6 Workout Programming Sins To Avoid

Looking to get the most from your workouts? If so, taking the time to ensure you put together a proper workout program will be an absolute must. Far too many people simply hop onto the first workout program they find, never really thinking if it’s going to get them to their end goal.

When figuring out your workout program, you need to think not only about whether the program is designed right, but whether it’s designed right for you.

Learning your body over the years of training you’ve been doing will be a must for success. When you track how you respond to various workout protocols, you can then use this information to form your coming workout sessions.

This said, there are a certain number of programming sins that you need to avoid. Whether you’re new to fitness or a more experienced veteran, these sins will have you seeing lackluster progress in a hurry.

Let’s go over what these sins are so that you can be sure they don’t impact you.

Failing To Account For Helping Muscle Groups

Gearing up for a big chest day? If so, you had better not put shoulders on the day that follows. If doing a workout split where you are working just one or two muscle groups each day, it’s vital that you are paying attention to how much rest each muscle is getting.

Always remember that when training back, chest, or shoulders, the biceps and triceps will be working with each exercise you do. Therefore, putting an arm training day on the day that follows would not be a smart solution.

Likewise, when doing flat bench press, your shoulders will also come into play quite heavily as well, so this can mean overtraining if you aren’t careful.

Have a good look over your current training program and make sure there is no overlap taking place.

Doing Too Much, Too Soon

The too much, too soon syndrome is one that plagues many beginners and sadly, can actually take them right out of the fitness game completely. Always start slower than what you feel you really could do.

Often you won’t realize you are doing too much until you’re getting out of bed the next morning. During the workout you feel great and as such, keep pushing yourself. Shortly after however, you are paying the price.

Err on the slower side with progress. This will help you make certain that you aren’t verging on burnout.

Not Prioritizing Rest

Another big mistake that too many people make is not prioritizing their rest periods. You figure out how many sets and reps you’re doing for each and every of the exercises called for in your program but when it comes to rest, you simply go with the flow.

While going with the flow is a great attitude to have with many things in life, your workouts are not one of them.

You need to dial in on those rest periods and start timing them better. If you are only supposed to rest for 30 seconds, don’t let yourself go 90 or you will be really defeating much of what that program was trying to accomplish.

Likewise, if you are supposed to rest for 120 seconds and cut it too short, resting only 60 seconds, this either means your next set will be sacrificed as you haven’t fully recovered or if you have recovered, it’s a good indication that you aren’t working hard enough.

If a program calls for 120 seconds of rest, you should need that 120 seconds of rest.

Failing To Put Compound Moves First

Moving along, make sure that you don’t fail to put compound exercises first in your workout program. These are the main lifts that you’ll be doing to gain muscular strength, so it’s essential that you have enough strength to execute them.

If you’ve done a number of isolation moves beforehand – bicep curls, tricep extensions, leg extensions, and so forth, this is going to certainly fatigue your muscles, meaning you have less ‘juice left in the tank’, so to speak to perform those key lifts.

As those big lifts – bench press, rows, deadlifts, shoulder press, and squats are the ones that will help to best build your physique, you don’t want to ever short-change yourself on them.

Forgetting To Track Your Workouts

While it does take a little more of your time, taking down what you are doing during each and every workout is a must for success. Just as you should be keeping track of what you’re eating if you are on a diet for fat loss or muscle building, you’ll also need to be keeping track of how much weight you’re lifting as well.

Failing to track this means that next time you hit the gym to do a session, you won’t remember exactly what you did the session prior, so it’s now impossible to ensure that you are seeing the progress you need.

As most people are currently using their cell phones for music purposes in the gym, so find yourself a good application that allows you to track your progress.

Not Building In Variety

As you begin designing your workout routine, be sure that you are building in enough variety. Too many people hit the gym and do the exact same workout they’ve been doing for the last six or eight weeks and then wonder why they aren’t seeing results. Your muscles are gong to respond best to variety, so make sure that you are continually stimulating them by doing new exercises, reversing the order of your exercises, using new exercise equipment or otherwise.

This will keep your body better engaged while also keeping you mentally stimulated as well.

So there you have a few of the key workout programming errors to be sure that you are aware of as you move through your program. Be sure that you aren’t committing any of these mistakes and you can feel confident you are following a path to success.