The decision to hire a Personal Trainer is not always immediate.
But the eagerness to achieve quick results can often lead to mistakes that, in the end, might cost a lot: injuries, extreme fatigue, and demotivation, leading to an abrupt abandonment of physical activity. If you are taking your first steps in fitness or do not yet have professional guidance, this article is for you. We spoke with Personal Trainer João Vilaça about how to avoid mistakes, suggesting some tips to help you!
“I usually say ‘those who want everything, lose everything’!”
When we started our conversation with João, we asked what the most common mistakes are when someone starts training, and the first point raised was “lack of planning.” He continued: “Often, the lack of planning causes students to start workouts without any organized plan.” From there, it’s like a house of cards, with the “execution of exercises” not being done “correctlyeffectively enough” and leading to injuries, besides the “lack of variabilityunevenly.”
When it comes to weights, beginner athletes also make specific mistakes, so professional advice is necessary. The professional will “analyze each person, because too little weight doesn’t provide the necessary muscle stimulus and too much weight can damage the exercise and cause injuries. We need to increase [weights] gradually, challenging our body but always consciously”, João emphasizes. Poor posture during training and inadequate warm-up also increase injury risk and “muscle imbalances, meaning some muscles may receive excessive stimulus while others are not activated.”
As if that weren’t enough, the psychological effect comes into play, with the athlete feeling a sort of “ambition,” for example, “to want to lift heavy weights without the necessary technique and strength: it impedes the exercise and can also cause injuries.” With this ambition, the term “overtraining” comes into play: “Not giving the body enough time to recover can result in overtraining and reduced gains. I usually say ‘those who want everything, lose everything’!” he stresses.
Therefore, the professional suggests that beginner athletes gradually grasp and apply the technique, because only then “the goal of the exercise is guaranteed, that is, to work the muscle effectively to maximize results and progression,” as well as “reducing the risk of injury and overload in certain body areas.” Additionally, it becomes necessary to “establish a plan where rest days are included (nutrition, hydration, and sleep are important), as well as exercise variation, and to work different muscle groups so they have time to recover,” João describes.
Moreover, the athlete needs to follow a “well-defined training plan,” since “it helps establish clear and specific goals, providing a structured path to achieve them, whether to gain strength, muscle mass, lose weight, or improve endurance.” This contributes to reducing training stagnation, as it fosters “exercise variation” or gradual increases in weight, sets, and repetitions, along with introducing “varied training techniques, such as pyramid training, high-intensity interval training (HIIT), supersets, etc..”
All of this helps prevent the athlete from losing motivation to train: “During training, setting goals, having a fixed schedule, finding a training partner, and varied, fun training plans are details that can help maintain our motivation,” he concludes.
Final considerations
For João, exercise practice, especially when discussing weights, requires professional advice to avoid mistakes that can sometimes unavoidably compromise results.
Therefore, it’s always important to find a qualified professional who can get the most out of each athlete, through the right techniques and the most suitable tools.
The BOOMFIT store is the right partner for that goal: whether you are an athlete or a fitness professional, our store offers more than 350 equipment and accessories in our portfolio, meeting all sector needs. And if you don’t find what you’re looking for, talk to us: our team is ready to help.
Happy training!
