movement by rocking the body and creating additional momentum from the shoulders to make it easier for themselves to lift the bar to the end point.

When this happens, a lot of emphasis is placed on the lower back and shoulder joints, which are no longer the muscles that pull the weight. These muscles are responsible for the speed of movement.

The reason is that by using heavy weights you will further strain the muscles (muscle growth is the result of overload), however when the weight gets too heavy and this starts to happen, the biceps are no longer actually working, so there will be no positive results. .

Solution . To fix this problem, the first step is to reduce the amount of weight you lift. This is the main reason for the error. Let's look at the detailed technique.

Barbell curl

After this, really concentrate on keeping your elbows in a locked position at the sides of your body throughout the entire movement. This will help prevent the weight from swinging as if you were using a swinging motion, your elbows would also start to move upward. An alternative solution is to use dumbbells on an incline bench.

Alternating dumbbell raises on an incline bench

The best way to get results with this exercise is to use slow and controlled movements, so focus on resisting tension as you move in both directions. And then you will see much more changes in your hands than if you were performing oscillatory movements, as if performed incorrectly.

Declining motivation

Beginners come to the gym with great motivation to lose weight, gain muscle mass or improve their health. After a few weeks, the frenzy wears off, and many people quit training. The main reasons for a decrease in motivation: a feeling of fatigue and uncertainty in achieving the goal.

Alesya clearly demonstrates the technique of performing the exercise “One-arm dumbbell row in a bent-over position”

With a coach

The advantage of working with a personal trainer is that you don't have to worry about the sequence of exercises.

• The trainer will select the load and make the training interesting and varied.
• On one day you will do circuit training for all muscle groups, on another you will work according to the Tabata system, and on the third you will complete a real cycling marathon.
• The trainer will help you stretch your muscles after training so that your body doesn't hurt the next day.
• It will answer all your “whys” and help you gather your strength when it runs out.

Alesya first set short 2-week goals for me, which I easily achieved. For example, give up sweets after 18 hours for 2 weeks. Or increase the number of repetitions in the barbell press from 20 to 25 times with a weight of 115 kg. It helped me believe in myself. Then the goals became more difficult, but the excitement already appeared, I wanted to see if I could do it.

Andrey
Works out with trainer Alesya

If you want to reduce or, conversely, increase the load, discuss this - he will either make adjustments to the program or explain why it is now necessary to do this.

On one's own

1. Set and write down a time-based goal. For example, for starters, for a month.
2. Tell your friends about it. When friends know and ask about training, you will be more motivated to not give up
3. Keep a training diary. Record changes in weight, volume and sensations from exercise. This way you will see progress.
4. Take a photo of yourself before you start training so you have something to compare with after.
5. Make changes to your diet and workouts gradually so that your body does not trigger defensive reactions.
6. Find someone who has already lost weight or gained muscle and ask them for advice.
7. Surround yourself with people who exercise regularly and eat healthy.
8. Promise yourself a massage or a trip to the Spa for classes without skipping.

Newbie mistakes in the gym

Good day, dears! We all constantly learn something, gain invaluable experience and sometimes make mistakes. Beginners, of course, make the most mistakes at the initial stage of becoming an athlete. Moreover, the latter are associated not so much with the technique of performing the exercises, but with some confusion and stereotypes of thinking formed long before coming to the gym. Today we’ll talk about the mistakes of beginners in the gym and we’ll look in detail at how to deal with them and where they come from.

Someone reading these lines will remember himself, still quite “green,” and will once again be convinced that the examples described here have firmly captured the still fragile consciousness of a beginner (wow, he’s tricked me).

So, everything is assembled, which means it’s time to start, let’s go...

Newbie mistakes in the gym: TOP 10

In one of our previous articles, which was called [Gym. Rules of conduct: a reminder for a beginning bodybuilder.], we talked about (if you want) the culture of the gym, i.e. What are the public and unspoken rules that should be followed? So, this article can be equated to the same series. We have already said that going to the gym is not a problem at all, and this is a fact, however, many “drag” with them a bunch of their worldviews, ideas, or, more simply put, misconceptions, which can subsequently significantly slow down the process of muscle growth, if You can’t get rid of them in time. Let's look at them in detail, and the first thing in line is...

