1) Not using RPE within your sessions

RPE is great, it stands for rate of perceived exertion and allows you to select loads that are optimal for each set and session.

It’s a scaling score out of 10:

<5 is a warm up
RPE6 leaves 4 reps in the tank
RPE7 leaves 3 reps in the tank
RPE8 leaves 2 reps in the tank
RPE9 leaves 1 rep in the tank
RPE10 is a maximum effort

RPE allows you to maximise your training on days when you’re feeling good, and minimise risk on days when you’re feeling ‘off’.

 2) Fixating on specific rep ranges

I’m going to let you in on a little secret of the industry…the human body doesn’t know the difference between 6 reps or 10 reps.

When selecting rep ranges, we need to consider our goals - if you want to get strong and hit 1RMs you probably need to use lower rep ranges for those specific movements.

But for all your accessories we recommend you open up your rep ranges and increase your potential to progress week to week without having to increase load on the bar.

... This leads me to common mistake 3...

3) Not using Double Progression

Double progression is a strategy to overload training across a training block.

You select a rep range - say 8-10 reps and then look to increase your reps completed each workout within that rep range.

Start on the lower end, then progress the reps weekly until you can hit the total sets at the top end of the range..

Only then do you increase your load and come back to the bottom of the rep range.

Double Progression allows us to overload by either increasing reps and/or weight.. providing long term progression.

A fixed rep range of 3x10 won’t allow this progression to occur.

4) Peaking mistakes - Too often or not enough

Our most successful clients have objective goals, powerlifting comps, Push Pull Runs or endurance events like 5km or 10km runs.

These events give training direction and make the experience of working hard all the sweeter.

The flip side is just training for the sake of training, which can be fine… but often limits motivation when training isn’t as exciting and/or progress is hard.

Setting a goal, building a plan and working towards an objective training goal is mad fun. Especially in a community like Strength Culture with other like minded people.

The flip side of this though, is peaking your strength too often… maxing out weekly… and ultimately not letting yourself build strength with volume phases.

We recommend having 2-3 peaks per year… set a big goal or event and work towards them!

5) Thinking that ‘one special exercise’ is going to be the make or break of your progress

Every exercise selected has a tradeoff of some capacity.

Doing lots of squats is great if you want to get better at squatting… but too much might mean your low back of knees begin to ache.

Every exercise or movement has potential to improve your training outcomes… but thinking that certain exercises are either ‘bad’ or ‘good’ might leave some gains on the table when considering other movements.

Allowing yourself some freedom with your selected exercises means we can keep training fun and stimulative… moving away from some of your favourite movements can help training outcomes in the long run.

6) Inconsistent technique on main lifts and accessory muscle builders

Technique is really important for both strength and hypertrophy..

For strength, consistent technique allows us to apply force productively into the barbell… making movement efficient, strong and safe.

For hypertrophy, consistent technique allows us to apply tension productively onto the target muscle… making training stimulative and progressive.

If your technique is inconsistent, it makes it difficult to both progress loads and fatigue the target muscles… slowing progress and making training less fun. We want to make progress; it's what training is designed to do.

For strength, slowing the lowering phase can be a great way to improve technique 1-2 seconds down to a consistent bottom position.

For hypertrophy we want to move the weight at consistent speeds throughout the set… but with our understanding now of RPE we should see the weight slow down towards RPE 7,8,9 and 10 as we fatigue.

Now into some nutrition mistakes...

7) Spending too much time focussing on cutting/ in a deficit

Cutting weight is awesome, we get to change our shape and drop fat!

Spending too much time focussing on cutting though means we don’t fuel for performance in the gym… less energy, less motivation, less performance - not great for making gains.

Cutting phases are necessary for most, but use them productively and sparingly… your training and motivation will thank you for spending more time in at least a maintenance phase.

We recommend shorter cutting phases for most, rather than long drawn out cuts.

8) Focussing too much on specific macro targets and not enough time on food quality and nutrients.

It’s a common cycle… People want to lose weight or gain muscles… they look for strategies, they find someone like a James Smith PT or their favourite fit-fluencer and they learn about macros…

They download MFP, buy a set of food scales and start tracking..

Weight loss or gain ensues and they feel confident learning about energy balance

Then… you start feeling like the numbers are getting to your head… you miss some social meals because you can’t track them… you begin to feel like you are ‘stuck’ to your macro numbers.

Learning energy balance is important.. But understanding that there are many strategies to use to improve energy intake is the goal.

Learning to construct balanced meals, focusing on protein, plants and hunger cues is where the long term success lives.

9) Not eating enough protein and plants.

Building the habit of eating enough protein and plants within your diet is the most common nutrition mistake we see.

People gravitate to things with a barcode because it is easier to track.

Protein sources are sometimes hard to find without planning

And vegetables… well vegetables suck...

But building eating habits around plants and protein ensure we are getting a wide array of nutrients and fibre in our diets..

Starting with something like the ‘Precision Nutrition Portion Sizing’ protocols is a great place to start building more nutrient dense eating habits.

That's it, thats the list!

If you're looking to get the most out of your training, it might be worth jumping on a call to discuss how we can help you. You can speak to me by clicking the button below.

We have both in-person and online options!