It’s not just ‘practice’ that makes a man perfect. ‘Perfect’ practice makes a man perfect. When it comes to fitness, you need to make sure that you don’t take any wrong steps. A single mistake has the potential to significantly decrease the effectiveness of your expected results. Almost everyone works out, but only a few get good results with minimal efforts. They are the ones who know the common fitness mistakes that most people make, and have successfully avoided them.
If you want to be part of this successful fitness ‘elite’, then you can start by learning about these common missteps:

Being a bit too keen: Set realistic goals. Every beginner at the gym thinks that he/she can work out for two hours, 7 days a week. Well, it seems easy but at the completion of one set of pushups , you start losing hope and in a week, you might give up entirely. This situation should be avoided.

Tip to avoid it: You just need to make working out a habit. The process should be like stepping up a staircase. Set easy goals, and proceed towards difficult ones. Once a habit is developed, challenge yourself for more intensive workouts.

Neglecting proper nutrition: Just working out and not paying attention to what you eat won’t help you out. If you really want to stay fit, eating healthy is a must. Working out for an hour a day and then heading for the nearest burger joint is definitely not the way to stay fit.

Tip to avoid it: Make a proper diet plan along with the workout plan. Eat only what’s required. Cut the intake of processed foods and opt for natural ones. You can definitely enjoy fast foods once a week but try reducing the intake of such foods on a weekly basis.

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Be informed: Some people, on getting a fitness tip from someone, start following it blindly – without learning the correct process. This not only reduces the effectiveness of the workout, but may also have a number of adverse effects.

Tip to avoid it: Do a little more research about any tip that you get from any source. This would not only enlighten your fitness knowledge but would also give you the right directions.

Setting generic goals: A problem many beginners face is that they set very generic goals like building strength , stamina, and flexibility. You should aim to make realistic but value-based goals.

Tip to avoid it: While making plans, think in numbers. You can download various applications on your cell phone, which give you workout plans in value. These apps also have the feature to edit the plans manually.

No accountability: If you are doing some kind of exercises or workouts for over a month, you may suddenly feel like taking a break. Just skipping one day of workout. No harm right? Wrong. The problem with this is that just like the workout is a habit, skipping it also becomes a habit. It’s important to hold yourself accountable such that even if you skip, you’ll make up for it in the later sessions.

Tip to avoid it: Never ever break the workout plan once made. Even if you break, just work accordingly to make sure you don’t compromise on fitness. Ask your trainer to make sure that he keeps an account of your workouts.

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Workouts without warmups: Most of the newbies skip the warmups. Warmups are important for the body to get flexible and prepare for intensive workouts. The benefits of warmups are numerous. Warmups are the best way to avoid injuries.

Tip to avoid it: It’s very simple. Don’t skip the warmups. Warmups are as important as your other workouts.

Avoid these common fitness mistakes and take the first step towards becoming a bonafide (and effective) ‘fitness freak’!

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