your training mistakes

[alfresco]

Somebody once said . . ."We learn, when we learn, only
from experience, and then only from our mistakes, our
apparent successes tend only to reinforce our superstitions.”

So now is the time to talk about your training mistakes;
mistakes you made training yourself or others, complete
and total disasters, absolute unequivocal failures.

While this board has a seemingly endless supply very
impressive transformations (and I love seeing and reading
about them, don't get me wrong . . ), I just find stories of
peoples failures, their mistakes, infinitely more interesting
and meaningful than a success story, how everything went
perfectly, never a missed step, and how everybody lived
happily ever after. We all know life is not like that, (well, at
least mine is not like that) so . . . talk about what went
wrong and what you learned from it. We can all laugh or
cry together.

 

[maldorf]

I know for me it was overtraining most of the time and then later on over eating. I did the typical 4 days split, usually 3on 1 off, with a volume of about 9 sets for small parts like arms and about 12 sets for larger muscle groups. Hitting each bodypart just a little more than once/wk. I really didnt get great results.

With the diet I ended up falling into the trap of thinking that I wasnt growing more muscle because I wasnt taking in enough food. I failed to see that other factors were to blame. I increased my food intake and kept it all pretty strict so it wasnt junk food. Think I was usualy taking in between 4-5k cals/day. All I ended up doing was getting fat on too many broiled chicken breasts, oatmeal, rice, etc.

Another thing I was doing bad was not eating enough vegitables. Once I went to Phil for help he set me straight on diet and training. I like his short intense workouts and training the same muscles multiple times in a week. I did much better on that.

 

[Johnny Smiles]

where to begin...

First mistake ever in bodybuilding was trying to do Arnold Schwarzenneggers routine in the Encyclopedia of bodybuiling. i was so sick and beat up after 2 weeks i couldn't look at a weight lol. he is a FREAK to keep up with that volume and frequency.

Next mistake, i did my first show (that i don't even count now lol) WITHOUT seeking advice from a trainer cuz i "was a trainer" and thought i knew it all. the fact is there are people who have dedicated the best part of their lives to this sport (Phil Hernon, Emeric D, etc) and know FAR more than you ever will so hire someone and TRUST them. if it doesn't work out hire someone else, etc...

Oh, forgot the most common mistake i see guys making (and made it when i was younger too) i thought muscles were made in the gym. they of course are NOT. muscle is made from good ole FOOD and as a young guy i should have spent more time studying nutrition than learning all the different ways to hit the delts

i could go on and on but don't want to hog the thread lol.
GREAT thread Alfresco! -JS

 

[maldorf]

First mistake ever in bodybuilding was trying to do Arnold Schwarzenneggers routine in the Encyclopedia of bodybuiling. i was so sick and beat up after 2 weeks i couldn't look at a weight lol. he is a FREAK to keep up with that volume and frequency.

LOL. Yeah, once I tried to do Mike Mentzer's heavy duty training where its all rest pause training and only lasted for maybe 2 weeks. I never realized a human being could get so beat up. I was advanced too at that point and had been training for nearly 20 yrs.

 

[blacksterbmw]

The arnold routine had me totally over trained, lasted several weeks in which i got progressively weaker and started gettin joint pains, the heavy duty system seems to work well, all out for a set - gives me more time to recover

 

[jalsmiley]

wasting my time in the gym killing myself with intensity while at the same time not supplying the nutrients it needed to repair....in english= learning proper diet!

 

[maldorf]

The arnold routine had me totally over trained, lasted several weeks in which i got progressively weaker and started gettin joint pains, the heavy duty system seems to work well, all out for a set - gives me more time to recover

Just dont try the Mentzer version where you pick a weight that you can manage only 1-2 reps for and then do rest pause sets with that. I dont remember the particulars, but it destroyed me in a little over 1 week. I did almost feel though that it was beneficial for me since I only did 1 week of it. Once I recovered I think I was actually stronger. So maybe just do it once in a great while for a short period of time.

 

[almard]

Going to failure in every sets..........I used to felling sick, tired even thought my diet, rest was in point..........

 

[eroc613]

Overtraining, and undereating. And thinking cals are more important than nutrients.

 

[Dave_19]

I would say personally its budgeting time, at the Ideal time in the gym. Their is as an Ideal time to eat pre/post meals around your cardio/weight training. Sometimes for example the only time you have to do cardio is say after training at night. You can either skip it and sacrifice the benefits since you would be more catabolic if followed through.

 

[thebrick]

My single biggest mistake was not listening to my body. Specifically… some years back I was suffering from chronic knee pain. Believing that "pain is weakness leaving the body" I trained through the pain anyway. The end result was tendon ruptures in both knees and being sidelined for 6 months. That got my attention and I realized I had been very stupid.

 

[Golgo13]

...thinking cals are more important than nutrients.

Thats mine.

 

[RESTLESS1]

for me it would be overtraining and under eating......when i wasnt growing from 1 workout a day i went to two....not ever eating enough to grow....i now believe....THE BEST BODIES ARE MADE IN THE KITCHEN....this is a great thread

 

[Lenny]

Biggest mistake - More is not better! Screw that.... better is better, get it done in the gym, go home and get it done right at the dinner table, recover and grow...be patient with your body abilities to grow outside the gym. Training doesn't have to be complicated, it should be challenging and fun without a thousand sets of exercises, you can't force growth by overtraining!

 

[maldorf]

Biggest mistake - More is not better! you can't force growth by overtraining!

Wise words! I would also add that you can't force growth by overeating.

 

[blacksterbmw]

Just dont try the Mentzer version where you pick a weight that you can manage only 1-2 reps for and then do rest pause sets with that. I dont remember the particulars, but it destroyed me in a little over 1 week. I did almost feel though that it was beneficial for me since I only did 1 week of it. Once I recovered I think I was actually stronger. So maybe just do it once in a great while for a short period of time.

I'm still keepin reps in the 8 - 12 range so far so gud. Its only 3 days a week instead of the 4 i was doing so an extra days recovery. When I feel my performance slipping I'll knock it back for a week to make it easier more sets and not to failure.

 

[Dionysusedge]

Not listening to my body.

Training through injuries, training to failure all the time, training while sick, all that stuff does is make the situation worse.

Thats one of those lessons ive learned the hard way.

 

[Johnny Smiles]

Believing magazines...

it's not cell tech lol
i used to change workouts depending on what the "new" wk out was of the month and i wasted many months of training.
the body is not as "smart" as a magazine might want you to believe. train HARD train CONSISTENTLY and EAT right and you will reach goals.
magazines are good for one thing... to sell products and more magazines. -JS

 

[MrPump]

Maybe the most interesting thread I have read in a while.

 

[SIR-LOIN]

My single biggest mistake was not listening to my body. Specifically… some years back I was suffering from chronic knee pain. Believing that "pain is weakness leaving the body" I trained through the pain anyway. The end result was tendon ruptures in both knees and being sidelined for 6 months. That got my attention and I realized I had been very stupid.

I did this very same thing 3 weeks ago, in two full leg casts now after surgery. It really blows. Doc said there was evidene that the tendons had been separating from the bone a little here and there over the years .. and I thought it was just tendontis, advil, heat rubs, ice.... didnt help. They ripped totally off the bone, and I collapsed with 405 lbs straight down. THANK GOD I had the sense to use the safety racks just below parallel or I'd likely be dead now, or a broken neck or back. I realized that it wasn't just tendonitis as I was being hauled out of Gold's gym in an ambulance. Now Ihave 6 months to figure out what to do next... and watch a shytpot full of TV