Common Exercise Mistakes

There are a lot of people in the world that work out to stay healthy. However, there are a lot of mistakes that people make while exercising that can ultimately lead to an injury. Below are the common mistakes that people make while exercising that can be detrimental to your journey and can even set you back a little.   

Skipping Warmups 

Injuries from exercises are often chalked up to not warming up properly. It is important to warm up your muscles before you put a lot of strain on them. By simply doing some dynamic stretching for 5-10 minutes beforehand, it will help you get the best workout that you can without a higher risk of injury.  

Poor Nutrition and Dehydration 

Poor nutrition and dehydration can lead to injuries. Therefore, keeping a well-balanced diet without processed foods and other foods with added sugars as well as drinking plenty of water is important. To make sure that you are drinking enough water, it is a good rule of thumb to drink half your body weight in ounces. Not to mention that you should be drinking an extra eight ounces for every hour of exercise.  

Not Taking Rest Days 

Most people have the mindset of no pain, no gain. Having this mindset is not good as it is important to make sure that you are taking care of yourself and taking the rest days that you need. Rest days are important as they will allow your body to recover so you can get the most out of your workouts. By not taking rest days, your muscles will get fatigued and therefore, will stop showing the results that you are looking for.  

Not Stretching After 

Stretching after each workout session is important as it will preserve your range of motion and will increase your flexibility. Stretching helps reduce injury while exercising because it keeps your ligaments and muscles relaxed and limber. This ensures that you do not pull anything while you are working out.  

When you are stretching, it is important to hold the stretch for at least 30 seconds as that is how long it takes for a muscle or tendon to get to the point of stretching it out and increasing its range of motion.  

Wearing Poor Footwear  

Having shoes that do not fit well or are broken in some way can lead to foot, hip, knee or even back pain. It is important to have a good pair of shoes for exercising, especially if you plan on running. There are many different shoes designed for different forms of activity. There are shoes made for running and there are shoes that are meant for weightlifting. If you are confused as to which shoes you need, just walk into your local shoe store and they should be able to assist you as to which shoes are best suited for you.  

People make these mistakes while exercising on a daily basis. Don’t be part of those people. It is important to follow these tips and not make these mistakes in order to get the results you want and prevent potential injuries from occurring.