5 Ways to Ruin Your Workout

Common ways today’s lifters can unknowingly derail their own training sessions

Some people say the only bad workout is the one you miss, but there are plenty of ways to have your game face on and still underachieve. Let’s look at these all-too-common practices that can put a big hole in your workout balloon.

1. The phone.

Yes, you knew it would be there, but you may not understand why. First, I wish there were a study that compared lifters who were phone-free to those who texted (or read the news, or whatever) between sets because it’s pretty obvious the phone-in-hand group takes longer breaks between sets. A slower pace can be especially counterproductive for what’s called metabolic stress, an important marker for muscle hypertrophy. Essentially, the accumulated fatigue built up over the course of your workout—marked by your inability to repeat feats later in your workout that were fairly easy at the start—leads to an accumulation of metabolites (hydrogen ions, lactate, and inorganic phosphate). Metabolic stress is typical of a bodybuilding-style workout that relies on an energy pathway that’s high in intensity and doesn’t require oxygen.

You’ll likely notice that longer breaks between sets affect your “pump,” and that can adversely affect the release of several anabolic hormones. Get back on track by restricting rest periods to 60 to 90 seconds; even better, set your smartphone’s timer and get precise readings of your rest intervals.

2. Not knowing the “right” weight.

Who hasn’t tried an exercise and completely forgotten what weight they’re supposed to use? Add and pull off plates a few times and voila, you’ve once again introduced a too-long rest interval that can go against the accumulated fatigue you’re trying to build. (Remember, the whole idea of accumulating fatigue is that you don’twant to be fully recovered when you begin your next set!) If you have trouble remembering the correct load, start writing it down! If you have an idea of the right weight, it never hurts to go just a bit conservatively and call it a warm-up set if it’s not quite right. Just don’t take your warm-ups to muscle failure.

3. Failing to work around traffic jams.

Lines at the bench press or a favourite machine? Don’t stand in line and wait; simply find a similar but alternate exercise variation and work your way around the crowds. Every smart lifter should know a few variations to exercises in their routines for those times when everyone seems to be waiting for the one piece of equipment they want. Keeping your workout on pace again helps assure you don’t lose the benefits of accumulated metabolic stress.

4. Burning out on light-weight isolation exercises first.

I’ve literally seen guys do press-downs as their first triceps exercise and concentration curls as their initial biceps movements. Sure, those are great exercises, even done first once in a while in your routine, but because you can’t use very heavy weights (like what you can do with multi-joint exercises), you don’t get near the anabolic stimulus. You want to be pushing the heavy loads first in your workout, when your energy levels are highest. Do those same multi-joint exercises later in your session and you sacrifice a lot in terms of weight, which will affect hormonal output mainly through a mechanism known as mechanical tension. Unless you’re consciously following a pre-exhaust, the rule is multi-joint before single-joint movements.

5. Training when you’re really tired.

Whether you didn’t get enough z’s or had a stressful day at work or school, it’s especially hard to effectively train when you can’t muster much physical or mental energy. My first recommendation is to skip the workout altogether and focus on a good night’s sleep and be ready for tomorrow’s. Those of us who simply can’t miss a workout because we have OCD tendencies should instead try to focus on just a short workout for a smaller body part or cardio session.