We’re pleased to introduce an awesome new guest to the ‘shell today, Ben Mason, a personal-trainer who also happens to be Meghan’s cousin. He’s here to shed some insight into the common mistakes that women make at the gym. Ben is not only extremely knowledgeable, but also wonderfully down to earth and hilarious. Read on for some awesome tips as we approach Tiny Clothing Season…
With spring here, those of us in the fitness industry are bracing ourselves for one of the three big booms of the year. Soon after the weather gets nice, people start to realize that extra holiday weight which they never shed is a lot more evident in a bathing suit than a ski jacket. Men and women alike flock to fitness facilities in hopes of getting beach ready in time for summer.
It’s definitely easy to hide a few pounds in Gortex.
My cousin Meghan, whom I’m sure you are all familiar with at this point, asked me to write a post about women and fitness. Having spent the majority of my time in the fitness industry in commercial facilities, I have seen my fair share of gym mistakes. I’ve also noticed that men and women, as a general rule, tend to make different mistakes. The following is a list of common errors which women tend to make when approaching a fitness routine. For the record, you, the reader, should realize that some of the statements which I will make are generalizations, and certainly do not apply to all women in the gym.
1. Overemphasis on cardio 
While many male gym patrons tend to forgo cardio and spend most of their time by the dumbbell rack, many women tend to start their workouts with a long steady-state cardio session and include some light weight training as an afterthought. There are a number of articles and blog posts by well-respected fitness industry figures such as Charles Poliquin detailing why long, steady-state cardio sessions are less effective than shorter, more intense interval training routines for fat loss. Long story short, you don’t need to spend 45 minutes on the elliptical to drop body fat. In fact, it’s arguably working to your detriment. For proof positive, take a look at how lean your average female sprinter looks. Think they go for hour-long runs?
2. Lack of weight-training
As I just mentioned, many women tend to focus on cardio in their fitness routines rather than strength training. The bottom line is, the best way to drop fat and keep it off is to pack on some muscle. Muscle is a metabolically active tissue, which means that it burns calories even at rest. If you want permanent fat loss, you need to do some hard weight training.
3. Thinking that lifting heavy things will turn you into some kind of huge, manly creature
I can’t even count the number of times when I’ve talked about weight training with a female client, and they respond with “But I don’t want to get big like a bodybuilder”. First of all, ‘getting big’ is not something that happens by accident. You don’t just do some curls and kickbacks and get arms like Arnold. Unless you make a concerted effort to really pack on size, it won’t happen, especially for females. “But this has happened before! I started doing weights and I got too big!”. No, chances are you didn’t watch your nutrition properly and you just put on muscle without losing any fat. Trust me, if you lift heavy and watch what you’re putting into your body, you don’t need to worry about becoming a mountain of muscle.
4. Underestimating strength
Ladies, you can survive the pain that is childbirth. What makes you think you can’t squat more than 20 pounds!? This is probably the most common error that women make. I just started working out with my girlfriend 2 weeks ago, and her first time deadlifting she pulled 65 pounds for sets of 8. Heck, my 64-year-old mother is up to sumo deadlifting a 70 lb kettlebell for reps. Ladies, you’re strong! You are able to lift heavy things!
5. Having a vegetarian/semi-vegetarian diet
Yes, I’m sure this will rub some of you the wrong way. Let me be clear. There is a right and a wrong way to be a vegetarian. The wrong way is to just stop eating meat and not replace it with any other protein source. Far too often I hear about women coming to the gym after having a lunch composed of a salad which is more iceberg lettuce than anything else. That’s not a meal! That’s barely a snack! Protein is essential in muscle-building. Eat some meat. Yes, even red meat. If you’re committed to being a vegetarian or vegan, go for it, but do it properly. It’s not just as simple as cutting out meat. In terms of your nutrition, focus on unprocessed whole foods, and ideally real meat.
6. Being too appearance based
There is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to look better and drop body fat. Working at a commercial gym, most of the people I run into are trying to do that. However, in my experience, the following rings true: focus on the inside, and the outside will take care of itself. Focus on the outside and you’ll do things that will hurt the inside. Look at your average Olympic athlete. She probably looks lean, fit, and healthy. Ironically, she probably doesn’t care much about having a six-pack or Michelle Obama arms. She just wants to be healthy and perform as best she can. If fat loss is your goal, consider focusing on a healthy, permanent nutrition plan and perhaps training for some kind of sporting activity, like beach volleyball or a 5k race.
7. Pitting exercise and nutrition against each other 
“I ate well today, so I don’t need to go to the gym.” “Ooo I shouldn’t have had the dessert last night, I definitely need to go extra hard at the gym today.” Sound familiar? It shouldn’t. Creating this type of reward/punishment relationship between exercise and nutrition is a recipe for disaster. Both exercise and proper nutrition should be regular parts of your life. If you cheat a bit and have some junk food, do the same workout you had scheduled. Same goes for a day when you eat very clean.
8. Not putting enough emphasis on habit
Oh, you worked out for three hours yesterday? That’s cool. Will you be in the gym today, or do you need three days to recover? I’m going to draw back to my roots as a philosophy major here and nerd-out on you a bit. Aristotle has a quote which I really like as relates to fitness. “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” Believe me, you will have more long-term success working out a half hour, three days per week, than you will working out two hours a day once a week. Make it a regular thing.
9. Doing “the machines”
Here’s a good rule to remember: if the movement you’re doing in the gym doesn’t resemble anything you do outside of the gym, chances are it shouldn’t be a major part of your routine, if indeed a part at all! Human beings run, walk, push, pull, lunge, squat, bend, and twist. When lifting something heavy about our heads, we don’t ‘lateral raise’ it up. We press it up. Focus on compound, functional movements in the gym. They are the most time efficient, and the most effective in terms of both fat loss and athletic performance.
10. Believing in spot specific fat loss
Doing crunches doesn’t get rid of abdominal fat. Doing an arms day won’t shed that extra size you wish you didn’t have in the upper arm region. Even the word ‘toning’ itself drives me nuts. Focusing on a specific area with single joint movements won’t help you drop body fat there. You need to drop body fat from everywhere on your body and add some muscle mass to get that toned look you want.
And there you have it – my list of things to avoid when starting a fitness routine. Work hard, work smart, be consistent, and make sure you take care of your body outside of the gym with plenty of water, sleep, and healthy food. I leave you with the following video for inspiration…
Who might this guest be? 
Ben Mason has worked as a personal trainer for almost four years. He is currently finishing a Masters degree in Ethics. He is an avid weightlifter and currently working towards his second triathlon. Ben spends much of his spare time practicing Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Muay Thai, and hopes to compete in MMA at some point. He is also a former fat kid who knows how difficult starting a fitness routine can be.
Loved this. Great article.