13 Reasons You Don’t Look Like You Lift
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In this video I’ll quickly take you thru 13 training mistakes you need to stop doing in the gym today so that you can stop “looking like you don’t workout”.
Hey my names Ted I’m an online personal trainer and nutrition coach and I’ve helped tons of people lose fat, build muscle, and turn it into a part of their life without it becoming their life.
So I’ve seen a lot of mistakes both that I’ve made, my clients have made, or other people who DM/Email me asking for help and advice.
Mistake #1 - Changing your program too often
The best way to see results in the gym is to have a realistic plan and set of exercises and then to progress those exercises by mainly adding weight or reps each week.
If you’re following a training plan for 1 or 2 weeks and then changing it what is that doing?
It’s not giving you the time necessary to even have a chance at progressing at those lifts
If you want to see better results stick to the same plan for at least 4 weeks before changing out some of the exercises, even then you don’t have to change the program if you like it and you’re still progressing weekly or bi-weekly and adherence is good.
Even if you change it every 4 weeks you shouldn’t be changing the first 2-3 exercises as those should be your main lifts that have a good capacity for loading for months.
Mistake #2 - not resting AT LEAST 2 mins b/w sets (optimally 3 or upwards of 3-5 for very intense working sets of hack squats)
I use to do this all the time when I was younger.
and you FEEL like you’re working hard but you’re working your cardiovascular system, not your muscles
You’re muscles NEED at least 3 minutes to recover 85/90% of it’s ATP - which is what your muscles use for energy
so when you’re resting 30-90 seconds between sets, you’re not going to be able to even produce enough force to work your muscles with proper intensity
So if you want to look like you lift, rest 2-3 minutes between working sets or upwards of 5 if you need it for those really hard sets on leg day like hack squats or barbell squats
Mistake #3 - Doing cardio to lose the weight or prioritizing cardio over lifting
Shout-out to Jordan Syatt for this analogy.
Doing cardio or any workout to burn calories is like reading a book as fast as you can
the main purpose of reading a book is to educate yourself
the main purpose of weight training is to build muscle
the main purpose of cardio is heart and mental health
if you’re trying to optimize your results and be as efficient as possible you’d be better off tracking calories and protein to ensure you’re in a calorie deficit to lose fat
and then weight train 3-4 times a week to sustain and build more muscle definition.
and then choose a cardio routine that you either enjoy or that you can put up with, whether that be walking, jogging, biking, swimming, skating, jiu jitsu the choices are endless
Mistake #4 - you’re just Getting to the end of the rep range rather than actually working your muscles
Let’s say for example you’re doing a set of Bicep Curls for 10 reps, I know boring but listen
you just go as fast as possible to get to that 10 reps so you can complete your set right, makes sense
But you’re actually missing out on results by not controlling the descent or negative portion of the rep
So when you’re doing a set try this tempo you can say out loud to control the negative for 2-3 seconds
You’re counting to 3 each time but The first number is the rep you’re on so you don’t lose track of how many reps you’ve done already
So it goes 123, 223, 323, 423,523,
Now you won’t be just getting to the end of the rep range rather than actually training your muscles
Mistake #5 - prioritizing intensity before form and mechanics *cheat/ego lifting*
We all know that person in the gym grunting and using 90% momentum and 10% muscle
They always use way too much weight and prioritize the weight rather than form or mechanics
Curls for example
Lets say they’re using 60 pound dumbbells doing alternating standing hammer curls swinging the weight back and forth just feeding their ego
They’d get way better results in a faster time frame if they cut the weight in half or more and actually used their biceps
If you’re someone who uses momentum and you catch yourself doing it in the middle of set heres a tip for you
#1- instead of doing a lot standing exercises try to switch them out for seated or machine exercises where its much harder to use momentum than it is when you’re standing
Prioritize form and mechanics over weight. Once you have the form down then start to increase the weight.
Mistake #6 - Always training in only one rep range
Theres 2 main reasons this will hinder your results
#1-Practicality: Because you wont be able to lateral raise super heavy in the 2-6 rep range with good form and still get close to failure, and only training heavy will have you spending a lot of time in the gym and putting a lot of stress on your joints and CNS. While only training in high rep ranges can lead to metabolic acidosis (Schoenfeld et al. 2017)
#2-Because of science
Training in the 2-6 rep range is best for strength but only training in low rep ranges even if you’re main goal is strength you still want to build muscle and the science says training in a variety of rep ranges is beneficial for this. (Schoenfeld et al. 2017)
Whether your main goal be strength, growth, or aesthetics you will want to train in multiple rep ranges (in fcpx: 3-6, 6-8, 8-12, 12-15, 15-20+) from 2 reps to 20+ and while in any of them just make sure you’re training close to failure so at the end of set you can honestly say to yourself “theres no way I could’ve gotten more than 2, 3, or 4 more reps.
Mistake #7 - Doing crazy warm-up routines because you think you need to
Are you doing crazy foam rolling, static stretching, then going on a run before you lift?
But seriously if you have a warm-up routine that you like already thats great, im not telling you you’re wrong right now, keep doing it if you want
But also, give this warm up a try...
