5 Training Mistakes, and How To Fix Them

Mistake #1 – Locking Out Your Elbows on Pushups

When doing any variety of pushups, don’t “lock out” your elbows as this puts unnecessary stress on your joints.

So at the top of each rep, straighten your arms until just before you “lock” your elbows. Your joints will thank you.

Mistake #2 – You Purposely Burn Out

You should rarely train to failure (I sometimes use this technique as a finisher). Training to failure leads to over-training and sloppy form.

As a good rule of thumb, you shouldn’t train any more than 2-3 reps short of failure.

Mistake #3 – You Grab it Too Hard

When using a chin-up or pull-up bar, you tend to grip the bar much harder than necessary. This leads to wrist fatigue and your grip will fail before your muscles.

That means your muscles lose out on the benefit.

The same goes for DB Rows (but we’re talking bodyweight today).

So use a firm grip, but relax a bit.

Mistake #4 – Your Lunges Are Horrid

No lazy lunges…. far too many people do one or more of these things when doing lunges:

1) Lean forward as they go down <= No.

2) Take too small of a step forward <= No.

3) Barely engage the glutes (aka the booty) because the depth of the lunge is a joke. <= No.

Now you can fix it…

1) Keep your shoulders back (this will force your upper body to stay straight… and hey, you’ll improve your posture). <= Yes!

2) Remember to take a big enough step forward so that you work more muscle (which burns more calories). So yes… take a Giant step.<= Yes!

3) Look at the lunge as 2 separate movements. Move #1 is taking the step out while keeping your upper body straight.

Move #2 is lowering yourself STRAIGHT down as if your upper body is on an elevator. Your rear knee should be about  2-3 inches off the ground. <= Yes!

Mistake #5 – You Don’t Leave Your Ego at the Door

Not everyone needs to be doing burpees.

Not everyone needs to be doing jumps.

Not everyone needs to be doing a variety of a pushup in which they can’t complete 10 reps… on a program that calls for 20 reps.

Look, challenge yourself, but don’t destroy yourself.