5 Fitness Mistakes Made as a Beginner

Summary

In this fitness journey reflection, the speaker shares five key lessons they wish they had known at the start. They emphasize the importance of structuring workouts, maintaining proper form, taking rest days, not demonizing food, and setting clear fitness goals. The speaker candidly discusses their struggles with an eating disorder and the necessity of treating food as fuel rather than an adversary. They encourage viewers to learn from their experiences, experiment with different approaches, and remember that everyone's fitness journey is unique.

Takeaways

• 🏋️‍♀️ **Structured Workouts**: Starting with unstructured workouts can be limiting; it's beneficial to have a structured routine like push pull legs.
• 📊 **Tracking Progress**: Not tracking workouts, food, or weights can hinder progress; it's important to monitor these to see improvements.
• 🔥 **Intensity Over Quantity**: Merely going through the motions without intensity doesn't yield results; focus on challenging yourself during workouts.
• 🧠 **Form Over Weight**: As a beginner, prioritize learning correct form over lifting heavier weights to prevent injuries.
• 💤 **Rest is Essential**: Adequate sleep and rest days are crucial for recovery and should not be overlooked.
• 🍽️ **Food is Fuel**: Viewing food as an enemy can be detrimental; it's important to understand that food is necessary for energy and recovery.
• 🚫 **Avoid Extreme Restrictions**: Severe calorie restriction can lead to eating disorders and binge eating; aim for a balanced approach.
• 📉 **Consistent Goals**: Constantly changing fitness goals can prevent achievement; set clear, achievable goals and stick to them.
• 🌱 **Gradual Changes**: When starting fitness, it's wise to make gradual changes rather than overhauling everything at once.
• 📈 **Long-term Focus**: Patience is key in fitness; don't expect drastic changes overnight and avoid frequent goal shifts.

Q & A

What is the main topic of the video transcript?

The main topic of the video transcript is the speaker's reflection on five things they wish they had done differently at the beginning of their fitness journey.

What does the speaker mean by 'not winging it so much'?

The speaker means that they wish they had structured their workouts more instead of doing unstructured, full-body workouts every time they exercised.

Why does the speaker believe tracking workouts is important?

The speaker believes tracking workouts is important to monitor progress, ensure intensity, and avoid just going through the motions without improving.

What is 'technical failure' in the context of the speaker's fitness advice?

In the context of the speaker's fitness advice, 'technical failure' refers to the point in a workout where you can no longer perform an exercise with proper form, ensuring safety and effectiveness of the exercise.

Why does the speaker emphasize the importance of rest?

The speaker emphasizes the importance of rest because it includes both sleep and rest days, which are crucial for recovery and preventing overtraining.

What is the speaker's opinion on the concept of 'Active Rest Days'?

The speaker believes in the concept of 'Active Rest Days' where one engages in light activities like walking or biking, which are restful yet keep the body active.

Why does the speaker advise against viewing food as an enemy?

The speaker advises against viewing food as an enemy because it can lead to an unhealthy relationship with food, eating disorders, and counterproductive behaviors like binge eating.

What is the speaker's stance on the idea of 'I'm just going to work out so hard, it doesn't matter what I eat'?

The speaker disagrees with the idea of neglecting diet in favor of intense workouts, arguing that proper nutrition is essential for workout effectiveness and overall health.

Why does the speaker suggest not changing fitness goals too frequently?

The speaker suggests not changing fitness goals too frequently because it can lead to a lack of progress as the efforts may counteract each other, and it's important to give the body time to adapt and show results.

What advice does the speaker give for those who are new to fitness and feel overwhelmed?

The speaker advises new individuals to fitness to focus on making small changes and to change one thing at a time, such as starting with a workout routine while maintaining their current diet.

What does the speaker mean by 'experiment a little' at the end of the transcript?

The speaker encourages 'experimenting a little' to mean trying out different workout routines, diets, and schedules to find what works best for an individual's unique needs and preferences.

