Hello everybody! Welcome back to my blog. The purpose of this blog is to help people find their way to a healthier lifestyle. I mostly talk about exercise and its science, which is my area of expertise, but I also talk about nutrition, sleeping habits and many other subjects related to wellbeing and healthy lifestyle. 

Today I open a new section on my blog called “Fitness mistakes”. Thanks to my experience as a PT and group trainer I have seen and been in situations in which I have asked myself what on earth people think being healthy and fit actually means?

In this first post I want to give you 4 reasons why you shouldn’t try what those Instagram Fitness Gurus do.

1. They have trained for a long time, you haven’t.

As well as having a team of professionals behind them (trainers, nutritionist, doctors, physiotherapists, photoshop specialist…) these people have a broad experience in the fitness industry. Most of them do whatever they’re told by their PT but they don’t actually know the science behind it, and of course they don’t know how to adjust those exercises or programs to other people.

Unless you know what you’re doing and have trained for long enough, some of the exercises you see on Instagram and Youtube are very advanced. They make it look very easy and of course their bodies are amazingly fit, so all you want is their magical method to become like them. This is when we make the biggest mistakes as beginners.

To be able to do the things they do you need to have a foundation. You won’t dream of playing the piano like Beethoven the first week of your piano lessons, it takes time and practice and a good teacher. It’s the same for exercising. To do hip thrusts with weight, start doing glute bridges on the floor.

If you want to speed up the process, like you would do to learn how to play the piano faster, get a Personal Trainer to guide you. On the following post you’ll see some reasons why hiring a PT is totally worth it!

5 REASONS WHY IT’S WORTH IT TO HIRE A PERSONAL TRAINER

2. Sometimes all they want is sell their product.

Fitness Gurus can get to be very good at sales. They ensure you they use it, and in fact, they happen to have this amazing discount of 20% for the first 50 people that buy the product. I understand that they need to do that sort of thing to make a living, but most of them don’t really know what they’re selling and don’t know their audience very well.

For the majority of the people who just want to lead a healthier lifestyle and get fitter, it’s enough to eat better, rest properly, and do exercise. There’s no need of buying supplements. In fact, they will stop having a good diet and have the protein shakes, BCAAs, glutamine and many other supplements rather than eat healthy.

If you’re interested on buying supplements, I strongly recommend you to see a Nutritionist or Dietitian. They will let you know if you do need supplements, and which ones and how much you should take in case you do need them.

3. The best you get from them is frustration. The worst is serious and sometimes chronic injuries.

To do certain exercises or lift heavy weights, as I mentioned before, you need to have a foundation. When you haven’t worked out for a long time or you’re brand new at the gym you must start with the basics. The period of time you spend as a rookie getting used to the exercise is called ‘anatomical adaptation’. This phase is extremely important and not skipping it might be the difference between suffering from an injury or being overtrained and having a successful kick start.

When we try to do some things that our body is not used to, it gets overwhelmed and the response it has may be an injury, overtraining, frustration for not getting the results we desire, and we end up quitting because “there’s no point”.

Many people go crazy for 4-6 weeks, joining every single group class and lifting weights every other day. This is very difficult to maintain in the long term if you’re not used to it. It’ll become just a phase of your life and then you’ll forget about it. If you haven’t trained for a long time, 2-3 weights sessions a week plus some cardio and making certain adjustments to your lifestyle will bring you more long-term benefits than going crazy for a month.

4. You may get obsessed with them.

How many times have you thought ‘I want to have his/her body’? The truth is, they are them, and you are you.

Stop trying to become someone else, because it’s not going to happen, and even when you start getting the body you desire, because you’re not them you’ll feel frustrated, as if you haven’t achieved anything. I tell you this because I have suffered it myself.

I really wanted to look like one of those fitness gurus. She started being an inspiration and ended up being my nemesis. One day I went to the gym and a group of ladies were telling me that they wanted to take a picture of ME to put it on the fridge, so every time they were craving for food they’ll look at THEIR desired body and stop (it’s a bit creepy but we Spanish are very direct, and she was obviously kidding). From that moment, I realised that I was okay too, and I will never become that girl but I must have done something well because I was inspiring others.

Don’t get obsessed with becoming them. All you can do is make a healthier version of YOURSELF.

That’s it for today! I really hope that you enjoy this first post about common fitness mistakes. If you like what I do and you want to support this project, follow me on Instagram and Facebook, like the post and comment! Thank you!