No. 1. Training according to programs of recognized stars

Very often, newcomers to the gym come already well-read, theoretically savvy (this is especially true for guys aged 13-17 years) and “don’t put a finger in their mouth.” What is meant here is that, having studied the experience of pumping up muscles (training program) of some superstar (Dorian Yates, Arnold Schwarzenegger, etc.) up and down, they begin to try this program on themselves and “pound” it until they lose it. pulse

This should not be done because:

• bodybuilders create fairly flexible programs and constantly modify them; it’s unlikely that you just scoured the Internet and found programs for both cutting and gaining muscle mass. Here, as an option, you can call Arnold and ask if he has an extra copy of his program :);
• The program is tailored to a specific person and his body type. What is good for one may be bad for another. Those. You are unlikely to achieve the desired effect, but the opposite can be absolutely guaranteed;
• all professional athletes practically cannot do without steroids, one might even say that there are only a few “clean” ones among them.

Morality. No matter how hard you try to train and consume tons of regular food, you are unlikely to achieve the “picture” results of famous athletes.

No. 2. More is better

The most common mistakes made by newcomers to the gym relate to training time and intensity. Muscles grow under load, which means they need to be pumped up. And in order for them to grow by leaps and bounds, they need to be pumped constantly. No - it's not like that. Many beginners, trying to pump up as soon as possible (for the beach season), simply do not leave the gym. You come - he is already there, you leave - he is still there. The next day everything repeats itself. However, we should not forget that muscles grow not during, but after training - first we load them with high quality, and they receive a load that is unusual for them in everyday life. Then microtraumas (microscopic tears in muscle fibers) are formed, which, under the influence of proper nutrition and sleep, “heal” and plus (moreover) acquire “new meat”.

If you constantly injure them, then they simply won’t have time to heal; they won’t have time to heal. In addition, an unstable body may simply not be able to withstand such constant stress and fall into catabolic stress - suppression of all growth processes, general failure and disruption of all hormonal functions.

Morality. Too much is worse than too little. The optimal regime would be 2-3 (in extreme cases) workouts per week for the first 2-3 months, then look at the functional state of the body.

No. 3. Beer for the jerk!

Who doesn't love beer? After all, it contains artesian water, hops, barley, and a lot of valuable carbohydrates, so necessary to replenish energy after an exhausting workout. So, I don’t know where this came from, but it’s still a heresy. Beer is a faithful companion to the stomach, and after a workout it’s a quick path to a hospital bed. Carbohydrates, of course, are present there, and “complex” carbohydrates, but they are not equivalent in their biological value to cereals, etc., and “complex” in the sense of refractory - it is difficult for the body to break them down and is easier to put into reserve in the form of fat.

The hospital is also not something to joke about. During training, your autonomic system experiences enormous stress. What did you think, you need to constantly move blood in large volumes from one muscle area to another. Blood flow into the muscle can increase up to 20 times, and because... Since the heart is the main “push” muscle responsible for blood circulation, it experiences non-illusory loads. And then there’s beer after the gym, which is finally normal :(.

No. 4. Practice, student

We can say that this is a continuation 2 . For many, working out in the gym becomes a panacea for everything - home, work, study, family or girlfriend. They go there as if on a holiday, and this, on the one hand, is good, but you should not overestimate the effect of training, from it you will get 30-40 percent of success, the rest is a balanced diet and proper rest.

Morality. Don’t get hung up on training, everything will work out, you just need to work patiently and not force your body under pressure.

No. 5. Bodybuilding with its chemistry can do very important

It is generally accepted that if a person has pumped up large muscles, then he is a chemist who takes illegal drugs, from which “male strength” tends to 0 . The main problem here is that beginners equate everything other than simple food with steroids. For them, it makes no difference whether it is creatine or regular protein; if it is not chicken, then it is a prohibited chemical. However, this is not so; food supplements or sports nutrition (amino acids, gainers, etc.) act indirectly - giving the body sources of easily digestible building material for muscle growth and energy replenishment.

Steroids are a frontal attack, a blow below the belt that disrupts the entire hormonal balance. They are the surest path to disruption of the reproductive function of men.

Morality. Steroids and sports nutrition are two different things.

No. 6. Weight decides

Yes, and again yes, weight is king - this is what many beginners think. And this is partly true. In order for muscles to grow, you need a constantly progressive weight of weights, but your technique should not suffer in any way due to the weight. And often it’s not that she suffers, she simply doesn’t exist. Beginners are trying by hook or by crook to finally squeeze this barbell to show that they are not born with bast, and they can handle this weight.

Morality. Weight decides - yes, but without the correct technique (i.e. concentrated impact on the desired muscle) there will be no result.

