Well, it's a good start. However, if you're just beginning a new workout program, watch out you don't fall prey to the workout mistakes that fitness professionals see across the country. These mistakes can mean the difference between an effective and an ineffective workout. People often attempt to make up for how inactive they were. It's the too much, too fast syndrome.
People expect dramatic results, and they get disappointed.
They expect the 30 pounds they put on a period of years to come off overnight, and that doesn't happen, Alan says. Because of their unrealistic goals, he says, people risk injury or burnout and sometimes abandon their workout program entirely. The ACE, the largest nonprofit fitness certifying organization in the world, asked more than 3,000 ACE-certified fitness professionals across the country in 1998 to give their take on the worst mistakes they see people making in the gym. Alan says the survey could have just as well been done today, because the same mistakes get repeated over and over. The best time to stretch is immediately before and after aerobic activity.