Outlines

00:00

💪 The Importance of Structured Fitness

The speaker begins by sharing five fitness journey regrets. They emphasize the importance of having a structured workout routine instead of unstructured ones. They admit to not tracking their progress, food, or weights, which they now believe was a mistake. They suggest a push-pull-legs routine but acknowledge that full-body workouts might work for some people. They also discuss the importance of workout intensity and form, cautioning against going through the motions without proper technique.

05:02

😴 Prioritizing Rest and Recovery

The speaker highlights the importance of rest, including adequate sleep and rest days, for workout recovery. They mention that active rest days, like walking or biking, can be beneficial. They also discuss the significance of rest times within workouts for progressive overload and achieving goals like hypertrophy. The speaker warns against underestimating the role of rest, both in and out of workouts, for overall health and fitness progress.

10:06

🥗 Rethinking the Relationship with Food

The speaker shares their regret of viewing food as an enemy, which led to an eating disorder and binge eating. They discuss the negative impact of extreme calorie restriction on both physical and mental health. The speaker advocates for a balanced approach to food as fuel, suggesting that proper nutrition is essential for effective workouts and overall well-being. They advise against ignoring the dietary aspect of fitness and recommend making gradual changes to one's diet.

🎯 Setting and Sticking to Fitness Goals

The speaker talks about the importance of setting clear fitness goals and not changing them too frequently. They mention the common mistake of alternating between cutting and bulking too quickly, which can hinder progress. The speaker advises against focusing on short-term results and encourages patience, as significant changes take time. They also share their own struggles with this aspect of fitness, emphasizing that it's a learning journey.

Keywords

💡Structured workouts

Structured workouts refer to a planned and organized approach to exercise, where each session has a specific purpose and sequence of exercises. In the video, the speaker reflects on their initial lack of structure in their fitness routine, doing full-body workouts without a clear plan. They later adopted a 'push pull legs' routine, which is a structured way to train different muscle groups on different days, allowing for more focused and effective workouts.

💡Tracking

Tracking in the context of fitness refers to the process of monitoring one's exercise performance, including the weights lifted, number of repetitions, and sets. The speaker mentions that they did not track their workouts, food intake, or weights, which made it difficult to assess their progress or make adjustments to their routine. Tracking is important for setting goals, ensuring progress, and avoiding plateaus.

💡Intensity

Intensity in a workout refers to the effort put into each exercise, often measured by the weight lifted, speed, or how close one pushes themselves to failure. The speaker regrets not focusing on intensity, merely going through the motions without challenging themselves. This lack of intensity can lead to suboptimal results, as the body adapts to the level of effort exerted.

💡Rest

Rest in fitness encompasses both active recovery and complete rest days, which are crucial for muscle recovery and growth. The speaker emphasizes the importance of adequate sleep and taking rest days to avoid overtraining. They also discuss the concept of rest within workouts, referring to the time between sets, which is necessary for heart rate recovery and ensuring subsequent sets are performed with proper form and intensity.

💡Technical failure

Technical failure is a term used to describe the point at which one can no longer perform an exercise with correct form, even with lighter weight. The speaker advises against pushing to failure where form breaks down, as it can lead to injury. Instead, they recommend stopping at technical failure to maintain safety and effectiveness in training.

💡Calorie deficit

A calorie deficit occurs when an individual consumes fewer calories than they burn, typically resulting in weight loss. The speaker discusses their past approach of extreme calorie restriction to lose weight, which led to an eating disorder and binge eating. This keyword is central to understanding the video's message about the importance of a balanced approach to diet and exercise.

💡Eating disorder

An eating disorder is a serious mental health condition characterized by abnormal eating habits that negatively impact a person's physical health. The speaker shares their personal experience with an eating disorder resulting from extreme calorie restriction, highlighting the potential dangers of an unhealthy relationship with food and the importance of a balanced approach to nutrition.

💡Progressive overload

Progressive overload is a principle in strength training where the stress placed on the body during exercise is gradually increased over time to promote muscle growth and strength gains. The speaker mentions using rest times between sets as a form of progressive overload, adjusting the intensity of their workouts to continually challenge their muscles and improve their fitness.

💡Food as fuel

In the context of fitness, food as fuel refers to the idea that the body requires proper nutrition to perform at its best during workouts and recover afterward. The speaker talks about the importance of eating before workouts to provide the necessary energy and prevent performance decline.