No. 7. I don't need anyone, I'm on my own

Of course, beginners are shy people, and this often manifests itself in their isolation, detachment (if you want) from the environment of the gym. No, I’m not saying that you need to communicate with everyone, get into their position, etc., but you need to be able to take advantage of the safety net (control from the outside) of a more experienced partner. Imagine the situation. You think that you will do one more repetition, but your muscles say – that’s enough, and where should you drop the darling barbell (if you are doing a bench press)? That's right - nowhere. This is where a spotter can easily help you get through the last reps. Therefore, avoiding the mistake of beginners in the gym, ask those around you for insurance.

Morality. Get an experienced belayer, your friend or a complete stranger from the audience may come up for the first time, just ask him, saying the cherished words - “Can you insure?”

Note:

If you still haven’t found such a person, run from the gym and do exercises in special exercise machines with a fixed trajectory of movement and retaining stoppers.

No. 8. Intimacy with a partner and training are incompatible concepts

Everything here is based on the fact that the reserves of the male sex hormone responsible for reproductive function are limited, and the more testosterone we save, the better and longer we will pull iron - nothing like that. The body (in particular its hormonal levels) is a smart and balanced system, and if something is lost somewhere, it will immediately restore its reserves, using reserves.

There are also such basic exercises as deadlifts and squats with a barbell, which very powerfully increase the neuro-endocrine response of the body, i.e. A large amount of anabolic hormones, in particular testosterone, are released into the blood. It turns out that your sexual activity will constantly increase, and your significant other is unlikely to notice it :).

Morality. You should not save testosterone in order to store more of it for physical activity in the gym. Do XXX!

No. 9. To lose weight, you need to eat little

The most common mistakes made by newcomers to the gym include the myth that you need to eat little to lose weight. This is wrong. If you follow the latter, you can simply stretch your legs long before even one kilogram is gone. It is a well-known fact, and I have already talked about it, when the body lacks nutritional resources, it immediately begins to slow down all metabolic processes. The body in such a “slow” mode sends signals to the brain, saying that there is not enough food, perhaps famine is coming - you need to stockpile food for future use.

Thus, he quickly restructures his metabolism and can easily store any incoming food into fat in order to “reconserve” reserves in times of famine and begin to nourish the body (remember the bear and his paw, the same thing here). If your primary goal is to lose weight, then to achieve it you need to take only 3 steps: 1) go to the fitness/gym (done) 2) drink more water (more details here) 3) eat more vegetables and fiber. With these steps, you seem to deceive the body, and it gets lost: there is food, but there is nothing to put into fat.

Do not forget that mass-gaining, as well as fat-burning processes, go hand in hand, i.e., by losing fat, you lose muscle, and also with building up. The degree of loss/gain depends on the fitness of the athlete and his metabolic level.

Morality. Less does not mean thinner, consume enough calories.

No. 10. Schwarzenegger will be “smoking nervously on the sidelines” after my monthly classes

I think “beginner perfectionism” tops the mistakes newbies make in the gym. Wanting everything at once is, of course, commendable, but only in the movies can you turn from a frail guy into a powerful muscleman by the 60th minute of the film (out of 90 ), but everything that remains behind the scenes (and this is often months of hard training) is usually not show. It should be understood that bodybuilding is a sport of people who are strong not only in body, but also in spirit. Here, results don’t come by themselves, and you don’t wake up in the morning as Schwarzenegger. Patience and hard work are truly the key to success!

Morality. Progress in training is noticeable when the working weight of the apparatus and the athlete lifting it increases, keep an eye on this.

That’s all, I hope you will learn a lot of useful things for yourself and will henceforth avoid the mistakes of beginners in the gym.

Afterword

Well, another article has been written about what mistakes beginners make in the gym. In the future there will only be more of them, and they will become much more interesting; soon we will be deeply involved in nutrition, or rather, products, and, of course, the technique of performing exercises. I’ll give you a sketch of interactive material on how muscles work in specific exercises, take a look - at least it will be very unusual.

Well, that's all for today. I think you know what to do with social network buttons, right - share the value with people, and remember the most important thing - you are always welcome here!

PS. As always, comments are at your service, write, ask questions and other miscellaneous things.

Poor nutrition

A slim and fit body depends 80% on nutrition. If you exercise several times a week, but there are no results, look for a problem in your diet.

