5 habits that kill exercise benefits

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Do not do this if you do not want to destroy your progress or say goodbye to sports altogether.

1. Focus on mood instead of plan

When it comes to light loads like walking or yoga without fanaticism, this approach is quite acceptable. There is a mood - walking, gently stretching or cycling. No desire - you don't think about it for several weeks or months.

But if you're doing strength training, jogging, and intense sports, a plan is essential.

First of all, you need to determine the weekly training volume. For power loads, this will be the number of approaches and repetitions with a certain weight, for cyclic cardio - the number of kilometers traveled. You need to know this in order to increase the load gradually, not to exceed the body's limits and not get injured.

Beginners are advised to increase their workout volume by no more than 10-15% per week. For example, if you ran 5K on Monday and Friday, next week you can add 500 meters to each run, or do one 5K workout and another 6.5K workout.

If, due to mood, bad weather or other factors, you missed a couple of weeks, and then decided to catch up and run 20 km in a week, it is very likely that this will end with muscle or joint pain.

A sharp increase in volume in any sport threatens damage to equipment, injuries and a long loss of the ability to practice.

But it’s even worse if you don’t pay attention to your feelings at all and continue to train through the pain. And this is the second terrible habit.

2. Ignore the pain

Everyone knows the saying no pain - no gain. Perhaps this is true for muscles burning from acidification during a set or post-workout muscle soreness. But not for the constant pain from the load that you endure from time to time, hoping that it will let go.

Evgeny Bogachev Expert in strength and conditioning training, head of the educational project Evotraining

Pain is a signal that must be taken into account and not ignored. It is of a protective nature, so that in a fit of enthusiasm a person does not make himself worse. This means that there is a problem and you need to watch out. Do not try to suppress this mechanism by taking anti-inflammatory drugs.

However, being careful doesn't mean stopping your workout completely. For example, if running hurts, you can do upper body exercises, as well as cycling, swimming, and anything else that does not injure the injured body part. It's the same with power loads.

Iya Zorina Fitness expert of Lifehacker

When I injured my knee so that I could not lean on my leg, for two weeks I did complexes at home: push-ups, pull-ups, push-ups on the rings, static squat, glute bridge. And then another couple of months - upper body exercises in the gym.

If, despite the pain, you continue to perform the same exercises, not only the sore spot suffers, but also the neighboring structures. They have to take some of the load, which can lead to even more damage.

As a result, you will still stop practicing, but for a long time or even forever.

3. Ignore warm-up

Everyone knows that warm-up is the right thing to do, but at the same time, this part of the workout is often skipped because it does not seem so significant.

However, there is evidence that warming up can help keep your workouts safe. For example, in a review of five randomized controlled trials, three showed good results in injury prevention. In another study, out of seven studies, four showed that stretching before exercise can protect against muscle strain during exercise.

And although the connection between warm-up and the risk of injury has not yet been fully confirmed, all professional athletes continue to spend a lot of time on this activity, and for good reason.

Warm-up sets you up for training, increases your breathing and heart rate, and provides your muscles with fresh, oxygen-rich blood.

10-15 minutes of low-intensity cardio and dynamic stretching increases the temperature and elasticity of the muscles, positively affects the neuromuscular connection, increasing dexterity and coordination.

A meta-analysis of 32 qualitative studies has shown that warming up improves performance in running, cycling and swimming, increases jump height and length, improves agility, and has no negative effects. Moreover, the improvement in performance sometimes reaches 20%.

Skipping a pre-workout warm-up will decrease your progress, load cold muscles, and increase your risk of sprains.

4. Reward yourself for your workout with food

Many beginners believe that for a good workout, you can afford something delicious. Moreover, the amount of food is determined by the sensations. As a result, its calorie content often exceeds the actual energy consumption for training.

In one small study, 16 men and women spent 200 and 300 calories on the treadmill, exercising at low intensity. Then they were asked to estimate how many calories they thought they had burned. Participants named values that were 3-4 times higher than the actual energy consumption.

It seemed to people that at least 800 kcal were spent on the track, and when they were allowed into the buffet, they ate more than 500 kcal each, completely blocking the energy consumption for training.

Besides, no one will think: "I did a good job today, I will allow myself another bell pepper." Chocolates and cakes, pizza, burgers, sweet soda and alcohol are used as rewards - something that can be easily overdone because it is difficult to stop.

If you eat normally on a non-workout day and jump into junk food after exercise, physical activity will not add to your health.

Moreover, if you have a food addiction, you can form a similar attitude towards exercise, and this is even more dangerous. According to a recent meta-analysis, people with eating disorders are 3.7 times more likely to develop an exercise dependence.

Like Dr. Mike Trott - the scientist who conducted this study - exercise addiction and, as a result, excessive exercise, increases the risk of fractures, cardiovascular disease in young patients, and overall mortality.

5. Ignore cardio or strength training

Some people are happy to bench press and squat with a barbell, and they visit the cardio zone only for a warm-up. Others only do what they run or pedal, and stay away from the bar and the horizontal bar. Both those and others make it worse for their health.

In a meta-analysis, 11 studies checked the data of more than 370 thousand people for 8.5 years. In the group of those who did only strength training, the overall mortality was reduced by 21% compared to inactive people. And among those who did both strength and cardio - by 40%.

WHO advises adults to do 2.5 hours of light aerobic activity (or 75 minutes of more intense work) and two strength training for all major muscle groups per week. Note: not instead of cardio, but in addition to it.

Aerobic or cardio workouts, including running, walking, and swimming, help support heart and lung health, and have a positive effect on weight, mental health, and well-being.

Strength training supports bone health, regulates blood sugar and blood pressure, and can increase testosterone and growth hormone levels, which can help maintain and build muscle and reduce body fat.

In one study, 12 weeks of strength training increased testosterone and growth hormone levels in young (23 years old) and older (63 years old) men. In another, resistance exercise increased free testosterone by 25% in younger women.

Strength training is needed even for those who do not want to increase muscle mass at all - endurance athletes.

A meta-analysis of 24 scientific papers has shown that strength training helps runners spend less energy while running and improves time trial performance.

This has been confirmed by two other scientific reviews: 2-3 strength training per week significantly improves running economy without degrading runners' body composition.

Add both cardio and strength training to your workouts, taking into account the total volume and intensity of the exercise.