💡Goals

Setting fitness goals is essential for staying motivated and tracking progress. The speaker discusses the importance of having clear, realistic goals and not changing them too frequently, which can lead to a lack of direction and hinder progress. They also mention the pitfalls of focusing too much on short-term results and the value of patience in achieving long-term fitness objectives.

Highlights

The speaker wishes they had structured their workouts from the beginning instead of doing unstructured full-body workouts.

They regret not tracking their workouts, food, and weights, which would have helped them see their progress.

The speaker prefers a push pull legs routine now, but acknowledges that different routines work for different people.

They advise against just going through the motions during workouts without focusing on intensity.

The importance of not neglecting form even when aiming for intensity is emphasized.

The speaker wishes they had taken rest more seriously, including sleep and rest days.

Active Rest Days are suggested as a way to stay active without intense workouts.

The necessity of rest times within workouts for recovery and progressive overload is discussed.

The speaker regrets seeing food as an enemy and the negative impact it had on their health and fitness journey.

They discuss the importance of eating enough and not restricting calories to the point of binge eating.

The speaker advises on the importance of having clear fitness goals and not changing them too frequently.

They share their personal struggle with not having clear goals and the impact on their fitness progress.

The speaker encourages viewers to experiment and find what works best for them, as everyone's fitness journey is different.

They remind viewers not to get all their information from one source and to consider their own experiences.

The speaker reassures viewers that making mistakes is part of the journey and they can still achieve their goals.

They conclude by encouraging viewers to like, subscribe, and share their own fitness journey experiences.

Transcripts

Hello. Welcome.

Today, we're going to be talking about five things that I wish

I had done differently at the beginning of my fitness journey.

Disclaimer: These are my experiences

and my life

my life, my rules.

If you don't relate to these things, that is amazing for you, okay?

But I know that if I relate to these things, somebody else does too.

Because there's nothing new under the sun.

I know that somebody else has gone through what I went through.

So let's get right into it.

Number one, first thing I wish that I had done differently,

not winging it so much.

What I mean by that, is completely unstructured workouts.

I know it's pretty hard when you're at the beginning of your fitness journey

to know how to structure a workout routine.

What I did for a very long time

was just go in

basically do a full body workout every single time,

which there's nothing wrong with.

Like for some people that is actually better to do a full body workout.

For me personally, I wish I had not done that.

I don't think it was that great.

Also, I wasn't aware of how much I was lifting.

I was just kind of like lifting ??? every time.

No tracking whatsoever.

Wasn't tracking food, wasn't tracking weights, wasn't tracking workouts,

wasn't tracking anything.

So I wish maybe I had a little bit more structure.

Personally, now I like a push pull legs routine.

That's not the only one that exists.

That's not the best one. There is no best one.

Honestly, the full body workout might be what works for you.

It wasn't for me.

All right, thing number two,

just going through the motions kind of aligns with the last one

where I wasn't really paying attention to anything, just going through the motions.

What I mean by that is during your workouts, the intensity is questionable.

I see that actually a lot of people doing this

where they get this idea that they just need to meet

this certain rep requirement and they just meet it and that's it.

And maybe it's not actually that challenging.

They're just like, All right, I got three sets of ten.

That's all I need

now I'm going to be bossing it out.

That's not really the way it works.

All right. You need some intensity.

So I wish I hadn't just gone through the motions

and tying in with the last point, I really wasn't tracking anything.

So there was no way for me to know, like

if I was actually getting better

sometimes still I don't track that closely,

but I can literally just remember what I did last time because it was like two days ago.

So if you can do that, that's awesome.

But another thing with that, just going through the motions

is for some beginner beginners,

that actually might be quite important

because I've also seen a number of people go into the gym.

They know that they need to be intense.

They're going for that intensity.

They're upping the weights, but their form is extremely questionable.

And I'm like, Ooh

to a certain degree, you do just need to go through the motions

as a beginner

up until you can get the right form and body awareness.

Please do not move up in weight

if your form is questionable.

So you should be like "going till failure"

You're going to a technical failure, which means your form is still there.

Pretty much like you're not going to get hurt, you're not going to hurt yourself.

