8 Gym Exercises (YOU’RE DOING WRONG!)

These are 8 common gym exercise mistakes that most people do wrong. Whether you're a beginner or if your advanced you need to make sure that you're doing your workouts correctly. Here I review the most common tricep, chest, and bicep workout mistakes that you need to avoid.

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Timestamps:
#1 Lunges 0:56
#2 Parallel Bar Dips 2:19
#3 DB & BB Chest Presses 3:37
#4 Cable Flyes 5:02
#5 Bent Over BB Row 6:02
#6 Cable Tricep Extensions 8:16
#7 Lat Pull Down 9:02
#8 Skull Crushers 10:11

We've all seen that guy in the gym bench pressing a ton of weight with hardly any range of motion. Or the spotter that rips the weight off on every rep even when his help is completely not needed. Or the guy doing bicep curls looking like hes trying to do the limbo. Even though you mightve laughed at these guys and their terrible form, you may very well be making some serious mistakes yourself. Even if your mistakes arent as extreme a relatively minor deviation in your form can switch the focus of an exercise away from the muscles that you're trying to target making that exercise far less effective. Over the years of spending countless hours in the gym both as a full time trainer and while working out myself, Ive narrowed down this list to just 8 of the most common gym exercises that i see people getting wrong. And today I want to give you guys some minor tweaks to make all of these exercises far more effective so you can better target the muscles that your trying to work, allowing you to build more muscle and see faster results. So let's start with the lower body for our first exercise which is lunges. The biggest mistake that I see people of all different skill levels make with lunges is lunging with an almost overlapping stride position. What I mean is that people will lunge in a straight line putting one foot directly in line with the other like they're trying to do some complicated sobriety test. This is wrong you want to plant your feet a little less than hip width apart for every lunge. While lunges can help you develop better balance, the exercise itself should not be a balancing act so there's no need to practically cross your feet over with each lunge. Another mistake is taking steps too close together. When you take a small step and lunge with your feet too close together you're going to be making more of a triangle between your legs at the bottom of your lunge. Usually your knee will also wind up going past your toe or simply just going too far forward which will put excess stress on that knee. On the other hand when you do it right you're going to be making more of what looks like a rectangle shape in between your legs and your front knee wont be going past your toes. The last thing about lunges is that you shouldn't let your knee smash into the floor on every rep. You can definitely come down to the floor and lightly touch the floor with your knee as long as you do it in a controlled way. Dropping to your knee on the other hand not only can It harm your knee but it'll also take the tension off your legs at the bottom of every rep. Now moving on to an upper body exercise, we have dips on the parallel bars. First of all you shouldn't do dips on a bench. Since your hands are locked behind your back the exercise puts your shoulders in a very unnatural position that can cause impingement. Luckily with parallel bars we could do dips without the hands being behind the back, but even with regular dips on parallel bars there are still a lot of mistakes to address. First of all you shouldn't be doing partial reps like I see many people doing at the gym. If you can't do reps where you go all the way down until your upper arm is almost parallel with the ground then work on improving your tricep strength with other exercises. if you have an assisted pull-up machine or resistance bands you can use those to help you work through a full range of motion on dips as well. Not going low enough is a problem but going too low is also a problem, you shouldn't go lower than parallel with the floor. Otherwise you'll once again be placing a lot of stress on the shoulders. The other thing that people will do is flare their elbows out way too far. While you can flare your elbows out a little bit and lean forward to concentrate more on your chest you don't want to flare them out too far. And the last thing that a lot of people do wrong is they try to do dips perfectly vertical. Even if you're trying to concentrate on your triceps you'll be a lot better off leaning at least slightly forward with your chest in front of your hips on this exercise. Next up are dumbbell and barbell chest presses. The most common mistakes with these…

Leroy Johnson
 

  • Abod Homs says:

    Mad respect for you for staying real and honest with your followers from the beginning, keep up the good work!

  • shazLFC says:

    Don’t matter how long you been working out there is always mistakes loved this vid very helpful need a part 2 I think

  • Gravity Transformation - Fat Loss Experts says:

    Thanks for tuning in, hope you guys enjoy the video. One mistake that I do want to correct in this video is with skull crushers. You can in fact go behind the head with this exercise as long as you’re doing it in a controlled way without using the momentum from your lats. The same points still apply though, make sure you keep your elbows tight and dont swing with the shoulders. Also as far as excessively arching on the bench press i meant to have khalid lift his hips off the bench. That would be considered excessive. As long as your hips stay on the bench you should be alright.

    • omonoiafan says:

      Love your videos bro i have been watching you a lot recently. Thanks for the amazing content

    • Angel says:

      Could you do a video of pros and cons on using the sauna pre /post workout?
      Thank you.

    • rahul kathait says:

      On point 😎 good content

    • Mohan K says:

      At what time we have to workout for muscles growth? Morning or evening.

    • Blue241 says:

      @Mohan K whenever fits your schedule, the time of day will not dictate whether your muscles grow or not. Testosterone is considered higher in the morning which would benefit although I’m not sure how much truth there is in that claim nor can I back it up.

  • Danny says:

    I’m definitely down to do this 6 week challenge! I haven’t commented often but I always watch your videos. Seems like recently you’ve become more confident with your content. Keep up the good work

  • Rodney Knight says:

    I’m a Physical therapist assistant with a bachelors degree in exercise physiology. And I still learned a load of information with a lot of advice that I’ve taught my patients and clients. Great work!

