8 Lifting Mistakes I Made (That Hopefully You Won’t)

Someone once told me that I should “learn from other peoples’ mistakes.”

Well, I didn’t listen to that person.

Instead I chose to ignore their sound advice and make a bunch of mistakes on my own (what a freakin idiot!).

Below, I’ve listed eight of these mistakes in the hopes that you WON’T do the same thing I did.

I’m hoping that – unlike me – you’ll actually pay attention to my mistakes, learn from them, and avoid them in your own training career.

These aren’t the only mistakes I’ve made (I’ve made a lot); they’re just the first – and arguably worst – ones that popped in to my head.

Without further ado, let’s dig in.

 

Mistake #1: I lifted too heavy (too soon).

I used weights that I wasn’t yet ready to handle (definitely an ego thing), and as a result my form broke down which led me to 1.) Develop overuse injuries, and 2.) Hit plateaus far before I should have reached them (which severely limited progress).

 

What you should do instead –

 Focus on form.

Don’t go up in weight until you’ve achieved a solid foundation of technique.

Lifting heavy weights is cool.

Lifting heavIER weights for a long period of time is even cooler.

 

Mistake #2: I went to failure on every exercise.

Going to failure at times is not a bad thing (especially if your goal is to maximize hypertrophy, or muscle size), but I went to failure on every set of every exercise in every training session.

Not only did I constantly miss lifts – which destroyed my confidence – but I trained myself to be slow (instead of explosive), and I developed an unnecessary level of fatigue that put a serious damper on my day-to-day performance (if you’re not constantly setting new PRs, you’re not making any progress).

 

What you should do instead –

Go to failure every now and again.

Never go to failure on main lifts (unless you have a really good reason for doing so), and make sure that when you do go to failure, it’s with accessory movements a small fraction of the time.

Going to failure is a necessary part of muscle growth.

But – like with anything in life – you can always have too much of a good thing.

 

Mistake #3: I didn’t focus on my back.

I trained my chest and arms.

I trained the muscles I could see in the mirror (that I thought made me look like a badass).

As a result, not only did I NOT look like a badass, but neglecting my back put a limit on how strong I could get and created imbalances that gave me problems for a very long time moving forward.

 

What you should do instead –

Train your back.

Train vertical and horizontal pulling movements as much – if not more – than you train vertical and horizontal pushing movements.

Your back?

It’s the centerpiece of your physique.

And as Powerlifter Brandon Lilly always says, “there’s never been a strong human with a weak back.”

 

Mistake #4: I did too much accessory work.

I would include 6-8 accessory movements per workout (on top of my main lifts).

Not only was that amount of accessory work too much for me to recover from (which limited positive adaptions in each workout), but it made my workouts extremely long which – after awhile – started to drain on my mental energy (i.e. I began dreading my workouts).

 

 What you should do instead –

Choose assistance exercises wisely, and don’t go above 3-4 accessory movements per workout.

Accessory work is important.

But if it takes away from your main lifts – or starts hindering your ability to get bigger and stronger – it needs to be eliminated (or at the very least, adjusted).

 

Mistake #5: I focused on my strengths instead of my weaknesses.

I used to pick exercises, rep ranges, and progression schemes that I liked.

That I was good at.

I was focusing on problems that, at the time, weren’t necessarily problems.

And as a result, I didn’t make any progress.

 

What you should do instead –

Focus on your weaknesses.

Focus on the things you DON’T like doing.

This doesn’t mean you should neglect the things you do like doing (that would be freaking terrible).

But, generally speaking, if you don’t like something, it’s because you’re not good at it.

And it’s the improvement of the stuff you’re NOT good at that generates the best results.

 

Mistake #6: I didn’t do any cardio.

This is mostly because I don’t like cardio (still don’t), and because I thought cardio was a “gainz killer.”

I stopped running, walking, and biking – or doing anything that elevated my heart rate for more than 60 seconds at a time – and as a result, my work capacity and ability to tolerate pain went down the tubes (which had a negative effect on my strength training performance).

 

What you should do instead –

Do some cardio.

Not so much that it takes away from your strength training sessions (your number one priority).

But enough that you don’t have a heart attack every time you go above six repetitions.

 

Mistake #7: I didn’t eat enough food.

I wanted to be a 180 pounder, yet I continued to eat like a 150 pounder.

I didn’t provide my body with the nutrients needed to grow or get stronger, and as a result, I never actually grew or got stronger (at least for awhile).

 

What you should do instead –

Eat.

A lot.

Don’t eat to the point of pure gluttony (and unnecessary fat gain).

But, if you want to grow, you’re going to have to eat.

 

Mistake #8: I didn’t have a good training partner.

This is more of a personal preference thing than it is an actual necessity/mistake, but the power of a good training partner and/or a good training environment cannot be overstated.

Without a training partner, I would half-ass workouts (when I was tired), do only the things I wanted to do, and never really push past my comfort zone (at least not as much as I could).

With a training partner, I crushed workouts (no matter what), spent at least half of my time doing the things I NEEDED to do, and constantly got more comfortable being uncomfortable.

 

What you should do instead –

Find a good training partner.

It may take awhile, and many people will come and go before you finally find someone you connect with (yes, finding a training partner is just like finding a boyfriend or girlfriend).

But when you do, you’ll achieve a level of intensity in your workouts that simply cannot be matched.