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Strength training is crucial for overall health, wellness, and longevity. While many individuals are aware that strength training helps in building muscles and increasing strength, its impact on making daily tasks easier is often overlooked. Engaging in strength training enhances bone density, which is particularly vital as one gets older to minimize the chances of osteoporosis and fractures. Furthermore, it boosts joint stability, reduces the risk of injuries, and alleviates chronic pain. Routine strength training also decreases the likelihood of chronic conditions such as diabetes and heart disease by enhancing blood sugar, cholesterol, and blood pressure levels. By encouraging a more active lifestyle and independence as you age, strength training contributes to a longer and healthier life. Nevertheless, there are certain harmful habits related to strength training that should be avoided for optimal results.
Skipping a Proper Warm-Up
Warm-ups are frequently perceived as optional; however, they play a crucial role in preparing your muscles for the upcoming workout, reducing the risk of injuries, and priming your central nervous system for the physical exertion. In the absence of a warm-up, muscles are not able to contract as effectively, resulting in missed opportunities for strength gains. It is recommended to initiate your workout with 5-10 minutes of light cardiovascular exercise, dynamic stretching, and specific movements like banded pull-aparts or glute bridges to activate the targeted muscles.
Improper Breathing Techniques
Incorrect breathing techniques during strength training can have adverse effects on performance, safety, and progression. Employing proper breathing methods, such as the Valsalva maneuver for heavy lifts, aids in engaging the core and stabilizing the spine to prevent injuries. Exhaling during the exertion phase enhances the force generated during a lift. A useful tip is to exhale while exerting effort. Often, individuals tend to hold their breath when facing challenges, which diminishes power and strength output during exercises. Poor breathing practices may also result in dizziness, lightheadedness, or fainting if adequate oxygen intake is not maintained. Muscles require oxygen for optimal functionality, and a lack of it can lead to quicker fatigue, especially evident during exercises involving high repetitions or endurance training.
Lifting Too Heavy Too Quickly
Strength is built gradually and progressively over time. Lifting too heavy before your body is ready can result in poor technique, stalled progress, and even injury. Your muscles, ligaments, joints, and tendons need time to adapt to increased weight. Lifting heavier than your capacity can cause strains and sprains or even more serious injuries like a herniated disk. Your progress may plateau earlier because your nervous system hasn’t had time to adapt. Focus on controlled, full-range movements that feel challenging but not overwhelming.
Not Resting Enough Between Sets
Resting too little between sets can leave you feeling fatigued and prevent you from lifting each set with full strength and power. It can also compromise your form and lead to injury. Generally speaking, when training for hypertrophy/muscle gain, you should rest between sets for 60-90 seconds. When training for strength by lifting heavy weights for 1-5 reps, your body can need 2-5 minutes between sets, depending on the intensity of the lift. When you rest correctly between sets, your muscles have the time to recover and give their all to the next set, meaning you get more out of the lift than if you rush through them.
Not Following the Principles of Progressive Overload
Your body adapts to what you consistently do, so you need to continue to challenge it more over time. If you continually lift the same weight for the same reps, your body will stop gaining strength. Progressive overload means systematically challenging your muscles to adapt by increasing the intensity, volume, or difficulty of your workouts. When you push your muscles beyond their current capacity, they respond by getting stronger, bigger, or more resilient to handle the increased demand. You can do this in several ways, including increasing the resistance/weight, adding reps or sets, slowing the eccentric (lowering/lengthening) phase of the lift to increase time under tension, and incorporating more advanced variations of exercises.
Not Sleeping Enough
Not sleeping enough can significantly hinder your strength training progress because sleep plays a critical role in muscle recovery, hormonal balance, and overall performance. As you sleep, your body releases growth hormones and synthesizes protein, both of which are essential for muscle growth and the repair of damaged muscle tissue. Lack of sleep makes your body tired, reducing your physical and mental energy. Because of this, your workouts will feel more challenging and be less productive. Sleep deprivation can also lead to mental struggles and lack of motivation, reduced immune system response, increased risk of injury, hormonal imbalances, and poor neuromuscular function, leading to a lack of strength and coordination. And if you enjoyed this article, don’t miss How Long Your Walking Workout Should Be To Shrink Belly Fat.
Rebecca Stewart, CPT