Your form is safe, but you can't get more reps with good form if that makes sense.

That's technical failure.

So that's what you want to do

once you're ready, once your form is there.

I wish I'd done that. I didn't really do that.

I just went through the motions and sometimes my form was questionable.

There was like a while. I didn't know what I was doing.

That's okay.

Look at me

That is okay.

Okay.

Third thing I wish that I had done differently,

taken rest more seriously

and this goes into a lot of facets.

So sleeping rest, very important.

7 to 9 hours.

You people getting like 3-4 hours and being like,

I'm built different.

No you're not.

No, you are not. You are built hurting yourself.

You're hurting your brain.

Actually, you might be built different.

I heard that there's like .0001% of people

who can survive on like 2 hours of sleep

if that's you,

I don't believe you. I don't.

But who cares if I believe you or not, you know?

the normal, the average person

me included: 7 to 9 hours is ideal.

So that's what I would be going for

another form of rest: rest days.

I used to not really take that into consideration at all.

I would work out six or seven days a week and not rest.

So there is something called Active Rest Days, which is like you're

still doing something, but it's not really like... BAHH... like a workout

For that I would usually go for a walk, go for a bike ride, go for a hike,

roll around in my room, having an existential crisis.

Just kidding on that one.

uhm. But yeah.

So, like, you're still doing something,

but it's restful, it's restful.

The rest days doesn't really apply to everybody.

It kind of depends how intense your workouts are

because some people can workout seven days a week,

but it's because the workouts they're doing really aren't

that strenuous, so they don't need very much time to recover.

But if you'd be working out the way that I try to workout now,

which is like, BAHHH

you know, I'm like, AHHH

that's how I'm working out.

You need at least a couple of days to recover.

Finally rest within the workout.

So rest times.

And this can actually be used for a form of progressive overload.

And how much your resting again, kind of does depend on your goals.

Some people are working out like an athlete,

whatever that means.

But for somebody like me, who is kind of going more for hypertrophy,

muscle building/strength

at the moment,

usually between 1.5 and 3 minutes is good for me.

But you should be.

Sorry. That was crazy.

My camera overheated, so I had a protein bar in the meantime.

Okay, back to what we were talking about.

Rest times

So what you're aiming for, or at least what I wish

I had kind of been more aware of resting up until my heart rate recovers.

So what are you doing, Ricardio?

Are you evil?

or nice with an evil face?

That's none of your business

if that makes sense.

So that it's not beating like crazy. And I'm like, about to have a heart attack,

and I'm like, let's go round two, you know?

And then I get into the next set

wish I hadn't really done that

low key, that's like one of the lesser regrets

out of everything else that I wish I'd done differently.

That one's like, eh, you know, eh.

Alright. Number four thing that I wish that I had done differently,

aside from just fitness, I wish that I had done this differently

in my life in general because low key, it definitely ruined my life

for quite a few years and probably took some off the end of it.

So is what it is

irreparable damage.

Let's go.

Anyway, it's seeing food as your enemy.

So when I first started out, my goal

was to basically get as skinny as possible.

And there was a couple problems with that.

One: that is just not my body type.

I was aiming for a body type that I quite frankly,

was not born to have, I think, in a healthy way.

And also I really did like working out,

so I couldn't really work out the way that I wanted to and look the way that I wanted to.

These two things were not in line.

I couldn't have both, but I wanted both.

And so I knew at the time a little bit misled by myself.

It was the blind leading the blind, and I was the leader and the follower.

I knew that to lose weight you need to be in a calorie deficit.

However, I kind of looked at that and I was like, "well, less is more.

If I have nothing, then I don't have to worry about tracking anything.

I'll just have as little as possible."

That was a disaster for multiple reasons.

Number one, I got an eating disorder.

Reason number two, the hyper restriction

and this happens to a lot of people

can lead to bingeing.

So that is very counterproductive.

Also, it's very mentally and physically taxing.

You don't want to do that.

So don't restrict so much that you lead yourself into a binge

because probably that will happen to you.

And don't beat yourself up for it.

Don't beat yourself up for it. Okay?

