7 things never to do in your workout
The stench of stale fart held heavy in the air of the gym when I walked in. But here’s the funny part…
There were only two little old ladies and a 60-year old guy in the area.
It was clearly the guy…he was doing crunches and some weird reverse pike move bringing his knees back to his face, as if he were making every last bit of effort that he could to squeeze the noxious gas from his belly.
Ugh.
This was so uncalled for.
Listen, if you have gas and your workout calls for a marathon ab crunch workout (which is useless anyways), do the world a favor and stay home. You’ve got a floor (and hopefully a fan) there, so keep out of the gym.
But make sure you don’t workout near an open flame!
Now that’s an extreme example of “what NOT to do at the gym”, but here are a few others…
#1 – Don’t leave weights on the bar or sweat on the bench.
This is just rude and inconsiderate. And dangerous. Some folks aren’t able to take heavy weights on the bar, and leaving germs can spread disease. So let’s keep it clean.
#2 – Don’t do the following exercises because they are useless and potentially dangerous:
a) The seated Rotary Ab Torso machine – this does nothing to help you lose belly fat, and is dangerous for your low back
b) Narrow-grip barbell upright rows, “bench” dips, or classic wide-grip, elbows-out bodybuilder style bench presses – these cause shoulder impingement and are can quickly lead to a rotator cuff injury
c) Any exercise that involves rounding your low back – so eliminate deadlifts with poor form, bent-over rows where your back looks like a giant “C”, and even picking up dumbbells with a rounded back.
Avoid all rounding of the low back.
Instead, brace your abs, keep the low back flat, and use your legs to lift the weight.
Train hard, but smart!
#3 – Don’t be that “LOUD” talker or grunter.
Especially if you are using a cell phone in the gym. And especially if you are grunting into the cell phone. (ha, that would be really, really weird)
#4 – Don’t carry on a conversation during your set.
And if you’re a trainer, don’t encourage your clients to continue your social conversation while they work…it’s distracting to their form. Keep them focused.
Instead, learn how to do shorter, better workouts, and then take them for a coffee afterwards. That’s safer and much more professional.
Try these new 12- to 20-minute workouts today (better than Crossfit)
#5 – Don’t forget to warm-up.
Poor old Donny Osmond. According to a recent newspaper article, this Vegas entertainer tore his glute (his butt muscle) so bad that he was confined to a wheelchair for days and couldn’t walk.
How did this happen?
He hopped up on his piano during his Vegas nightclub show, but clearly without proper warm-up.
Ouch, what a pain in the butt. Poor ol’ Donny.
So make sure you don’t do hard, explosive training without a proper warm-up.
#6 – Don’t go to the gym without a plan.
On Monday morning at my gym in Toronto, I was finishing another great TT workout when three meatheads walked into the weights area.
“What do you guys want to do today?” one said to the others. Then they spent five minutes debating “Shoulders” vs. “Back and bi’s”.
This is ridiculous. It’s no wonder they looked like the classic washed-up bodybuilders with fatty arms and bigger guts.
No plan = no results.
Don’t make the same mistake.
Instead, plan ahead. And with these workouts, you’ll be done your workout in less time than it takes for an old meathead to figure out what workout he should do.
Try these new 12- to 20-minute workouts today (better than P90X)
#7 – Don’t train with cockroaches.
True story. The other day I was visiting my friend’s “hardcore” gym.
We decided to do a TRX and tire flipping circuit.
Round 1 was TRX rows, TRX triceps extensions, TRX biceps curls, and then 30 seconds of flipping the tire.
After banging out the TRX exercises, I headed over to the tire. Squat, lift, push, and flip. Boom went the tire.
And that seemed to wake up a poor little cock-a-roach (by little, I mean big as my thumb) that was having a siesta in the tire.
It skittered away. Under the falling tire as I completed my next rep.
But of course, it being a cockroach, I couldn’t kill it. And it escaped into the protection of a forest of kettlebells sitting on the floor.
So there’s probably going to be a very surprised gym member when they go to grab their kettlebell for swings.
Oh well, at least the cockroach wasn’t farting.
Those are 7 things NEVER to do in your workout.
Oh, and don’t miss this:
Here are 50 things you NEED to do in your workout
Hope you enjoy them.
Talk to you soon,
Craig Ballantyne, CTT
Certified Turbulence Trainer
PS – Do NOT forget about the Hard-to-the-Core workout pack…
…that I’m giving away this week.
When you get the “Better than Cross-Fit” workout, I’m going to give you three FREE workouts. You’ll get:
1) TT Extreme Fat Loss 2013 (my “best of” training program for the year)
2) TT Hardcore 2.0
3) TT Metabolic Monsters (a legendary EXPERT level TT program)
To get those for free, all you have to do is get Ty & Adam’s new Better than Crossfit program (read about it below) and then email Lesa at TurbulenceTrainingHelp@gmail.com and she’ll hook you up.