-441 kcal

Women who increased their daily protein intake from 15% to 30% began to eat 441 kcal less daily, which led to weight loss

If you want to lose weight, eat fewer calories than you burn. To keep your skin from sagging, you need protein. Choose foods rich in protein and low in calories

Protein is not a fat burner or a magic product that will help you remove belly fat and cellulite.

The only way to lose weight is to burn more calories than you consume.

Protein is a helper in this matter. This is a nutritious, low-calorie snack that is convenient to take on a trip or to work. With protein you will gain the required amount of protein and will not exceed your daily calorie intake. Protein optimizes insulin release, which helps control appetite.

Study

Overweight beginners can lose weight and gain muscle at the same time if they consume enough protein.

38 people were divided into 3 groups. Everyone consumed 20% fewer calories than they burned:

Group 1 - participants did not use nutritional supplements and did not exercise. Group 2 - strength training with high protein consumption (1.5 g/kg body weight) and with a protein supplement - whey protein hydrolysate. Group 3 - strength training with high protein consumption (1.5 g/kg body weight) with a protein supplement - casein.

After 12 weeks of the trial, participants in all 3 groups lost an average of about 2.5 kg, but with different percentages of fat and muscle.

Group 1 - 2% fat + 0 kg muscle Group 2 - 8% fat + 4 kg muscle Group 3 - 4% fat + 2 kg muscle

With a coach

Depending on your goal, the trainer will calculate how many calories you need to consume and how many to burn. He will create a menu for the week and offer options for replacing dishes so that the diet does not become boring. He will tell you how best to prepare meals, what to eat before and after training.

In nutrition, I adhered to the “everything in the oven” scheme, ate everything in a row in order to gain weight and see an increase on the scales. Alesya said that even when gaining weight, the diet must be balanced. I started eating 6 times a day, each meal necessarily containing protein. Within a month, the layer of fat became smaller and relief appeared.

Andrey
Works out with trainer Alesya

On one's own

1. Change your eating habits gradually. If you sharply reduce your diet, the body will switch to “storage” mode and will slowly part with fats.
2. Avoid white bread and sugar.
3. Replace fried foods with boiled or steamed ones.
4. Eat more complex carbohydrates in the first half - they will give you energy and relieve hunger for a long time. For example, for lunch, meat or fish with a side dish in the form of rice or coarse pasta. In the evening, it is better to give up carbohydrates and leave only protein. For example, cottage cheese or chicken breast with fresh vegetable salad
5. Drink 2-3 liters of water daily.
6. Have a protein-rich dinner 3-4 hours before bedtime so you don’t end up eating cookies later in the night.

Tips for Beginners

1. Create a program for a week and work on it for at least two months.
2. Three workouts a week is enough for a beginner.
3. Each training day contains 6-8 exercises of 10-12 repetitions. Each exercise contains 2–3 warm-up approaches (30–70% of the working weight), two working approaches.
4. Rest between sets - up to 90 seconds, rest between exercises - up to 120 seconds.
5. Be sure to warm up.
6. During training, move from large muscle groups to small ones.
7. Learn and remember the technique for performing all the exercises included in the program.
8. Breathe correctly.
9. Progression in scales is required.
10. Less talk - more action!

Memo

1. Each exercise works specific muscle groups. If you have any doubts about the technique, ask the trainer on duty or sign up for personal training.
2. Before starting classes, go to the doctor and find out about contraindications so as not to harm yourself.
3. Often does not mean effective. Listen to your body before every workout.
4. Changing your lifestyle can be difficult at first. Change your habits gradually and communicate with those who motivate you with their example.
5. Watch your diet. Just because you went to the gym doesn’t mean you can now eat everything. Less simple carbohydrates, more proteins.

And the coolest thing! We have prepared services and applications for you that will help you exercise in the gym on your own, avoid injuries and not quit the sport after the first lesson. Download them right now by filling out the form below and enjoy your health.

Technique for performing the Army Press

Error . The bottom line is that athletes start out correctly by lifting the weight just above their head, but as they continue to lift the weight upward, they begin to swing their back, which causes a U-shaped curvature of the lumbar region. This creates an ideal situation for pain in the lower back. lower back. Let's consider the correct technique

Standing barbell press (military)

Before the exercise, thoroughly stretch your deltoid and core muscles. Highly warmed shoulder muscles and stretching will help avoid dislocations, sprains and fractures.

Underestimation of the role of nutrition

Muscles, alas, do not grow out of thin air. Fat, alas, is not burned threefold with the wave of a magic wand. No matter how hard you work out in the gym, there will be no sustainable muscle growth or fat burning if your workouts are not supported by a nutritious, balanced diet . Nutrition stimulates muscle growth, ensures fat burning, accelerates recovery and is responsible for the secretion of hormones.

