Jeff: What's up, guys? Jeff Cavaliere, Athleanx.com. So, if you clicked on this
video because you thought to yourself, I'm not really a noob, but I'm always interested
in the mistakes that others make because I can maybe help somebody out. Not so fast. Because
you actually might be a noob yourself. You see, if you're making any of the five
mistakes I share with you here in this video today, it's likely holding back
your gains no matter what level of experience you have. So that being said, it's important
that we start to break them down one by one. But before we do that, I think it's important that
we make that distinction very clear to you between beginner and noob, because it isn't just about
experience. You see, we're all going to start out as beginners at some point. As a matter of fact,
the very first time I lifted this was my five-pound Marcy dumbbell and I still hold
it to remind me of how far the journey has been. In other words, it can't be Chris Bumstead without
first maybe being Chris from East Bumfuck. Jesse: You also can't be Jesse from Athlean-X
unless you're, you know, just Jesse to starts. Jeff: What is up with that facial hair?
Jesse: Don't worry about it. Jeff: The point is, there's a journey
and you have to be willing to take it. And not knowing the things I'm going to share
with you here are going to keep you in that noob status long after you probably left the
beginner stage. And that's a problem. So, let's fix it then today. And the first
place we have to start is by not over relying on machines. I get it, a lot of us walk into the gym
the very first time and we veer towards machines for a few different reasons. First of all,
they're safe, right? You don't have to know much other than you sit in them, and you push the
device in the movement pattern that it allows you to. You don't have to think about balancing. You
don't have to think much about coordination. But these are very important skills that you need to
have when you eventually translate over to the free weights with dumbbells or barbells.
We also might be able to hide some of our insecurities a little bit better by having
just a weight stack that sits to the left or right of us that we can sort of move the pin
up and down. When we expose ourselves in the great wide open of the center of the gym floor
and people can see how much or little you're using with dumbbells or barbells, we've become
more vulnerable. But again, it doesn't mean that we want to veer away from those devices.
We want to push ourselves there. If we rely too much on machines, we actually might even
build some strength, which could be a bad thing. Because if we get stronger there and finally get
the confidence to go into the center stage and start to lift barbells and dumbbells,
we do so with a false pretense of thinking we're stronger than we actually are. And we
start to lift heavier weights, which is just going to expose the lack of proprioception,
the lack of coordination, all the things that you didn't develop by relying on the machines.
And now it comes back and rears its ugly head in the form of either injuries or
just exposing those cracked foundations that you've actually overlooked that are going
to become a bigger problem down the road. This next mistake is actually one that you can
easily identify a noob making whenever you walk into a gym. And it actually builds off of the
first point we talked about that overreliance on machines. And it's the lack of use of full range
of motion. And here's the deal, we either get to this point because we don't know what full
range of motion is. And again, that likely comes from a lack of experience on the exercises you're
trying to build up to. Or it's just that you're overcompensating for a weakness on the exercise
where you're performing the lift in only the range that you can control the weight.
Therefore cutting out the full range of motion because you never develop the strength to be
able to handle that weight throughout all of its range of motion, even the weaker points of
the exercise. That's not what we're looking for here, guys. Especially when we're talking about
the bigger barbell lifts, like a deadlift or a bench press or a squat. Your job is to learn
how to command that weight, the weight you can actually handle, throughout all points
of the range of motion, even if it means dropping down to just the bar to start.
Because the truth of the matter is, the more compound the exercises that
you're performing and the more muscle groups that participate to allow you to perform the exercise,
the more technical it is and the more you have to learn the lift itself and actually be able to
do the lift properly. If you're shortcutting in the range of motion, you're never going
to reach that goal and ultimately likely to stay in noob status for a long, long time.
Now, if orthopedic issues and injuries are at the root cause of your abbreviated range of motion,
well, in that case it's actually not just a good idea, but it might be the best course of action
to getting you back to the use of full range of motion. Because we know that we can perform
the exercise within that pain free range and then build out from there. Well, that's a good reason
to utilize an abbreviated range of motion, but not somewhere you want to live long term. Again,
your goal should be to be able to do the entire range of motion on all the exercises you perform.
If it's long term gains you're seeking and a removal of new status once and for all.
