Eight Mistakes Beginning Fitness Enthusiasts Make

 I am often asked, “If people have never done a fitness program where should they begin?”  This article will get right to the point and list eight mistakes that fitness enthusiasts make when they begin exercise. 

1. Pick ONE Goal to Focus on at a Time.  When beginning exercise programs people usually have lots of enthusiasm – especially beginners.  It is common for them to want to do everything at once.  For example a person may want to do a marathon, lose thirty pounds, participate in the Alpha Challenge, complete the LTF Triathlon and win the 90-Day Challenge all in the same year or less.  While I appreciate their enthusiasm (And used to be like this when I started) it is much easier and effective to pick one goal that is the most important and focus on only that.  Once it is met, add a new goal to focus on.
2. Look at all Options and Tools That Are Available to You to Improve the Goal.  Once you have picked a goal to focus on, look at the options that are available to help meet it.  For example, if you want to run a marathon you will want to consider purchasing a Heart Rate Monitor, do Metabolic Coaching and join the Running Club.  If you want to lose over thirty pounds, TEAM Weight Loss, a Heart Rate Monitor and Metabolic Coaching are some options.  Whatever the goal, make sure to do your homework and try to find what can make achieving the goal easier.
3. The Most Boring Programs or Equipment Are Usually the Most Effective.  Americans are very visual people and this can get them in trouble, especially with fitness.  Often the craziest looking exercise equipment or fitness programs are perceived to be the best.  However in my experience the most boring equipment and programs usually get the best results as long as there is initial buy in to using them.  For example when it comes to resistance training the barbell and programs that use it can get very good results.
4. Pick ONE Program to Meet Your Goal.  Just like people like to have multiple programs, many times they suffer from exercise ADD.  Avoid this problem by picking one program to follow that is proven to meet your goal.  In addition to picking just one program make sure you follow it the way it was designed (make sure you don’t change it) and use it for at least 28-days before you switch to a different program.  Many fitness enthusiasts don’t like to go this long on a program but if you follow the 28-day rule you will have twelve different programs used in one year.  You will find out within six months which programs work the best for you at this information will help you speed up your progress in the future.
5. Make Sure the Program You Pick is Progressive.  New exercise enthusiasts often think if they just show up to work out it will be enough to get results.  While this may be accurate for the first month or two, progress will stall after that.  If you are using a resistance training program make sure to either increase the reps, resistance or both.  If you are following a program to improve cardiovascular fitness, make sure the intensity is gradually increasing (Metabolic Coaching takes the guesswork out of this).  By constantly finding ways to progress the exercise program fitness levels improve and getting the results you want becomes more realistic sooner.
6. Keep Track of Progress.  This is VITAL for tips four and five.  I have said it in past articles and I will keep saying it, “If everyone properly used a workout journal (or app) and tracked their progress they would have much better results.”  Regarding step four you will find out what programs work the best for you.  Regarding step five you will have records of what you did in your last workouts and know exactly what intensity, resistance or how many reps need to be done in current and future workouts.
7. Community Support.  As much as I dislike social media because it feels like you are “Turned On” all the time, it works really well for getting results in fitness (More and more research is proving this).  Often people don’t meet their goals or drop their fitness program because family members, friends or co-workers do not share the same goals.  However if you can surround yourself around like-minded people with similar goals either at the gym or on a social media site like Facebook, it can make progress much easier and enjoyable.
8. Hire a Professional.  Fitness is the only field I know of where a person thinks they can read a magazine article or book and immediately think they can easily have fitness success on their own.  Unfortunately they don’t realize that the human body is extremely complex and don’t consider factors like the effects of previous injuries, conditioning levels, training environment, etc. can have on different exercise programs.  Looking for the proper fitness professional to help mentor you can save lots of time, headache and money (Ask any Triathlete who tried to do it on their own how much extra money they spent because of purchasing wrong or faulty equipment) and help you get results in a much more efficient manner.

In conclusion many people like the challenge of trying to apply the “Do It Yourself” motto to beginning fitness programs.  I hope this article makes that journey much easier.  If anyone has had success or glitches when they began their fitness journey feel free to share your experience.