It’s January, that time of year is upon us when the gyms are flooded with New Years Resolutioners (NYR). NYR’s are notorious for not knowing what they’re doing and then quitting after a couple weeks for lack of results.
Aside from obvious cases where NYR’s have no idea what they’re doing, here are the most common weight-room follies and a few pieces of advice you can use to distinguish yourself as a man of supreme understanding in the weight training arts.
1) Not touch your chest when you barbell bench press.
If you don’t touch your chest you are not bench pressing, you are partial pressing. Keep it up for partial gains. On a side note, bench partials are an excellent way to supplement your bench routine and build up some strength to handle the big weights. It can be used in addition to your normal benching (touching the chest) routine.
2) Roll your shoulders when you perform shrugs.
Shrugs are performed to build up your traps, when you roll your shoulders you take all the pressure off of the traps. Roll your shoulders for a guaranteed way to waste the maximum amount of time and effort!
3) Do any weight training on a Bosu ball.
I see all the silly personal trainers at the globo-gyms doing this nonsense all the time. It’s no wonder the people they train never change their physique. Lift some real weights with a stable core, squeeze your abs, and you will “activate your core” much better than this stability ball nonsense. I can’t even bring myself to pollute my website with a picture of a stability ball exercise.
4) Do deadlifts for reps with 95 lbs.
Deadlifts are a strength training exercise, unless you have been confined to bed for the past year you should be lifting heavier. I see people doing this all the time at the gym, people who train regularly but they are clearly scared they are going to hurt their back if they use anything above 95 lbs.
Well, they probably will hurt their back at some point because it’s so weak from lack of training. Load up the bar with as much weight as you can handle and lift that mother-trucker off the ground.
5) Using the lightest weight possible.
Next time you are in the gym take a look around. Look at the people doing lightweight work on a Bosu ball, doing light weight in general, and then take a look at the people using heavy weight (heavy is relative to each person, when I say heavy I mean heavy to that person).
You will see a noticeable difference in physique between the people who are lifting close to their max and the people who are farting around with light weight stability exercises. If you’re goal is to look like the people doing the light weight work then go ahead and do it, but if your goal is to look like a man and not a little boy then lift like a man.