It happens to the best of us, but there are ways to prevent that

like not being in such a giant calorie deficit.

All right. That'll help you not binge.

My camera overheated again.

Okay.

Where we left off

seeing food as the enemy.

How I did. And just, like, not eating at all.

Not only did my entire relationship with food suffer

like my whole life was suffering,

my workouts suffered.

Also

even if you're not working out,

you need food just for your heart to beat and your brain to brain,

believe it or not.

So now also food is fuel, whatever.

I like to try to have a meal like an hour before

or a snack like 30 minutes before a workout, preferably with carbs and maybe some protein.

Just to fuel my workout.

The workout will be better, you'll feel stronger, you'll lift more.

You just need food. Okay, that's the end of the story.

Along those same lines, this one didn't really apply to me, but I know that it

does apply to a lot of people because I see it all the time.

Ignoring the food aspect completely,

I usually recommend to a lot of beginners if you think that you're going to get overwhelmed

changing like every aspect of your life super quickly, to just

focus on making small changes or change one thing at a time.

So if you want to start by just going to the gym

and maybe eat the way you were already eating before,

and then once you get into the habit of going to the gym,

take a look at your diet and decide like, how can I improve this?

That's a really good way to go about it.

But I hear a lot of people say, "I'm just going to work out so hard

It doesn't matter what I eat

and I'm going to eat like poop every...

eat like not good every day. And it won't really matter because I'm working out so hard."

A lot of people say you can't outwork a bad diet, and I second that.

But even if you could technically outwork a bad diet, why would you want to?

just eat a little bit better and then your workouts will improve

You'll feel better.

So, yeah.

And finally: I actually still struggle with this all the frickin time.

So maybe this is some advice

I need to....

oh my god there's a cat in the street

you can't see it.

So maybe this is some advice I need to take also,

but having no goals.

I think this is also something that applies to all of life.

But for fitness specifically, having no goals/changing up your goals

too quickly will lead you to never reach them

or also hyper focusing on the short term.

So this might look like.

You wake up on Monday and you're like, okay, I'm going to get shredded.

It's time to cut.

And then you're four days into your cut

and you're like, "Oh no, I want to get big, I want to bulk."

So then you start bulking.

That is not enough time to do anything.

You need at least like a couple of months to start seeing changes

in any one direction.

Pretty much

like actual changes

At least for me

changing up your goals too quickly will lead you

nowhere

it'll lead you to pretty much just stay where you are

if the goals are counteracting each other.

And I think what helps with that is not hyper focusing on the super short term.

Don't be weighing yourself every single day.

Don't be taking body measurements every single day.

Don't be, you know,

if you look at yourself every single day,

the changes are happening so slow you probably won't see them happening.

So what you need to do is give yourself time.

Okay, so those are my five things

that I wish I had done differently

or could wrap my little pea brain around now.

But I still struggle.

Again though, I mean, I made a ton of

"mistakes"

throughout my experience doing fitness.

I would just like to let you know that

if you feel like you're making a bunch of mistakes,

You're fine, dude, honestly

there was a period of years

where I ate maybe ten grams of protein a day and worked out every single day

and was going crazy.

That was not good for me.

I still, I mean, look at me now.

You know, I made all these mistakes, and.

I turned out fine.

I turned out ... okay

It's a journey, so you have time.

And if none of these things apply to you or if you don't care and like, you, like,

taking no rest days, like, whatever you like doing

that's also fine.

This is just my experience

I'd recommend you don't get all of your information from one source,

and that includes me.

Because what works for me might not work for you,

might not work for your neighbor, might not work for the next person.

you know, experiment a little

experiment!

Get out there and try new things.

See what you like, see what works for you, see what doesn't work for you.

There is no perfect split.

There is no perfect diet, there is no perfect schedule.

I'm just saying these are the things that I would have changed

I do hope this was helpful in some way.

If you have something different in your fitness journey that you think

you would change or that has helped you or that you've learned along the way,

if you would like to leave a comment

letting me and everybody else know what that thing is,

that'd be awesome.

And apart from that,

please don't forget to like the video.

Subscribe

comment something else if you want to comment something else

and have a beautiful rest of your day or evening

adios