We have already discussed these problems in detail in the articles “17 reasons why weight stays the same” and “Sport is not a guarantee of weight loss .

No need to be shy

If your financial condition does not allow you to hire a qualified trainer who will teach you the technique of doing the exercises, explain all the features and, if necessary, provide insurance, then at least seek advice from those who work with you side by side.

We started training when there were no video courses yet and no one knew how to squat or do a bench press correctly. We went to the men's room and observed, talked, and asked questions. Yes, at that time our training was not ideal, since it was based more on a male training scheme than on a female one. However, it helped us avoid a lot of injuries and mistakes overall.

You train with the same weights, violating the principle of load progression

Of course, it's easy to say: increase your training weights. What if they don't increase? Here you are, puffing and trying to squat instead of the usual 40, 50 kg, but you can’t, even if you crack the damn barbell. Moreover, sometimes a setback happens: come to the gym, and you’re not even given the “tamed” working weight for a long time! What to do?

Firstly, remember that in the hall there are not only pancakes of 15, 10 and 5 kg, but also small pancakes of 0.5, 1.25 and 2.5. They are not just scattered so that stern guys will trip over them.

Secondly, increase the weights gradually, without bypassing the intermediate ones: before you squat the cherished 50, you need to overcome 42.5, 45, and 47.5 . In addition, if you hope to do 8-12 repetitions at once, and even in 4-6 sets, then give up this stupid idea: it won’t work 100%.

Thirdly, strength still needs to be increased with single repetitions with near-maximum weights , slowly and gently, like growing beans for a biology lesson at school. Learn principle number 3 - you need to train in cycles. The most important thing is to learn to “jump” to a new cycle in time. Because sooner or later you will definitely get sick of the monotonously hard training. So you need to stop 1-2 weeks earlier so that the main thing is not depleted - enthusiasm . Otherwise, natural physical fatigue will become mental fatigue, and this is a fat cross for any style of training!

You don't get enough rest between workouts

In the article How many times a week should you go to the gym to train? the best time of day for training , why the classic 3 workouts per week is the most adequate amount. If you want to go to the gym more often (the trainer is nice, or the hot water is turned off at home), then the same 3 workouts need to be divided into smaller complexes. It turns out that on other days you will do only 2-3 exercises.

What, not enough? Do you need to crawl out of the hall with your tongue over your shoulder? Girls usually like to do daily cardio to burn fat around the clock. We remind you that in the article “Menstruations and hunger: what to do if you are overcome by a constant feeling of hunger during your period?” we have already warned that this could end disastrously for your women's health .

Understand a simple truth: you cannot defeat nature . You cannot speed up muscle recovery through willpower or desire. The rate of recovery is programmed genetically. Disturb the balance of stress and rest, and fatigue will begin to accumulate, which will ultimately lead to a “plateau” state or the same overtraining. Besides the gym, you also have another life, more important: family, friends, work. Maybe 3 workouts a week is too much for you.

How to treat? Watch your sleep and appetite. If your sleep is disturbed or your appetite has dropped, these are sure signs of excess training stress. Aggressiveness, conflict, nervousness are from the same opera. At this stage, it is enough to interrupt training for a week. Another, more formidable sign of exhaustion is a decline in immunity. If you suddenly have acute respiratory infections, often get the flu, or have an endless runny nose, run to the doctor. And training will have to be interrupted until complete recovery.

People are very fond of extreme approaches and strict restrictions, and vice versa, it is difficult for us to accept moderation. After all, it sounds very nice in theory, to live within strict limits, where everything was decided for you - “a will that conquers an unruly body” and everything like that. However, this only works if our body does not feel in danger . Yes, you can protect your unruly body from a donut, but if your body seems to be in survival conditions, turn out the lights. The body will knock out your vaunted willpower once or twice and force you to stop freaking out. So believe me, if you forget about the principles of training and don’t stop the abuse of your body, it will do it itself. But we don’t advise you to fight with your own body. It seems to us that we are incredibly cool and can do anything we want, but in reality we often cannot just stop eating all sorts of nasty things.

We all love simple solutions; they fit best in our heads. But a categorical and rigid approach is difficult to turn into a way of life, and it is difficult to stick to it in the long term. The “work hard in the gym until you puke” style of training is unrealistic and stupid in the long term, read the article “Nausea during or after training .