MISTAKES PEOPLE MAKE WHEN THEY START LIFTING WEIGHTS

Most people don’t do these things because they are lazy and they want a “quick fix”. I’m not surprised that people want instant gratification in today’s world since pretty much everything else is given to you right away. There is no prime next day delivery with gym progress though! I mean I’d love that too, who wouldn’t? Most people end up looking for a pill or something to give them what they want with little effort…and they want it to work right now! Life usually doesn’t work like that and I’m grateful that the gym taught me this lesson. Your habits performed, good or bad, over a long period of time will lead to progress or failure. This goes for anything in life, but it’s especially true in the gym. I’m going to give you three things that you should turn into good habits and I guarantee that you will make more progress in the long run if you do.

Top 3 Habits for Making Progress in the Gym:

1. Logging Your Workouts

2. Tracking Your Macros

3. Focusing on Food Instead of Supplements

Logging Your Workouts

There is no excuse not to do this. You can go old school with a pen and paper and keep it in your gym bag or you can log your workouts on your phone. This is the easiest thing that you can do to improve your performance in the gym and make more progress. Why is this important? If you collect data from your workouts then you can compare your progress over time. You can actually see your progress on paper, but more importantly you can see your failures. Your logbook will show you everything. It will show you what is working right and what isn’t. It will show you what you’re good at and where you need to improve. Most importantly though…it gives you something to compete against and there is no better competition than you vs you. You can reference your best performance on an exercise and then strive to beat that. Even doing 1 more rep is progress or lifting 5 more pounds. These are the kinds of things that causes progress to add up over time. You have to work for it, and if you don’t log and track your workouts then you don’t know what you need to do to improve. You’ll likely just end up doing the things that you are good at and make little progress on the rest that you aren’t. I encourage you to use a logbook for all of your workouts and work to beat your previous performance. If you can do this then the progress accumulates over time for both strength and muscle!

Tracking Your Macros

Can you follow a good diet without tracking macros? Yes, absolutely you can. This is what we call a rigid diet where you eat the same things every day. Most people get bored of that kind of diet and end up having a “cheat” meal where they mess up their diet on purpose just to gain some sanity by eating something different. Fortunately, we have technology today. There are apps that only require you to input the food that you eat and the app does the calculating work for you. Why do you need to track macros? If you track your macros (and therefore calories) then you are literally monitoring your food consumption. This is the first step towards having the right diet for your goals. If you know the quantities that you’ve been eating and compare that to your current weight and physique then you have an idea on what to adjust. Maybe you’re eating too many carbs? Maybe you’re not eating enough protein? Maybe your fats are through the roof and your calories are too high which is why you’re getting fat instead of building muscle? Regardless, you have to track your macros before you can adjust your diet so we need to start there. It doesn’t matter what type of “diet” strategy you follow. It doesn’t matter if you’re doing keto, vegan, carnivore, etc. It doesn’t matter if you’re following a meal plan with a rigid diet. You need to track your macros and calories with any diet that you follow so that you know what quantity to adjust. If you’re not doing this then you’re likely not eating the right amount of food for your goals and you’ll always struggle to make progress. I could write a book on dieting, but just know that no matter what you do…it all starts with tracking your macros and calories. Start doing this and then everything else diet related will start to make more sense to you, and ultimately lead to making far more progress. 

Focusing on Food Instead of Supplements

You’d be surprised how many times I’ve tried to help people only to find out they are cheap with their groceries but spend hundreds of dollars on pre-workouts, pump products, etc. Don’t get me wrong…supplements work great but they don’t do a thing for progress if you’re food and diet is trash. Using supplements with a bad diet is like using a squirt gun to put out a fire. Your diet is like a fire hose! Now, can supplements compliment your diet? Absolutely! I’m not anti-supplement at all. They are great additions to a solid diet, but I’m just saying that if your diet is trash then the supplements will be little more than a waste of money for you. Focus on quality foods and make whole foods a priority over your supplements. If you do this, and can afford supplements, then by all means get them…but don’t discount your food and your diet just so you can buy more supplements. Food first, then supplements…that’s how it’s done!

If you want to step your game up and make more progress, you need to make sure that you are doing these three things. If you aren’t doing them then don’t be surprised when the people that are doing them pass you up! Remember, these things have to be done by everybody at any level. These are the habits that lead to progressing consistently over the long term. Make these consistent habits part of your lifestyle and watch the gym become that much more fun for you!

Remember, tracking things is only part of the equation. Making adjustments to your training programs and diet is a deep rabbit hold to dive down, but it all starts here and these will be things that you focus on for as long as you’re trying to improve your physique. Build those good habits and make the most progress!