Biggest Mistakes I See

As a Personal Trainer, my job is simple. I give high fives of encouragement, make sure my clients feel supported, and wake up everyday with the goal of changing just one person's perspective on health & fitness.

There's also one other aspect of coaching that is as sure as death and taxes. It's the whole "I can't believe I used to think/do/believe this" part of training. The conversations are often hilarious, and I always join in with my own experience to make sure my clients know they aren't the only ones who believed Skinny Me Tea was a good idea. I really do enjoy laughing with my clients over forgotten beliefs around health and fitness because as I always say, if you don't laugh, you cry.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but when we take a step back from how funny those conversations are, I can't help but think about my client or myself as the person who was desperately searching for a solution to their problem. Instead of finding trustworthy information or an honest coach, they fell victim to a successful marketing campaign which they paid for not just with money but; time, effort, trust, exhaustion and hope. That's the part that breaks my heart. The part where I remember that these hilarious recounts were once desperate efforts to find what worked for them.

I truly want every single person on the planet to understand *fully* how to lose or gain weight, build muscle and take care of their health. So I'm going to share the biggest mistakes I see in trying to change your health, and hopefully reduce your mistake count by just one.

Detoxes and diets

The reason this is number one, is because it's the biggest mistake I see. We’ve all done it. We read a semi believable success story or our dumbass friend preaches all the benefits of their juice cleanse. Without trustworthy information, or a role model, a lot of people fall victim to the vicious cycle that comes in the form of fad diets and detoxes. Whether this is a; juice cleanse, 5:2 diet, Keto, Atkins, 16:8, or carnivore, I promise you it will be a vicious cycle of stopping, starting, seeing minimal results, gaining weight and losing motivation. In my eyes, this is the biggest mistake we make because it tends to have an ongoing effect on our beliefs e.g. always believing carbs are bad, thinking we need to starve to lose weight etc.

Fix: When you're getting advice or reading about a diet, if it preaches the benefits without any basic scientific principle, run. No diet can escape the wrath of research & data. Even better, next time you're searching for the right diet for you, stick to the one you currently have. No diet works better than the one you have now, just with a little more control and awareness. Instead of flipping your life upside down, stick to what you know will work long term which for most people is 3 slices of pizza instead of 8, or 2 glasses of wine instead of 6.

Exercising to burn

This one has to be my biggest pet peeve. Not leaving the gym until you burn a certain number of calories, or only doing a certain type of exercise to burn more. You can't expect to see results from training, because that's not what you're doing. If you were training, you'd be following a plan and wouldn't have the capacity to just add on 3 more exercises to hit your calorie target. Even my friends do it... they're like "I just need to burn 15 more calories and then we can go". My dog has done farts that burn more calories than that. If my sarcasm still doesn't have you convinced to ditch the calorie burning bandwagon, let me remind you that the majority of calories you burn come from resting and incidental exercise. So yeah, I dare you to keep trying to be the person that science doesn't apply to.

This also ties in perfectly with exercising versus training. Exercising is going to the gym and doing a random sequence of exercises. Training is following a program that brings you closer and closer to a specific goal. The longer you go into the gym without a plan and go by calories burnt, the longer it will take to reach your goals. That's a promise.

Fix: Take your damn smart watch off. Train by following a plan, and pushing yourself with every single set. If you get to the end and still think you can add another exercise in, you're not pushing hard enough.

Falling for "Functional”

Ahhh functional training. The special type of training that uses functional methods that you can apply to your everyday life. Can I make a quick point? If the exercise you’re doing is not functional and improves your everyday life, you probably shouldn’t be doing it. So no, F45 is not a special “functional“ training. Bunny hopping over benches and throwing around heavy sandbags is not functional in comparison to weighted lunges that focus on mobility. If you choose F45 because you love the vibes, and feel comfortable then go for it. If you’re choosing a gym and it sticks out because it claims to be functional… you really are getting sucked in by the bare minimum.

My point is, "functional" is an overused word in the fitness industry that really is a marketing ploy to get all the innocent people thinking their training is superior and life changing. All exercise you participate in should benefit your lifestyle.

Fix: If someone preaches functional training, ask what makes their style of training more functional than basic weight training. If you're not the type of person to do that, just start by selecting a gym based on how much you like the environment and staff. Look at their equipment and support, not their marketing.

Thinking cardio is king

Raise your hand if you’ve done cardio every single day to lose weight because weight training will make you bulky. My hand is up. Alright put your hands down. I’m glad we could all be honest with one another. Look, I’m not about to tell you not to do cardio because I’m not anti-heart health. As you may know, your heart does a lot of beating in your lifetime. You’d hate to not take care of it and give your life an early mark. The thing is though… taking care of your heart does not mean rigorous cardiovascular training every single day. By doing weight training you are in fact doing just that. By walking to get your coffee, standing at your desk, running around with your kids and walking the dogs, you’re taking care of your heart.

If you’re looking to lose weight, I urge you to choose a method that will benefit you long term in all aspects. Resistance training will help strengthen your joints, build your muscles (which literally hold you upright) and strengthen your cardiac muscle. Find a balance between the two, and don’t pick one based on calorie burning capacity.

Fix: Find a balance. Choose exercise based on enjoyment, not calorie burning. If your preferred exercise is Pilates, great. If it’s nagging your partner, you do you. Just ensure your muscles are working and you’re active.

More equals better

The biggest difficulty I face with my clients is convincing them to rest. If someone advised me to rest I’d be horizontal for 6 months without an issue. For some reason, so many people struggle to believe that resting is just as important as our training and nutrition. ABBA wouldn’t be without Benny or Bjorn, and your health journey isn’t complete without rest and recovery. Doing high volume training and never taking a break is only hindering your results. More equals better in some circumstances (McDonalds, vodka etc.), but training isn’t one of them. In trying to be the best, you might actually be holding yourself back more than you would expect. Even when you get the rest thing taken care of, you should take care of your training volume too. Your 4 x 12 rep range isn't taking you places, so dial it back and spend some time learning about eliciting a response from your muscles, tension and load.

Fix: Drop the more is better mindset. Take time to learn about the principles of training, it will change your life.

I could write for a week and give a list of 101 mistakes I see. These, in my opinion, have the worst effect. Each of these shapes the way we train, eat and think, often long term. If you believe for a week that more is better and functional training is superior, chances are those opinions will hang around for a very long time.

If you're ready to change your lifestyle and mindset, feel free to message me. We can chat about coaching, or I'm happy to point you in the right direction and give you some advice.

Your coach & friend,

Maddy