Mistakes To Avoid When Starting Your Athletic Strength-Training Regimen

If you have recently joined an athletic team, you probably have plans to start lifting weights to help build up your body's stamina, endurance, and strength. However, before you start your athletic strength-training regimen, make sure you avoid making the following mistakes that could work against you.

Favoring Weight over Technique

If you hear stories about other athletes that are able to lift and press extreme amounts of weight, you may think that starting out with heavier weights is the way to build your muscle faster. However, if you go too fast and favor weight over technique, you could be sabotaging your efforts in two ways.

First, if you add too much weight in the beginning without learning the proper stance and form, you are putting yourself at risk for injury. For example, if you try to deadlift twice the amount of weight you are used to lifting without learning how to keep your back straight, you could seriously strain your back muscles or even herniate a disc.

Second, even if you are able to lift the weight without hurting yourself, you may not achieve even results. Because you may have to lean one way while lifting the barbell to compensate for weakness on one side, the stronger side's muscles will develop faster than the other.

Training Every Day

Another common mistake you should avoid when you begin strength training is training every day. You may be in the mindset that more is better, and if you work out every single day, you will see results much faster. However, if you train every day, you may actually slow down your progress. Lifting weights is only the start of the process of building up your muscles. The real magic happens when you are at rest.

While you are working out, you are creating tiny tears in your muscle fibers. On your days off from training, your body then works to repair these tears, making your muscles stronger and building up bulk to compensate. If you skip the all-important rest days, the fibers will not heal completely. Your body will have to work harder to repair the damage, slowing down your results.

Avoiding the above mistakes when starting out with strength training can help you lay a safe and solid foundation on which you can build your athletic goals. However, if you are having problems designing your regimen, seek out an established athletic training program like Redline Athletics that can help guide you.