A common theme in workout magazines and fitness books is the notion that you should be changing up your workout every few months to keep things fresh.  The reasons offered in support range from staying interested in working out, to hitting different muscle fibres, to "new" explosive gains. Undoubtedly though, these fitness articles always have a variation on "you're muscles will adapt to your workouts therefore you need to switch it up."  

Muscle Memory

For someone brand new to working out and gyms, buying a gym membership can be a bit daunting. Making matters worse, I've found that gym salespeople can be just as bad as used car salepeople. For example, a co-worker just signed up for 10 personal training sessions and had the salesperson run her credit card number while she worked out. When she went to sign the bill, she noticed she was charged for 12 sessions, not 10. It was the second time they tried to overcharge her at that particular gym.

Yes, this could be an honest mistake but I've found it beginning to be a common trend in my experience. So, below are a couple thing to consider when you choose a gym. This is by no means an exhaustive checklist but it should get you thinking about the crafty gym sales pitch that'll be thrown at you like a 90mph meatball.

Gyms can be intimidating places for anyone just learning to workout.

Depending on where you go, pressures can stem from loud music, foreign equipment, judging eyes or imposing physiques, all of which can be overwhelming. Additionally, it doesn't help when other members are acting like idiots. During a recent workout, another gym member kept throwing his weights and grunting loud enough for the entire four floors of the gym to hear. How'd you feel if that was your first experience at the gym? With that, the wheels starting turning and I created this list of 15 behaviours to avoid at the gym.

This list is meant to provide novice gym members with some basic, usually unwritten, gym etiquette and veteran members, a reminder of what’s acceptable and what's not. The gym's a common amenity for a lot of people so don't treat it like you're the only one who uses it.

1. Put your weights back

Each piece of equipment has a specific home, if you find it there, put it back. It can be a real pain when you're time at the gym is limited and you have to go hunting for equipment, so don't make others do it. Additionally, not everyone can lift the 90 or 100 lbs dumbbells, so if you take'em, put'em back.

2. Strip the weight off when you're done

Just like not returning equipment, not stripping plates can be a real frustration for anyone with limited time between sets. If it was important enough to load up a machine, its important enough to unload it - it unreasonable to expect others to clean up after you.

Continuing on from Part One...

Mistake #3: Not Benchmarking When You Start

Let’s imagine you’ve decided to get back into shape, committed to realistic and achievable goals and six weeks have passed.  You step back on the scale but you’ve only lost 3 pounds, not your goal of 5 – does that mean you didn’t achieve your goal?  It’s a bit of a trick question.  You’ll know from Avoid These Common Mistakes When Losing Weight Part 1 , that any goal to lose X pounds is a bad one because muscle weighs more than fat.

If your goal was to lose 5, 10 or 15 pounds, using an old fashion scale won’t account for muscle development.  You may lose 10 pounds of fat but gain 4 pounds of muscle at the same time.  A conventional scale, the kind that only tells you how much you weight, will show you your net gains and losses. In this case, a net weight loss of 6 pounds (10 pounds fat loss – 4 pounds of muscle gained = 6 pounds less on the scale). So what’s the problem? People get disheartened at less weight loss and a perceived failure.  For some, they give up their fitness program with feelings of failure.

So you’ve made the choice to get back into shape.  Great, but now what?

Most people say they’re going to get back into shape but few follow-up with it. Unfortunately, good intentions often end in an unused gym contract, frustration and a bigger waist.

Split across two posts, I’ll help you move past saying you’ll get into shape to actually doing it. I'll detail the 5 most common mistakes when losing weight and provide you with the strategies to overcome them. It's easy to give up if you don't know what you're doing.  Stick to these strategies and I'll guarantee weight loss.