Being in the health and fitness industry is mostly overwhelming in the sense where you get mixed advice from different coaches. One coach will tell you to undergo an intense workout either to lose weight or achieve a leaner and fitter body. However, these active fitness tips you believe can actually do more harm than good. These registered fitness coaches recommend you stop following these bad fitness tips.

Go Big or Go Home.

Most people pressure themselves to an intense workout or lifting heavy dumbbells to achieve a leaner body quickly. They get pressured at the thought of going to the gym and seeing other people accomplish great things while they can’t even lift one tiny dumbbell or they’re panting after a minute of working out. Instead of pressuring yourself, the fitness coach Bernard Yang Kim advise you to take it easy.

The key to achieving success and a healthy body is by making consistent and incremental progress until you achieve your body and fitness goal.

According to him, you need to get rid of the “go big or go home” mentality. It’s okay if you cannot do anything in your first day since your body is still adjusting. It’s okay if you fail, you don’t need to go home and stop going the to gym. He adds it’s okay to start small and do as many reps as you can – three sets of 10 for instance, and increase your workload from there. Once you get used to it, you can add another 2 kg to the bar until you can lift the heaviest pair of dumbbells with ease.

Push Through the Pain

We’ve all heard the phrase “No pain no glory” and we’ve been lead to believe we need to inflict physical pain in our body to know we’re doing great. If not, the pain and soreness we’re feeling in our body is a sign that the workout we’ve been through is effective. However, Boyle says there’s a difference between soreness and pain. The first one is a natural pain you feel after having a workout since your muscles tear after being unused for so long.

Your sore muscles can be healed when you eat a post-protein snack or in a day or two after resting. The pain, on the other hand, persists if you fail to address it by having proper treatment. According to Boyle, you shouldn’t exercise when your body is in excruciating pain you can hardly move. It’ll lead to injuries and even paralysis.

Doing Crunches and Sit-ups Can Affect Your Spine

Sit ups and crunches help develop your much-needed abs.

Most people prefer doing crunches and situps to develop a six-pack abs. However, Boyle warns about overworking yourself with these exercises. According to him, obsessive crunching exercise can lead to repeated spinal flexion. Which, in turn, increases your risk of developing back problems and pains. If you have existing back problems, a qualified trainer at Cressey Performance Tony Gentilcore recommends you coordinate with your trainer to formulate a moderate workout to prevent further injuries.

Speed Over Quality

According to Chris Bathke at Elemental Fitness Club, he’s starting seeing many people at his gym going straight to extreme workout with little warm ups, instructions, or preparations. They wanted to have as many deadlifts as they can at any given interval like one, three or five minutes. Bathke says this is where most people commit a mistake. According to him, even athletes aren’t concerned with speed but more of accuracy and proper form.

Instead of focusing on hitting numbers, you should make sure your body form is correct to perform the exercises properly. Performing 20 correct deadlifts help in reducing your body fats more than 60 deadlifts with poor posture and form. The latter will just lead to more pain and injury – which halts your progress altogether.

Don’t Take Rest

Most people think that resting whether in-between breaks or exercise can halt your progress. That’s why they push themselves too hard to the point of exhaustion or passing out just to keep going, but that’s where you’re dead wrong. According to the Athletic Development Coaching President Sal Marinello, resting is also a form of exercise.

Resting allows muscle development as it recovers from tearing after an intense workout.

Resting can help heal and recover your body to gain new energy in completing your workout. So if you’re feeling tired and out of breath, it’s okay to take a break from exercising and rest. Don’t forget to take sips of water to help yourself recover. Marinello adds even athletes take their days off to rest and allow their muscles to recover. So that they’ll come back stronger and firmer as they go back to their exercise routine.