8 Common Home Workout Mistakes to Avoid While in Quarantine

Via: Men's Health Magazine

Athlean-X's Jeff Cavaliere breaks down the errors that could be affecting your gains at home.

Stop Focusing on What You Don't Have to Train 

You don't need a fully-equipped home gym to keep the gains coming, says Cavaliere—all you have to do is take advantage of the stuff around you. Countertops, tables, staircases, doorways can provide adequate alternatives to equipment when you're working out in quarantine. Similarly, Cavaliere points out that often, when training at home without equipment, some people tend to overcompensate by attempting exercises that are beyond their current level of ability. Rather than pushing for difficulty, simply focusing on achieving the correct form in moves like the pushup will be a lot more productive for building muscle.

Mistake: Neglecting the Posterior Chain in Your Home Training 

All too often, home workouts refrain from sufficiently training the back, and the aforementioned absence of equipment makes this a bigger problem. "Your back is one of the biggest areas in your entire body, and it needs a great deal of attention," says Cavaliere. "Forgetting to train it just because you don't have the obvious options at your disposal doesn't make it acceptable." While you're likelier to do pullups, rows, or pulldowns when you stumble across the equipment in a gym, it's far too easy for those moves to slip your mind at home when you don't have access to the same equipment. But overlooking the smaller muscles in your back can lead to all kinds of problems with your posture—especially if you're spending a ton of time sitting—as only training your front creates a muscle imbalance.

Mistake: Using Fixed Rep Counts to Work Out 

Following a prescriptive approach to programming (i.e. setting a certain number of sets of reps) isn't particularly useful, says Cavaliere, as each individual has differing levels of ability, and you won't necessarily be taking yourself to the limit required to create real gains. "Instead of fixed rep counts, focus more on training to failure on this specific day," he advises. "Because that can actually vary from day to day. If you take failure as your guideline, you're basically providing yourself with a number that's actually accurate when it comes to creating overload." If you do want to keep using fixed rep counts, then Cavaliere recommends training to failure or adding a time limit to your workout.

Mistake: Forgetting to Include Variety in Your Workouts 

"Exercise variety is what actually creates the overload, because it applies a different stress to your body," says Cavaliere. Using the example of the pushup again, he demonstrates how performing different variations of a single move can have different effects on the body. Additionally, simply repeating the same workouts over and over again will lead to diminishing returns, as there is no progression: mixing up your moves, adjusting your rest times, and adding time limits to sets are all ways to keep adding that stimulus in the muscles.

Mistake: Prioritizing Cardio Over Strength Workouts 

A lot of the time, home workouts consist almost entirely of cardio moves rather than strength moves. And while cardio moves have their place, Cavaliere believes they should be confined to your conditioning workout if what you're looking for is muscle growth. "If you want to build muscle, you need to focus less on cardio moves," he says. "It becomes more of a HIIT effect than a strength-building effect." The most effective way to build strength at home is by doing exercises which create muscle fatigue within seconds, rather than minutes.

Mistake: You Don't Make Training a Part of Your Daily Routine 

For many, going to the gym is simply a part of their daily schedule, something they do on their way to or from work. For others, training with a workout buddy adds a social element, along with a sense of accountability. All of these things have fallen by the wayside since we began self-isolating, and we've lost that accountability.It's more important than ever to carve out a set time for exercise in your day-to-day, and stick to it. Not only will you feel the physical benefits from keeping up with your workouts, but it can bring some much-needed structure to days which, lets be honest, are starting to blur together.

Mistake: Picking the Wrong Room 

Cavaliere advises that you avoid the most comfortable room in your house. You might be too easily distracted if you're surrounded by your comfortable couch and TV, and that's a recipe for skipped sessions. Apartment dwellers—best of luck in your small spaces. Try creating a dedicated space for your training to get into the right mindset.

Mistake: Repeating the Same Workout Again and Again 

If you do the same thing over and over, you eliminate progression. Once you eliminate progression, you eliminate your chances to improve and advance to challenge your muscles in new ways to challenge your muscles to stimulate growth.

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4 Must to Follow Rules to Wear A Tank Top

Is it really a time to show off some of your gains? But, do you feel so shy to take off your shirt? Well, there is another solution to this shyness, wear a tank top! Wearing a workout tank top in the gym to look directly at your gains while exercising is actually exciting. However, you need to be very careful while wearing a tank top as there is a fine line between great and gross when you wear it, especially outside the gym. Here are 4 must to follow rules that you must learn to wear a tank top to avoid being weird when you move around.

