Included In This Article
Despite choosing to do cardio for fun… The reality is, that personal trainers are human beings, and we struggle with different aspects of our workout routine, eating, and lifestyle just like anyone else.
I want to share 4 fitness mistakes that I’ve personally made, and will probably make again…
1. Underestimating Calories
They say everyone is the hero of their own story, and when it comes to our eating we really buy into that notion. We all have a tendency to underestimate exactly how many calories we took in.
I fell into this trap a few times, but specifically back in 2018. I was gaining body fat consistently and didn’t know why until I started tracking what I ate for a month.
The results showed me that while I was eating pretty good for the most part, I would be going for wings/nachos & beer every Wednesday, then going pretty crazy on calories over the weekends with high fat foods like nachos, bacon, sausage, etc…
Not a recipe for making positive body composition changes…
Tracking can help give you an unbiased view of what you are doing nutritionally, and can show you where you can make adjustments to make in your eating habits. I suggest using MyFitnessPal for tracking to make sure you’re not making this mistake.
If you find yourself grabbing fast food or going to restaurants – grab a FREE copy of my Express Eating Guide Here
2. Not Prioritizing Sleep
Many new personal trainers will work a pretty weird schedule when starting out. When I first started in training, I was working from 8am – Noon then 4 – 8 consistently. Every night I would go home and get a solid 8-hour rest and feel great the next day…
Okay, okay, that’s not true at all.
I would go out with friends for wing night, thirsty Thursday, Tequila Tuesday, and any other night you could imagine. That left me lacking on the sleep side of things in a big way. Even as I got older and left the partying nights behind me, I would still stay up way too late and get up with 4-5 hours of sleep a night.
I realized though, feeling tired and like crap was my normal feeling daily.
Now, I’ve worked on this aspect of my health (and I’m still not perfect by any means) – I’ve noticed massive differences in my energy levels, mental clarity, and overall feeling through the day. While you might think you operate well on 5 hours of sleep, I can assure you, you’re making a mistake. If you can get 7-8 hours of quality sleep, you’re going to be operating at a level you didn’t think possible.
For my 2-part series on Sleep Quality Click HERE and HERE
3. Avoiding The Hard Exercises
If you’ve trained with me for a long enough time, you’ve heard me say:
“If it’s hard, it’s probably what you need to be doing”
It’s human nature to gravitate towards things you enjoy, and avoid things you find hard.
(but also, is one of the reasons getting started in the gym can be so tough)
In the gym is no different. That’s why as a high school kid I chose to do bench press and biceps curls way more than any other exercise. For years, I avoided single leg exercises like lunges… (big mistake)
But, by avoiding the exercises we don’t like, or find hard, we are creating gaps in our physical game.
For example – one of the issues I ran into after not doing single leg work for so long, was massive lower back pain while running. Of course, this wasn’t just a one-step problem to solve (it rarely is), but the combination of mobility work, and adding in the single leg exercises I despised so much I’ve been able to get myself back to a point where I can run pain free.
By avoiding the crappy exercises we don’t like, we make the mistake that will lead to under-developing the muscles that you are probably needing it the most, and you lose out on the mental adaptations as well.
Pushing through the hard work helps us develop a self-belief that even though something is tough, you can still do it. Tough times, make tough people – which is why we need to choose the tough exercises (like this one…)
4. Ditching Conditioning Work
As a true gym-bro in my 20’s I didn’t see the point or need to do any type of conditioning/cardio work as part of my training.
I played rec basketball, would run around for an hour, and that was good enough for me.
That’s until I hit 30…
Over time, I found myself getting light headed during workouts that I would normally have no problem with, I was getting gassed out a lot quicker in the wrestling ring, and I just generally didn’t have as much energy.
I finally decided that I needed to learn more about conditioning work.
Going through that process was a game changer as I realized just how important cardiovascular conditioning is to not just our ability to run, but to our health and wellness as a whole.
Most people just look at cardio as a way to burn calories and hopefully lose some weight…
But did you know that when you work on your conditioning it actually helps you recover quicker from exercise, have better endurance, improve’s your heart’s efficiency, and can have huge anti-aging effects on your body?
While resistance training is massively important to our ability to live a long, full life, conditioning is right there slightly behind it.
Don’t make the mistake of neglecting your conditioning work, it keeps your body young!
For a breakdown of Zone-2 Cardio check this article out
Folks, I hope you learned a few things from these 4 mistakes I’ve made. If you’ve made these, or any other fitness mistakes in the past drop them in the comments below – I want to hear what were some of the facepalm moments YOU’VE had
I hope these lessons help you with your fitness journey. We can take away lessons from almost anything in life if we are looking in the right places.
If you’re struggling on your fitness journey, or getting started – book a free consultation here or learn more about Customized Online Coaching
Choose To Live Your Life To The Fullest,
Rich, Owner & Personal Trainer – RK Athletics
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