No matter how long you’ve been hitting the old iron church and getting stronger you are always going to want to learn how to do it better and get the maximum amount of gains from all the sweat and tears you just spent. Take for example, Joe Jonas. The new face of the Guess Men’s underwear line had to get into serious shape before shooting the campaign. In just about 14 weeks the DNCE frontman, 27, got chiseled with the help of trainers from L.A.’s Unbreakable Performance Center whom put the singer through a customized workout and diet that was broken down into five different phases.
With all the new information constantly floating around it might be hard to tell what we should and shouldn’t believe. Especially since a lot of things we do in the gym are based off of hopes and belief some bigger guy in the supplement store or in our own gym told us. If not researched well enough it could make you waste time, money and not to mention make you look flat out inexperienced. Some of the biggest mistakes that many often make can be a simple fix that will drastically increase the speed of your progress.
One of the easiest and life changing fixes you can do is drinking more water. Not coffee. Not juice. Not tea. You hear it all the time since you were a little kid and you know you’re supposed to do it. Unfortunately, I’ll still hear every excuse under the sun as to why people still don’t drink enough water. Get a nice water bottle you want to carry around and drink a gallon of water to two gallons everyday. Putting that much water in you a day is hard at first but over a couple weeks, it will become really easy. It’s also an extremely effective way to drop some quick water weight when coupled with reduced salt consumption. This is because instead of retaining excess water between your skin and body fat, once your body knows you drink a lot of water it won’t store water anymore. You’ll also see less acne, feel better, sleep better, eat less, be less dry, and a lot more. Drinking water is one of the best things you can do for your body.
The most obvious mistake many people make in the gym is form. Many people want to jump in and start curling, squatting, and benching as much as they can to show off. This is one of the biggest reasons you’re not getting towards your goals fast enough. Having perfect form will not only maximize results but also prevent injury. The most popular example of this for men is when performing bicep curls. I don’t know how many times I see guys grabbing a set of dumbbells that are too heavy for them, stand in front of the mirror and start doing half of the motion with their elbows flying everywhere, and putting it down after a couple of reps. If you are doing this to yourself, you’re not doing yourself any justice and only wasting your own time. Keep your elbows perfectly still, and lower your forearm all the way down until it’s straight then bring it all the way back up touching the dumbbell to your chest/shoulder.
You’ve either seen many strong people only do half a rep or have been told that it is better for building muscle. This is absolutely not true. It’s simple and straightforward. If you know about the human body you know that half of a bench will not activate every part of your chest muscle. By following through with the motions completely you will make your muscles work harder and therefore get more out of your workout then doing half a rep just so it looks like you can lift more.
Timing is often a problem many deal with or don’t even know they have. It is recommended that you run first then spend around 90 minutes lifting. This is because research says after that your cortisol level starts to shoot up and you start to cannibalize your body’s own muscles. Many don’t believe this and say they have great results from working longer. I don’t think there is anything wrong about working for a little while longer as you’ll still gain muscle, although not as much because of diminishing return. Personally, 100 minutes is solid and I can finish around that time if not a little sooner.
Lastly, what you eat and put into your body is everything. Lifting and supplements will only take you 35% of the way there. If you’re spending an absurd amount of money at the supplement store on diet pills and supplements, it is probably not necessary. This isn’t Harry Potter. You can’t just buy a bunch of colorful potions, ingest it, and expect instant amazing results. It’s just not how it works. However, if you’ve seen something like “Well Leon, my uncle took some supplements and he said it made him gain instant results, now he’s huge!” then that is a steroid. Your uncle is on steroids.
If you are trying to lose weight or gain muscle to look good on the beach you don’t need to precisely count each macro nutritional gram of fat, protein, and carb either. Granted, if you have the time, money, and really want to you can. Typically, these are for bodybuilders and competitors in their prepping stage for an event and every advantage counts. Supplement stores have great products that work only if paired with a healthy lifestyle. For the average person trying to be fit all you have to worry about is how many calories you eat, putting healthy food in your body instead of junk food, taking all your multivitamins and protein every day, staying active, and consistently following these rules.