This next one is actually one that's probably my biggest pet peeve of them all. Because this
mistake is one of those unforgivable ones, especially given how we consume information
in this day and age. It's so readily available to us we need to be invested in learning and
getting better. And it shows itself no more so than in our lack of body awareness. If you look
at a noob in the gym, they oftentimes will struggle with the ability to even identify
what muscles are participating in an exercise. Or they have no idea how to fully contract the
muscle that they're attempting to train. And for me, it's just sort of, as I said,
unforgivable because the information is out there. If you just watch this channel, you'll get all the
information needed to be able to attack your workouts and know exactly not just what to do,
but why you're doing it. Because if you're invested in the process, you'll want to know
why. I can tell you the parameters, guys ask me all the time, Jeff sets and reps, please.
It's not just about sets and reps. It's about understanding those parameters so you can apply
a purpose behind what you're trying to do. If you're trying to become stronger, understand
how you're going to get there. If you're trying to build muscle, understand how you can utilize
these techniques I'm showing you so you can get there. You'll learn how to recruit muscles,
you'll learn which exercises, and muscles are participating in the exercises. You'll
know how to get there and have the strategies that you can then invest your effort and energy
behind. And that is where real results lie. If you continue to just sort of blindly go from
workout to workout with actually no desire to learn any more or understand the process better,
you're always going to be stuck in noob status and that's something I can't help you with.
The next mistake has to do with the order that you're performing your exercises in and
it actually does matter. Because if you're saving your most neurologically taxing exercises or the
ones that you're using the most weight on or even the most compound exercises that involve the most
muscles towards the end of the workout, you're just making a mistake and it's very avoidable.
Once again, it's kind of building off the last point with more education about the process.
So, in the example of, let's say a squat, you'd want to perform that exercise early on in your
training and save the machine exercises, which again, nothing wrong with machine exercises, just
don't rely on them. But you saved them towards the end of the workout, or you'd use your single
joint exercises towards the end of the workout. Or the lightly loaded exercises, a goblet squat
could go more towards the end of the workout, rather than the heavily loaded barbell squat,
which you're going to want to start with. Again, it's sort of a dead giveaway when someone
doesn't understand the entirety of the workout or the purpose of what they're trying to accomplish
here. But once you do, it makes a lot of sense. And not just that it leads to better results
and doing so a more enjoyable process. And then finally, this is the big mistake that
sort of encompasses people from all levels of experience that are still stuck in noob status,
because they don't know when to switch it up. And when I talk about switching it,
I'm talking about all elements or variables in your training. So, when do you change
the exercises you're performing? Or when do you add exercises or remove some from
your program? When do you change the angle of even an exercise you're performing regularly?
When do you change the weights that you're using on an exercise? When do you switch up entirely
the program or the split that you're using? If you don't have the ability to identify those
key points, you're likely going to be stuck in noob status for a long, long time. And a lot
of it has to go back to that fact of a lack of progression, because progression is what you're
striving for. Trying to progressively overload an exercise, I'm sure you've heard it is fundamental
to progress because what that means is you're learning how to adapt to a stimulus and then push
to the next level to keep your gains coming. A lot of times, guys, you'll hear the minimalist
recommendation of keeping it simple. But minimalism without progression is actually
worse than variety without progression. Because the variety itself simply changing the exercises
you're performing are going to provide you a new stimulus that are capable of at least driving some
new growth because the stimulus is novel and new. If you just keep doing the same thing every single
time you get to the gym, even if it is the good key exercises, but you're not progressing them or
adding weight where you can or attempting to get stronger. Or introducing new ways to challenge
your muscles when you're doing the exercise. Because it's not all about adding weight to the
bar, it could come in many different forms. You're just kind of stuck in neutral, and that will
perpetually keep you stuck in that new status. And so, whether you're just a beginner committed
to making your body better or you're fearful of being stuck in noob status forever,
here's the strategy now and the mistakes that you need to avoid, to make sure you
can get to that next level. Speaking of next level, if you're looking for any inspiration,
look no further than our own Jesse. Now, with a 400-pound squat, a 540-pound deadlift and quite a
bit of muscle gains to boot. When you're committed to the process, you overcome your extra phobia and
you're committed to the education that goes into learning how to overcome these mistakes. Guys,
it becomes very, very easy. Speaking of mistakes, we talk about that mustache again.
Jesse: How is this a mistake? The only mistake that's being
made here is you shaving your face. Jeff: I couldn't even grow on if I tried.
Guys, if you're looking for complete programs you can find them over at Athleanx.com. If
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