7 Common Mistakes Women Make at the Gym

By Kelly Turner on June 24th, 2009

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The gym can be a jungle. It’s loud, crowded, smelly, and dirty. It’s also probably my favorite place to be.  It may the muscley guys (but not too muscley, thank you very much), it may be that everyone is there for the exact same reason or it may be because the gym is the place where I truly get a little “me” time, but the gym is your best bet for getting the best workout you can.  That is, if you avoid these very common mistakes.

Sticking to the Cardio Section

Women especially tend to camp out in the cardio section for their whole workout.  It may the fear of bulk (which we all know now is not something worry about) or it may just be because you prefer cardio, but cardio is only half the picture. It is true that if you are trying to lose weight, cardio should be your number one focus, but without building sleek muscles, you will still be flabby- you’ll just weigh less. Muscle also boosts metabolism, so the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn through out the day, even at rest.  Muscle also firms up your physique, decreasing the appearance of cellulite, and making you look like a rock star in your halter tops.  You should strength train a minimum of 2-3 times per week, allowing 1 day of rest in between workouts to allow your muscles to repair themselves.

Stretching First Thing

I often see people walk in the door, swipe their membership card and immediately sit down and start stretching. As a person that’s prone to pulls myself, this makes me cringe.  Stretching before a workout is a great idea to loosen up your joints and muscles, but you HAVE to warm up first. Even just 5 minutes of light walking is enough to get your blood moving.  To explain why, I like The Taffy Analogy: warm taffy will stretch forever, but try and stretch cold taffy and it snaps. Your muscles are the same way. To avoid a pull, and the get the most flexibility from your stretching, make sure your muscles are warm before you start to pull on them.

Depending on Machines

Machines serve their purpose: they are pretty hard to use incorrectly, and, well, that’s about all the good I can say about machines.  If you are trying to learn the form of an exercise, machines are a great way to get used to the proper feeling. However, they only work one muscle group at a time, and since they keep you in proper form, your stabilizing muscles don’t get a chance to work along with the primary muscle.  The problem with that is when you go to use that muscle in real life, the other muscles that help it out aren’t as strong, therefor hindering your performance.  Free weights allow you to multitask, making for a shorter workout (think walking lunges with bicep curls) and all the other muscles that keep you balanced, safe and in proper form work just as hard right along with you.  Training your body in the way it is designed to move, through free space, as with dumbbells and cable machines, is going to use more muscles, and produce greater results.

Being Intimidated

All I can say about this is: DON’T BE! Everyone is at the gym to work out and everyone has a right to use everything that is available. No one is staring at you, waiting to see if you know what you are doing. Need proof?  I was in the free weight room not too long ago, doing uneven squats on a bench, holding a 35 pound dumbbell (these are an attention grabber anyway cause you are standing up on a bench in the middle of a crowded room) and came down on my ankle funny causing me to crash to the ground and throw my dumbbell a good 4 feet. No one said a word. No one even asked me if I was ok. I just had to go grab my dumbbell and pretend like nothing happened, which apparently is exactly what everyone else was doing.

In my experience, the gym is usually divided by gender: men in the free weight room, women on the cardio machines, which a little bit of a mix in the machine section.  Don’t be afraid to walk through the see of grunting testosterone and grab your dumbbells.  Guys like it when girls join in- they get to show off and pretend like they aren’t looking to see if you were looking even though they really hope you are looking. It’s also fun to show them you know your way around a gym, but if you don’t, head to the next section.

Not Asking for Help

There are plenty of times where I see a machine in the gym and have no idea how to use it. There are so many different kinds of equipment out there that all adjust differently, no one knows how to use them all.  There are even times I walk up to it, read the directions, still can’t figure it out and turn and awkwardly walk away.  In this day and age of iPods, its a little bit harder to talk to people, but if you see someone near that looks friendly, just ask.  Or, there is always gym staff who will probably sigh in exasperation or ignore you would be more than happy to help you out.  Some gyms even have button systems, where if you are open to receiving tips and help about equipment or form, you wear a button so people know its ok to help you and offer suggestions.  I wouldn’t recommend offering your own help without solicitation, though. You might get a dumbbell to the face.

Coming Without a Plan

Always, always always come into the gym with a plan. Wandering around trying to figure out what to do next is a huge waste of time, and huge intensity drainer.  Write it down or memorize it but always come in knowing exactly what you are going to do.  If you have your workout mapped out, you can quickly move from one exercise to another without a hitch- and if someone is using something you need, you can move right on to the next one and came back to it when its free.  This also ensures you hit every muscle group, instead of winging it and remembering you didn’t do abs when you are already in your car on your way home.

Sticking to the Same Routine

A plan is important, but switching it up is paramount.  Your body is smart, but it is also lazy. If it can figure out what you are going to have it do, because you’ve had it do the same routine for the past 3 months, its going to figure out how to do it with the least amount of energy possible: this is called a plateau, and it is very frustrating.  Switching up your routine every 3-4 weeks, even if its just using different equipment or doing things in a different order, will keep your body guessing and keep those results rolling.