7 mistakes to avoid while trying to get healthy. #5, weight training too hard and too early.
- The 7 worst mistakes to make while trying to lose weight, become fit and get healthy.
- 7 mistakes to avoid while trying to get healthy. #1, fad diets.
- 7 mistakes to avoid while trying to get healthy. #2, forgetting about exercise.
- 7 mistakes to avoid while trying to get healthy. #3, do no research.
- 7 mistakes to avoid while trying to get healthy. #4, too much cardio.
- 7 mistakes to avoid while trying to get healthy. #5, weight training too hard and too early.
- 7 mistakes to avoid while trying to get healthy. #6, treating setbacks as failures.
- 7 mistakes to avoid while trying to get healthy. #7, Trying to do it alone.
The beginning of this series of articles was a list of the worst mistakes people make when they start working on improving their health. Now I’d like to cover each one of those items in detail, with #5, weight training too hard and too early.
I’m a big fan of weight training as part of a healthy lifestyle. In fact, I think it’s just as if not more important than cardio, and I mean that for both men and women. However, there’s healthy weight training and then there’s overdoing it. Specifically, there’s something men will tend to do, especially men who are brand new to the gym, which should be avoided if at all possible. The experienced weight trainers reading this are probably chuckling right now. If they’re like me, they’ve either gone through this themselves or seen other people do it. They’ve seen the “the two day pain” and what it can do. What I’m referring to is the pain you’ll experience two days after a particularly intense workout, especially if your body is not used to weight workouts.
Men who are new to the gym always assume they must lift as much weight as people who have been there for years. So they rack on more and more weight and then they huff and puff and grunt their way through ten repetitions of everything. They’ll do every machine, every free weight station and every possible pose with a dumbbell. Then they’ll go home thinking to themselves “hey, that wasn’t so bad.” The next day, they’ll still feel good so they might repeat the whole thing again. This time they’ll do multiple sets of everything. Then comes the morning of the second day after their initial workout. This is the point where the pain sets in.
The Two Day Pain
If you’ve never experienced the two day pain, then you’re lucky. It’s a horrible situation. Your whole body hurts and nothing you do will make it go away. It feels like your muscles are locked up and burning and the slightest movement makes it worse. The typical two day pain is in the biceps, probably because most guys tend to overwork this area. It’s easy to spot someone who’s done this. They’ll be walking very slowly and very gently because every step is miserable. Their arms will be slightly bent because the muscles ache so much that they cannot be fully extended. In general, they’ll look pretty silly.
Consequences
If looking silly was the only side effect then I’d write this off as a minor problem and move on. However, the two day pain has other problems associated with it, primarily on the motivation side. In terms of health, this condition is actually not so bad. The muscles go back to normal within a day and there are no permanent effects that I am aware of. The blow to self esteem though, can be more serious.
Just like failure on the treadmill, this sort of experience can drive someone away from exercise. Believe me, it’s one of the more miserable things to go through because of the pain and because of the embarassment. This thing called exercise that you just tried and felt so good about has unexpectedly betrayed you. It’s caused you incredible pain and made you look like an idiot. Would you want to try it again? What if you didn’t know this was temporary? What if you didn’t realize that this only happens if you haven’t worked out in a while and goes away if you workout on a regular basis? For a newcomer to the world of fitness and exercise, this experience can be reason enough to quit.
The Solution
Luckily, the solution is relatively easy. Your first week of weight workouts should be very easy. Use the bare bar if you have to and a minimal number of repetitions and sets. Don’t push the weight or number of reps to the point where you’re barely able to lift it. It may feel good then but it won’t two days later. Take it easy, your body is not used to exercise and you should start it off slowly. Then, as the weeks go by, start increasing the reps, weight and sets to a more challenging level.
Summary
The two day pain can be a health killer if it drives away from weight training. Avoid it, by starting out easy and working your way up from there.
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