1. It Should Be Well-Fitted but Not Like A T-Shirt 

The rule of wearing a tank top is just the same as a t-shirt, it should be well-fitted. However, it makes you look worse if it is too small or too large for you. Imagine a big size tank top which reveals more than the actual need, does not it look weird? The tank top is already showing off a lot, so don’t reveal more of you with an inappropriate size. If you feel comfortable, only then you can look confident wearing it. In the gym, wear a little more fitted tank top to reveal your gains. It motivates you when your body is pumped. A good workout shirt does the same but a tank top adds a little more spice to it.

2. Choose Colors Decently 

Remember, a tank top is not a t-shirt so don’t apply the same sense on it. Tank top should not be of vivid colors, having gym quotes in weird font, or too much of images. It should be of nice smooth colors, as it does not have much cloth on it to adjust big texts. The minimal fabric is already a casual style, so don’t overdo style by wearing those that have traditional big texts on them. It is suggested to wear strips, simple patterns, a single small sign or image like a leave, etc.

3. Trim Your Chest Hair 

Due to the style of tank top, most of the part of the upper chest from the middle reveals when you wear it. Needless to say, along with the chest muscles, your chest hair also reveals. Well, it is totally in your control to manage the amount of hair you have on your chest. If you want to reveal your body, don’t make it weird for everyone. The tank top is supposed to be cool and don’t spoil your look with a layer of thick fur on your chest. It’s totally your choice to trim your chest hair to a level where they just make you look hot or otherwise simply clean it all. There are multiple choices for removing your chest hair such as using a trimmer, razor, wax strips, body hair removing creams, or a laser for a permanent solution. Don’t Wear It Everywhere Alright, it’s pretty clear that it is totally your choice what to wear but do a favor to the society and follow this rule.

4. Don’t wear it everywhere! 

If you have worked hard in the gym, don’t put everyone in a weird situation by showing off your gains every time everywhere. It’s weird when you go for grocery shopping wearing a tank top. Common on! There are so many people there who are not interested to look at your body at all. Wear it in the gym, a pool party, or at a beach. Wear it where people actually appreciate you for wearing it and consider you a smart and hot guy.

5 Best Tips to Reduce Weight When Injured

The biggest disappointment that anybody can face while following a regular exercising routine is to get injured. I remember the last time I got hit by a car while I was on a motorbike, I kept thinking about the loss of exercise routine rather than my bones that were supposed to be broken in the next second. But you know what, nothing can stop you from being fit if you actually want it. Don’t stop exercising, but rather change the way you exercise. So, get up, wear your workout clothes, and start working out to burn your fat. Here are some very useful tips that can help you to keep losing your weight even if you get injured during your journey towards a fitness goal.

1. Walk and Run 

If you were habitual of running for a cardio session, which of course you cannot do now due to the recent injury, try to keep the same form of cardio with a change in it. Try to run for 5 minutes no matter how slow you may run because of your injury then quickly start walking for 10 minutes. This will make one cycle of 15 minutes. Initially, start with one cycle and if you feel that you are doing fine even with your injury then add in another cycle to do it for 30 minutes in total. So, stop being worried if you got an injury, wear your workout jogger pants and keep going to the park as before.

2. Use Smaller Plates and Smaller Portions 

As you are injured and instantly you have to shift from a high impact exercise to a low impact exercise, make sure you control your diet strictly. Moreover, your overall activity level also reduces because of injury so you tend to burn fewer calories than before. The solution is to control your diet and for that use smaller servings of food multiple times a day using smaller plates. When you add a smaller serving on a smaller plate, you will have a sense of fulfillment that you’re having a full plate. This tip will satisfy your hunger and you won’t be worried about eating less.

3. Eat More Protein 

It is recommended to add more protein in your diet especially when you are injured. Firstly, it helps to recover your body particularly if you have an injury in the muscle. Secondly, it reduces hunger, as it affects hormones including ghrelin which is responsible for controlling hunger. Moreover, your body exerts more energy to digest protein and to convert it into amino acids, so this way your body automatically burns more calories when you eat protein.

4. Try Pool Running 

Jogging in the water can be fun with no harm to the injured part of your body. Swimming is a high resistant exercise and extremely helpful in losing fat even if you are injured. Pool running involves the same muscles in the activity as in running and hence giving the same kind of benefits to you. So, this is the best replacement of running when you’re injured. It is simply one of the best cardio forms of workout to lose fat.

5. Eat Foods Having Fiber 

Fiber is the complex form of carbohydrates and the body puts more energy and takes more time to digest it. It has less sugar and fat content in it hence it helps to reduce more weight. Whole wheat, brown rice, and bran are the common forms of fiber-rich foods. You will feel more energetic when you replace fiber with white carbohydrates in your diet and even with a smaller quantity, it gives you a sense of fulfillment.

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