Stupid Things You Did When You First Started Lifting

[Magnus]

The other day I was talking to my buddy about the stupidest things we did out of sheer ignorance when we first started lifting. Turned out to be pretty amusing. So post up. What are the most ridiculous things you've ever done before you actually knew what you were doing?

Here are some of mine:

*Only trained biceps. Used to do like 20 sets of 20 reps w/ 20lbs EVERY DAY. Could never figure out why I wasn't growing.

*Some sort of goofy circuit training derivative where I would do a bunch of light weight/high reps with curls, skull crushers, side raises, 1/2 ROM bench presses, and lat pull downs. I would do like 6 totals sets of these, and would only eat one (1) meal a day. Again, couldn't understand out why I didn't look like Dorian Yates.

*Upright rows for triceps (I have no idea where I was going with this).

*Very light weight/high rep SLDLs (because I didn't know the difference between SLDLs and DLs) to to attempt to get hormone spill-over. [face-palm]

There are others, but I can't think of them right now.

[lifesnotfair]

I didn't start very young like you, I first tried in 2006 the year I turned 23. I was a member here since I had come to the Gripboard in search of a mighty handshake (LOL, embarassing to admit). I once posted one of those "critique my routine" posts, and all I can remember is John Beatty replying "too much crap, my son". Those words have stuck in my mind forever. And he was right, TOO MUCH CRAP. But could I be blamed? Just go and buy ANY fitness magazine and see what kind of routines most of them have. They'll have you doing the typical 7 type of curls, tricep kickbacks, side raises and crunches to failure that people are seen in gyms doing.

I was actually lucky to post that here, it was a smart move because I've read and learn so much since then. Isolation movements do have their place in training, but a routine consisting ONLY of them will almost never yield the results people are looking for, be it mass, strength or performance.

I'm glad I haven't been in a gym in about 3 years and workout at home.... best decision ever made.

[Shoggoth]

When I was a teen I was using some super high volume, high set, Lou Ferrigno, periodization that probably had me doing 200 reps per bodypart per week.

That and leg extensions, concentration curls and all of that body "sculpting" crap hahaha!

[climber511]

I never did anything stupid in the weight room - or outside it either. Oh Lord please don't strike me with lightening

[djukac]

Great topic

Probably the stupidest thing that I did in my start was doing seated BTN press EVERY workout( which meant 5-6 times a week ). Did them before the workout( isolation bodybuilders stuff ). And my shoulder day used to be the longest imaginable, probably 8 exercises with tons of sets and reps. I always liked cannonball supersized shoulders

[mightyjoe]

Following others workouts. Friends, magazines, etc...

Not thinking for myself. Not thinking outside the box.

Not asking enough questions.

List could go on for hours.

[BigJan85]

I'd have to say benching 3-4 times a week back in high school although I have to lay part of the blame on the coaches for putting so much emphasis on the bench press. Training like that screwed my shoulders up pretty good for awhile.

Also not taking the time to learn perfect technique in many of the lifts was a big mistake. I had that young kid mentality of wanting to lift as heavy as I could as often as I could and that just doesn't cut it especially with poor technique.

[judoboy]

Not doing squats & deads.

[mbcx6pmw]

Squats on a calf raise machine

Lifting straps and gay fingerless gloves.

[judoboy]

Squats on a calf raise machine

Lifting straps and gay fingerless gloves.

Fingerless gloves!?! you must feel alot better after getting that one off your chest

[Bill Piche]

No leg training and no squats.

[raymo]

Got a weight lifting belt, tightened it up as tight as I could then wore the whole workout and then wore that night at a party and wound up with a blood clot.

Also bought a pair of work gloves and cut them off at the fingers for lifting gloves.

[mbcx6pmw]

Squats on a calf raise machine

Lifting straps and gay fingerless gloves.

Fingerless gloves!?! you must feel alot better after getting that one off your chest

Yes I feel my rehabilitation is now complete

[lifesnotfair]

I once used a Manta Ray device for my set of 150# squats, I couldn't bare the barbell on me. Do I need to go to group therapy? :P

In all seriousness, back in early 2006 when I lost a lot of weight, since I didn't know any better I just did 45-55 minutes of daily Elliptical at the gym, with no weights, for about 4-6 months. If I could go back in time I would have lifted weight in those months. I know so much better now. But the mainstream idea of diet + cardio got me too, back then. I haven't done cardio since 2007, except a crossfit workout here and there, and playing tennis recreationally, and I never gained that weight back. I'm not saying cardio is useless, but there are much better ways to lose weight (fat) that actually let you keep whatever muscle mass you have, or even increase it if you're at a newbie level like I was. That period left me thin but weak as a little girl. That was one big mistake.

People still look at me funny when they ask me for advice, "why haven't you gained weight back after all these years? what is the trick?"... I say "drop all that cardio, play a sport for your cardio, something you actually enjoy, dial in your nutrition (giving rough directions) and lift heavy weights to build some mass and strength"... they look at me funny and kinda say "no thx, i'll keep doing 3 hours of cardio a day and eat 1,200 calories a day". Fine. Another one joining the "skinny-fat" group of people.