If you’re cold or too tired to start go on a short walk and then go to wherever your first exercise is, get set up and start warming up for your first working set
For the first exercise you might need 2-4 warm up sets but then every exercise after that you might only need 1-2 warm up sets
This makes your warm up specific to your work up, and it couldn’t be better than that
Heres an example the other day i had squats then leg extensions after I did 3 warm up sets for squats with 90s rest inbetween and then 3 minutes rest before my first working set.
Then when i went to leg extension I did one warm up set and felt ready for my working set so i waited 3 mins and did my working set
Again if you have something you enjoy right now thats cool, give this a try and let me know what you think
Mistake #8 - Trying to weight train 6-7 days per week *volume* *and no rest*
This is especially aimed at all the beginners in my DMs sending me they’re training programs and asking if its good
And it consists of training heavily 6-7 days per week doing 20+ sets per muscle group per week
This will increase your joint and CNS fatigue which will increase your chances of overtraining
You’re also getting almost no recovery which is vital to results
Before trying to do something like this start with 3-5 days per week
Doing 6-10 sets per muscle group per week
Training close to(within 3-4 reps) or all the way to failure
The goal is to be in the gym getting results and progressing doing the smallest amount of work needed to do so
That way when you finally reach a point where you’re no longer seeing results you actually have room to add more.
Mistake #9 - Only doing random IG, tiktok, or youtube workouts
If you’re at this stage im stoked that these help you workout and get movement in but at some point you need to switch to more traditional weight training
Whether you’re using IG workouts, tiktok routines, or youtube workouts like chloe ting they’re not going to be effective for 2 reasons:
#1 - if they’re anything like this video you’re seeing right now from tiktok they’re not going to put any tension on the muscle and without that you’ll get 0 results.
#2 - A lot of people like to post circuits and workouts which is great if that helps you get started like i said a the start but if you want the best results possible it comes down to doing the same exercises for 4-12+ weeks while progressing them every 1-2 weeks with more weight or reps *in text FCPX: yes theres more ways to progress than this but these are the main forms*
How to solve this?
Hire a trainer to write you workout programs or go find a free one online from a respectable source that isnt different evertime.
Mistake #10 - Doing HIIT Classes or Group Fitness classes to lose fat and build muscle
Orange theory & F45 are popular where I live.
Now, is this great for overall health? yes.
Is this a supportive and positive place for people to start their fitness journey? yes again.
Is this what will get you to your goal?
This is what matters, so listen before getting triggered please.
If your goal is to lose fat and build muscle definition, and do it efficently.
This is a bad choice.
The same answer from mistake #3:
if you’re trying to optimize your results and be as efficient as possible you’d be better off tracking calories and protein to ensure you’re in a calorie deficit to lose fat
and then weight train 3-5 times a week to sustain and build more muscle definition.
and then choose a cardio routine that you either enjoy or that you can put up with, whether that be walking, jogging, biking, swimming, skating, jiu jitsu the choices are endless
Let me know if you want a separate video on why this is a bad choice for optimizing efficiently in your results because I know some people do these bootcamps and classes because they like the community and overall health benefits and I’m not speaking to those people right now
Mistake #11 - you believe the best cardio is the most intense one that has you dying, so you give up after a short period of time when the motivation fades
Is this you?
You only do crazy HIIT cardio classes, bootcamps, run for miles, then when the motivation fades you stop doing cardio all together because its too intense to will power thru it?
This used to be me when i was 17 with running
If this is your current problem theres such an easy solution
Walking or biking
Both of these are effective forms of cardio and very sustainable
When motivation starts to dip its pretty easy to just stand up and go for a walk rather a 3 mile run
you can also watch movies, or tv shows, youtube, or listen to podcasts while you walk or bike
Which is a reward for exercising, which is good for your consistency
Mistake #12 - choosing to lose the weight first AND THEN you’ll start lifting or exercising, HUGE mistake….
I’ve had people comment and DM me this several times…
This is a massive mistake
Why start AFTER you lose weight when weight training will help you a heap ton to lose that weight for 3 reasons
#1 - You’ll build muscle during your entire weight loss phase which will not only increase your metabolism but also make you look and feel better at the end, youll also be much stronger too.
#2 - You’ll develop the habit of going to the gym 3-4 times a week during your journey which is an amazing habit to build and everyday you go the habit will get stronger.
#3 - You’ll burn calories in all of those session and although thats never the goal during a weight training session think of the accumulated calories burned thru lifting over a 6-9+ month weight loss journey
Theres may more than that but those 3 should make you at least reconsider trying to lose the weight before starting weight training
Mistake #13 - not hitting subscribe down below. but seriously if this was helpful and you’d like more no BS practical help hit subscribe down below and I’ll talk to you soon.
Thank you for reading or watching!
I hope this has helped you and if it has…
Please let me know via email! tedgormanpt@gmail.com
Also, if you have any questions about what we talked about today…
Email me, I’d love to answer your questions and give you some advice 🤝
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Talk soon,
-Ted :)
