You’ve finally done it! You’ve secured a gym membership, carved out some time in your schedule, and found a routine that seems promising. Now it’s time to finally start working towards your dream body. While taking the first step is half the battle for a lot of people, there are still some common hurdles beginner lifters face. Luckily, there are tons of good resources out there to help you start your lifting journey. In this article, I’ll outline some of the most common pitfalls beginner lifters make and some struggles I encountered on my lifting journey. By avoiding these 6 beginner lifting mistakes, I promise you’ll achieve much greater success now and in the future.
Mistake #1: Not Establishing a Consistent Schedule
This is one of the most common mistakes beginner lifters make. I get it, your goals are big. But, if you don’t make consistency your main focus from the get-go, you’ll lack the foundation when times get tough – consistency is the base from which everything else grows. Whether you’re lifting, running, or “dieting” (I really don’t like that word), consistency is the only way to achieve your goals. Start by only working out as many days as you’ll be able to on a consistent basis. Even if that means just lifting twice a week, you’ll be much better off than if you dive straight into a 6 day-a-week routine. Start small and start focused. As you build your consistency muscle, you’ll be able to add on more days as you see fit.
Mistake #2: Not Sticking to the Plan (program hopping)
Here’s my next tip: pick a plan and stick with it. There are literally thousands of different ways to train. Whether you wanna push yourself to the edge 3 times a week, or do Arnold style high volume 6 days a week, there’s a plan for it. But the issue is that most beginners don’t know where to start. Here’s the thing: for the most part, they all work. Just pick what you like and stick with it. This is not to say they are all equally effective, but in the beginning you can gain muscle by practically just looking at the weights! So, do yourself a favor: stick to the plan.
Mistake #3: Poor Form / Bad Execution
In the early days of your journey, you might be tempted to try and impress everyone at your gym with those 100lb dumbbells. But do yourself a favor, focus on form over weight. If consistency is the foundation, good form is the structure from which everything else is built. Trust me – I made this mistake when I first started out, and I almost wrecked my left shoulder and my back. Bad form creates poor movement patterns that become the norm. For example, many, many lifters tend to press with their shoulders. At first you can lift more weight this way. But as time goes on and the weights get heavier, impingement issues and rotator cuff problems start to appear. Take a survey at any local gym and I guarantee you’ll find swaths of gym-bros with shoulder issues. But it’s not just pressing — bad form will wreck every part of your body if given the chance. So please take my advice, set yourself up for success and focus on form over weight.
Mistake #4: Not Tracking Protein
This one is super simple — Make sure that you are getting at least .7g to 1g of protein per pound of lean body weight. I say lean because if you’re 5’8” and 250lb, you don’t need 250g of protein everyday. Instead, use your target body weight or an average body weight as a reference. Most average sized guys probably need around 150g of protein a day.
And to be real, if you’re trying to build muscle on a low-protein diet, you’re really just wasting your time. It’s better than nothing, but your body needs an adequate amount of amino acids to build muscle. Start by trying to incorporate simple high protein foods into every meal. Some of my personal favorites are greek yogurt, steak, chicken breast, eggs, and protein powders. There are hundreds of options for good sources of protein. And for my vegan and vegetarian friends, getting enough protein is still possible. But it may require a little more effort. So to sum it up, make sure you’re giving your muscles the fuel they need to grow.
Mistake #5: Comparing Yourself
This is something that plagues beginner lifters and advanced lifters alike. It’s so easy to get caught up comparing yourself to others, especially with the influencers you see online. But weightlifting and fitness is truly a You vs. You game. Unless you plan to get on stage and be a bodybuilder, fitness is a personal journey. Not to mention, many people you see with giant, insane-looking physiques are not exactly ‘natural’, and they’ve probably been lifting for years. If you want to be successful in the gym, turn your attention onto yourself and the gains that you can make. The only person you should be trying to beat is yourself, and that’s how you really get some momentum going.
Mistake #6: Having Too High of Expectations
I saved this one for last, because this is a key component in your ability to remain consistent. Moderate your expectations. You are not going to become a shirtless swimsuit model in two weeks with $100 worth of supplements. Sorry, it’s just not gonna happen. Now, you could become a shirtless model with 3 months of effort and consistency. But don’t expect to be turning heads your first month in the gym. To go back to what I said earlier, the only real goal of your first few weeks in the gym is to build the habit. When you create unrealistic expectations, you will inevitably be disappointed when you can’t achieve them. I’m not saying that getting into supermodel shape is unrealistic, but to think it will happen right away is; I mean it’s truly physically impossible. Bodily processes are bound by time; you can’t lose 25 pounds overnight — you just can’t do it.
But my thing is this: the reality of the situation should make you excited. There are so many things in life that can’t be guaranteed. You could pour 5 years of your life into a business only for it to fail. You can spend 4 years getting a degree for a job that gets taken by AI. But if you spend a few months focused on your physical wellbeing, you are guaranteed to come out a winner.
I’ve always thought it’s so crazy what people will do to impress everyone around them: buy a 100k sports car, a brand new mansion, a 20k piece of jewelry. But how many of those people are willing to buy a $10 Planet Fitness membership and take 3-6 hours out of their week to build their dream body? Very few.
So, monitor your expectations and embrace the power of delayed gratification.
Conclusion
By avoiding these 6 common beginner lifting mistakes, you just might be able to save yourself from learning the hard way. Trust me, these are all mistakes that I made one too many times over the years, and they almost really cost me. So stay focused, be realistic, and whatever you do: don’t stop.
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