[unseenbeat]

In the weightroom, I only did three exercises, squats, power cleans, and pullups. Except I did them five days a week, as heavy as I could go. Matter of fact, the only reason I didn't go to failure all the time on squats was because I was so obsessed to getting to a 225 pound power clean before a couple of the baseball players in the class. None of us made it, but I did pull 215 lbs before the semester was up. I didn't eat crap hardly and wasn't ever really sore or tired. I miss that class.

[jaycal]

Started lifting weights around 13 and all I did was bench press and curl everyday. Also drank way to much "joe weider's mega mass 2000" protein shakes from back in the day.

[MVillani1985]

I started just before my 16th birthday back in 2001. Here's a list of stupid things I've done over the years.

1. This one isn't entirely my fault since I had no access to a real gym, but I mostly focused on curls and military presses. Once I began bench pressing, it took years for my bench to stop lagging behind my military press in progress (not raw numbers, that only lagged for about a year).

2. I trained too often, did the same workout every other day for my first few years of lifting.

3. First time I deadlifted, I bent over and picked up the barbell. I'm to this day thankful that someone noticed and quickly explained the right way to do it, otherwise I'd have had even more injuries than I've had.

4. Many times I worked out when tired, the worst being a rock lifting workout. 1 out of 4 times I worked out tired, I ended up battling an injury for at least the next three weeks, or at the least, my workout was garbage.

5. I assumed that strength training alone would improve my functional strength (which has always been above average), but then when I tried moving furniture when I was 21, I found out that my functional strength had only improved marginally. Now, I do things with sandbags, farmer's walks with buckets of sand, and lifting a 200 lb rock and walking around the yard with it.

6. I'd sometimes eat before a workout early on. Big mistake for obvious reasons.

7. Here's the one that takes the cake. One time when tired, to show off, back when I first started working out (for reference, to lift a 50 lb dumbbell overhead, I had to push press it when I first began working out), I grab a 75 lb dumbbell that I need help from the other hand to clean to my shoulder, and despite struggling with a 50 just a week prior, I force myself to lift the 75 overhead with one hand, I then lose balance and it THUNKS me on the head. I thankfully wasn't injured, just spooked from what happened. I guess I needed that as an early lesson to leave my ego behind when I try lifting stuff or if I must go for a max to have someone make sure I'm in no danger.

[MVillani1985]

Squats on a calf raise machine

Lifting straps and gay fingerless gloves.

Fingerless gloves!?! you must feel alot better after getting that one off your chest

I forgot to mention that in my post, when I started out, I also wore gloves, but within two years I finally kicked the habit when I finally developed the common sense to switch to chalk.

[Bill Piche]

Biggest mistake I made period in lifting...not protecting my lower back.

Using crappy deadlift form, hip tucking squats, basically not worrying at all about proper back alignment when lifting.

[Magnus]

3. First time I deadlifted, I bent over and picked up the barbell. I'm to this day thankful that someone noticed and quickly explained the right way to do it, otherwise I'd have had even more injuries than I've had.

I've noticed this one seems to be fairly common.

Squats on a calf raise machine

Lifting straps and gay fingerless gloves.

Fingerless gloves!?! you must feel alot better after getting that one off your chest

I forgot to mention that in my post, when I started out, I also wore gloves, but within two years I finally kicked the habit when I finally developed the common sense to switch to chalk.

Hate to admit it, but I'm guilty of this one, too.

[rico300zx]

not eating the right foods for me.

rico

[jad]

The entire Arnold competition arms routine. There were 8 exercises just for biceps and some repeated so I'm fairly sure they were supposed to be broken up over multiple workouts but me and my boy would do it once every couple months just to be like The Austrian Oak

[kogba]

I used to do about 30 sets for big muscle groups and about 20 for the arms. Of course, I was young and I had a lot more energy than now.

I didn't squat enough, and I did it with bad technique(same with deadlift).

Now I think of it, my technique was nasty on most things I did, and the gym "instructors" didn't know much(or didn't care to correct the newbies).

Last but not least, I did buy a lot of crappy protein powders instead of watching my diet more and consuming REAL AND healthy food.

Edited November 12, 2010 by kogba

[Benedikt Farsmann]

Nice stories, guys!

Back in school years I worked out 5-6 days a week. My workout was always the same and I only used iso machines:

1 hour crosstrainer then

3x10 butterfly

3x10 rowing

3x10 overhead press

3x10 bench press

3x10 lateral pulldown

3x10 bicep Curl

3x10 crunches

3x10 torso twist

3x10 outer thigh

3x10 inner thigh

3x10 seated calf raise

3x10 hack squat

Took me about 3 hours EVERY day... and I've never seen anyone doing squats or deadlifts in my gym either.

Should've done powerlifting...

[Sybersnott]

Not having any safety stands whilst benching.

Here's the story: many years ago, I had worked up to doing 225 pounds for 4 to 5 reps for 3 sets. One day after finishing my 2nd set, I noticed my left hand was in some kind of pain. I couldn't figure out why. That should of told me to quit right there, but NO, I wanted to finish that last set.

So then I got the bar off the uprights, (I should also mention that I workout alone in my homegym), and then I pressed the bar, let it come down to my chest and then tried to press it again AND THE DAMN BAR WOULDN'T BUDGE!!! So now I'm stuck with 225 on my chest and I don't know what to do. Somehow I dumped the weights off me, cursed up a blue streak, and then I did something really stupid. I took the weights off, re-racked the weight, got under it again and finished the set.

Edited January 14, 2011 by Sybersnott