Common home workout mistakes are most likely happening to many of you. Especially those of you who have converted your house into a DIY-gym. By now, we are certain that most of you have started incorporating some kind of exercise into your routine, despite the lockdown. We know that fitness helps maintain strong immune systems and is beneficial to our overall health. However, there are some common home workout mistakes that you should avoid if you want to make any fitness progress.
We know how important your health is at the moment which is why we don’t want you to jeopardize it in any way. Particularly if you’re putting in the work to sweat.
You’re probably all organized now with stable bandwidth and a solid exercise routine. You’ve got the hang of fitting in a sweat session during your lunch break. Moreover, you are really starting to feel and enjoy the effects of your home workouts. At this point, you probably feel like a pro with your new fitness routine.
So why are you feeling burnt out and tired? Common home workout mistakes often lead to exhaustion. It might be time to scrutinize your sweat set-up. There’s no point in exercising if it’s beginning to feel really tough every time.
Common Home Workout Mistakes To Avoid
Women’s Health spoke to fitness expert Laura Williams to figure out what you’re doing wrong and how to fix it.
Too Much Too Soon
We admire your enthusiasm to start exercising more from home. However, common home workout mistakes often include trying to do everything at once before you’ve been conditioned to do it.
Think about life outside of quarantine. Did you manage to attend all your fitness classes at the gym? I bet just squeezing in that yoga class was tough. But now spend your lunch hour on Instagram taking full advantage of the live workouts hosted by studios and gyms.
This is great and all but common home workout mistakes often involve not knowing how to pace yourself properly. You can’t just jump in. All these online classes are great and super effective, and they’re very social too. However, the last thing you want is an injury because you’ve done too much at once.
Solution
Think about your activity level before the lockdown. Then compare your current daily activity to this. You might find that you’ve added quite a bit more load onto your body. These bodyweight cardio and strength workouts all have a cumulative stress effect on the body.
Common home workout mistakes often get worse by pushing through pain. You might just need to tweak your routine slightly, especially if you’re experiencing any kind of ache or pain. And just because you’re home all day doesn’t mean you can’t take a rest day or two either.
Ensure you get a good stretch in, put your feet up and ice any aches and pains. Then once you feel better, you can slowly start getting back into it.
You’re Doing The Same Workout
There’s no point in doing the same workout at the same intensity day in and day out. Whilst burpees now and then are good, you must remember to balance. HIIT and strength are just aspects of overall fitness, so don’t be afraid to mix it up.
Common home workout mistakes often include not enjoying a variety of workouts. This will help you get the most out of your fitness routine. Keep your workouts exciting!
Solution
It’s okay if you’re feeling a bit bored with your fitness routine. Common home workout mistakes can lead to this. That’s why you need to add in a session where your body gets to do something different. You don’t have to decide between the two either. Perhaps you can enjoy a thirty-minute lunchtime blast and then wind the day down with a flexibility and breathing session.
Doing Too Much High-Impact Cardio
Nearly every home workout you find on YouTube includes squat jumps, mountain climbers, jacks, and burpees. Whilst these are effective at burning calories and getting your heart pumping. This can lead to common home workout mistakes.
You need to look at how often you’re doing these kinds of workouts. We know that you need to get your daily cardio fix. However, high-impact training every day is a common home workout mistake that can lead to burnout and injury. That’s why there are other ways to raise your heart rate besides jumping.
The combination of power and speed involved in high impact exercises means they’re good for boosting fitness and power. But the risk of injuring yourself is very high too.
Solution
Do your best to try these two things:
- Strengthen muscles with resistance exercises: single-leg squats, hip extensions, and bridges for the lower body, planks, and half push-ups for the upper body and core.
- Low impact cardio: marching on the spot when done right (think high knees, wide feet, swinging arms) is surprisingly effective, as is shadow boxing and high reps, fast-paced sets of squats and lunges.
Not Using Your Furniture Wisely
Don’t waste all your time searching for hours on Amazon looking for fitness equipment. Rather, look at what you have and get a workout in sooner rather than later. It’s only going to make you procrastinate by not being able to find the right equipment.
Solution
Not exercising because you don’t think you have the right equipment is a very easy and common home workout error.
You’d be surprised at what you can use. Open up your closet. Grab hold of any kind of bag or backpack and load it up for a decent rowing weight. Or use your bathrobe belt for some form of resistance to a side clam. In fact, a dining chair works just as well for split squats and tricep dips.
Take a look at all your cupboards and start thinking out of the box.
Never Taking Rest Days
Somehow there’s an added pressure to exercise more because we’re locked up at home. But this is a common home workout mistake because you will still need to rest your body at some point. It makes no difference whether you’re doing it in your living room or at the gym.
Daily walks, short online workouts, and hours spent hunched over an unfamiliar workstation all take their toll on your body. You’ve probably been surprised at how tight and sore your calves and shins can feel after a few sweat sessions.
Solution
The reality is that the load is loaded. Don’t make common home workout mistakes and think you need to push harder since you’re not using gym equipment.
Sometimes all your body needs is an easy stroll and sleep. Don’t deprive your body of its needs. Even the shortest of workouts take their toll if you’re doing them repeatedly over the course of a week. If you start the week with a HIIT-heavy schedule, plan a rest day. You can log into a mindfulness class, or another meditation session if you really want to keep a daily habit going.
Remember to always take time out to focus on mental health as well as physical health.
Top yoga YouTube channels are free to use now that gyms are closed. You might be stuck inside, but there’s no better time than now to start your yoga practice.
Reference
Avoid the 5 Common Home Workout Mistakes Sabotaging Your Fitness Progress. Women’s Health. https://www.womenshealthmag.com/uk/fitness/a32166569/home-workout-common-mistakes/
