There are always stories about how people act boneheaded when working out. You hear them over and over again, and the same things keep happening. There are stories about using weights that are too heavy, skipping stretching, failure to warm up, etc. When you think about what some people do, you have no choice but to call the really bad mistakes boneheaded, stupid, ignorant… whatever.

Sure, when people do them they might seem real bad, but upon analysis, they are terrible. It’s easy to point fingers when people make a mistake, but the goal is to help people avoid dangerous errors in the gym.

Here are a few of the most significant mistakes I see on a regular basis. 1. Failure to plan. People show up to work out and decide on the fly what to do. This tends to be very ineffective.

2. Doing the same thing over and over again without making them harder.

Eventually, the body acclimates to a certain amount of stress so you have to add weight or repetitions to increase intensity. Muscles get adjusted to a routine and after a while they aren’t even challenged.

So regularly increase the demands you place on your body.

3. Failure to eat properly. What’s the sense of working out if you’re going to keep eating junk food?

Creating a calorie deficit means you need to keep tabs of what you eat as well as what you do so you’ll lose weight.

4. Impatience. People want a great body and they want it now.

5. Inconsistency. You’ve got to keep at your workout and dietary program. Every workout takes you closer to the weight and look you desire.

If you keep pushing yourself, you will develop the discipline you need: after a while working out will come naturally.