    • A.J. Hart says:

      My experience with his vids is mixed. In pretty much every vid of his where he has a list of some sort, there is at least one item that is outdated, if not incorrect/bro science.

      I think he’s coming from a sincere position, but as he says, his knowledge is based on lifting and working as a trainer. He doesn’t really have the depth of knowledge that some other YTers have in this area (and I think we’ve all seen our share of trainers in gyms we wouldn’t trust), but he’s doing his best.
      I’m not sure why tricep extensions were included at all, as the info differs depending on what sort of handle your using (as he pointed out). And doing skull crushers with your arms back a little more is more efficient and beneficial than the conventional way that has you at almost complete rest in the neutral position. But it’s often part of a four-part movement that incorporates a small pullover as well.

      I find this guy likeable, though, and it’s not likely that anyone’s going to get hurt by the info he’s putting out there. Hopefully he’s still curious so that his knowledge will continue to grow. There’s nothing wrong with doing a “Things I wasn’t quite right about” vid every once in awhile. 🙂

  • ZC94601 says:

    I’m training alone in the gym. I was overwhelmed because I had no experience at all. I finally made up my mind and started working out. This videos are helping me a lot. Thanks!

    • Chris S says:

      ZC94601 Hopefully you’ve gotten the hang of it by now. It never hurts to ask for help tho, I’d rather have someone show me correct form rather than get hurt

    • REDEEMERWOLF says:

      Good stuff. These days anyone can do it! Youtube is such a great resource and I’m happy you decided to make a change to keep your body fit!! It says your comment is 2 years old I bet you’re doing great

    • Bailey 2468 says:

      I was alone too. Was so nervous of getting judged. Just do it though! Don’t let that fear consume you. You can always ask somebody. Usually ppl at the gym are very helpful

    • Saret GNasoh says:

      same with me

  • Jr. M says:

    Been watching your videos for a while now. Got to admit this is a good reminder for me and great video for anyone new to lifting. Sometimes the basics get forgotten and leads to injury. 💪🏾

  • blackmagick77 says:

    The bent over row one really helped. I could always feel my back rounding as I would fatigue. The looking at your chest in the mirror helped a lot!

  • Gabb says:

    I’ve been working out for 7 years. I’ve lost 180 fat pounds, I’ve gained 160 back and this video was still mad helpful! Great work guys

  • Touhid says:

    Quite informative, important exercises & a no bullshit video. Nice one mate 💯

  • Marvelle Banks says:

    This video is awesome! You did an amazing job explaining, illustrating and giving both examples and non-examples of what and what not to do! I saw points where I could definitely tighten up my gym routine. And I also recognized a lot of things that I have seen other people do in the gym that causes injury. *WHEW!* You just earned another subscriber and I will be tuning in more often! Great job man, and thanks for putting the time and effort!

  • Flip Kills says:

    I actually started doing dips,pull ups as half reps first and a few weeks later i started doing 1-3 reps the way i was supposed to,your body can adapt and you will develop strength for the movement just know when you do them,do them as negatives go down slow,and try to hold it you will gain strength in those areas and start to do them naturally.

  • Levi Jackson says:

    So on the lunges I have always thought not to have Knee over toe, but recent events AKA talking to a D1 strength coach, I have now changed that thought. You get more ankle and knee mobility if you do knee past toes even if it is more “stress” as long as its not too much weight. I believe mobility is more important in the lunges and split squats, but with heavier weights you shouldn’t go knee past toes.

  • Karl Bodmer says:

    Those are the exact same mistakes I went through. Thank God I didn’t injure myself in the process of learning a proper form 😀Also, not knowing what and how much to eat was one of my biggest mistakes. That’s why I always recommend Dietarize for any beginners trying to put some muscle or lose some fat first before bulking. You will save yourself so much time.

  • Drain :3 says:

    Thank you for the tips! I’ve only been going to the gym for a few weeks and this video was very informative, now I’m even more motivated

  • Mr. Brooks says:

    A key element of exercising is auditing your form. It’s beneficial to have a gym partner go with you from time to time and check with them to measure your form, but also utilizing mirrors when you’re alone. Injuries and imbalances don’t happen overnight, it’s a gradual process over time usually because there is a lack of mobility/flexibility/stability that causes the range of an exercise to change. Before you know it, boom tendinitis.

  • Cynthia Jovel says:

    Thank you for explaining these issues. I am working at home by myself, and I really appreciate the explanation of how lifting wrong can injure muscles instead of building them. I stopped doing 3 exercises due to your advice, and feel less pain in my body after training.

  • Pr0xi _Zura says:

    1:00: Lunges
    2:21 Dips
    3:37 Chest Press
    5:04 Cable Flys
    6:04 Bent Over BB Row
    (6:37 BONUS: For All Standing Bend Over Movement.)
    8:18 Cable Tricep Extension
    9:04 Lat Pulldown
    10:13 Skull Crushers

  • Otto von Grubner says:

    Thanks for this video. It gives good easy to follow examples of the correct and incorrect ways to do certain exercises. The explanations of the benefits from good form and issues with bad form now give me a way to “feel” when I’m doing those exercises correctly or incorrectly. I was happy to see I had good form for some of them at least.

  • Purefusion X says:

    Thanks again for these, I’ve probably been doing a few wrong but at least a different few was confirmed right, also showcasing other workouts I’ve not seen myself might just be incorporated into my routines for the gym.

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