Many people want to start the new year with a healthy lifestyle, which is to start visiting the gym. The problem is that you can easily injure yourself if you’re not careful with some of the moves.

HotNews.ro talked to Julian Dinu – personal trainer, fitness instructor, physiotherapist, physical trainer, sports psychologist and president of the International Association of Psychology, Nutrition, Sports and Fitness.

What mistakes do some people make when entering the gym

Many people who go to the gym set unrealistic goals for themselves, Julian tells Dean.

“I want to lose 30 kilograms in 2 months. The first question I ask my clients is how long did it take you to gain those 30 pounds? If we realize that we took them in a year, one and a half or two years, then maybe it is good to set some more realistic and easier to implement goals,” explained the coach.

A quick way to lose weight, but not very effective: “starve” and do a lot of sports. “It will often be frustrating, demotivating, difficult, you won’t rest, etc.” Many will eventually give up.

“For those who set specific goals: I want to lose 30 kilograms. How long did I wear them? In two and a half years! Okay, let’s double the weight this time. Let’s say: a year and a half,” said Dinu.

During this time, he says, we begin to implement healthy habits: we reduce sugar, juices, alcohol, we go to the gym 2-3 times a week.

• Then we begin to replace unhealthy food with healthy food by carefully reading food labels. This will help both of us with weight loss: in the first months, we can notice a loss of 5-6-7 kilograms. It depends on the body.

“We will notice that we sleep better, are healthier, feel better, happier, which will motivate us to go further. There is our launch to a healthy lifestyle. It’s hard in the beginning,” said Dinu.

• Sport should be a part of my life. Not much: 3 lessons a week for an hour and a half.

To lose weight in a healthy way, you need to have 3 factors, he says:

1. Nutrition: the importance of 70-80%

2. Sports: importance of 20-30%

3. Rest

Short 30-minute workouts are not recommended for beginners

“Beginners are not recommended for intense short workouts (for example, 30 minutes). Those who didn’t go to the gym before took a break for at least a year, it’s good to rest,” he explained.

Otherwise, says the coach, we risk getting muscle fever, that we won’t be able to move for two days or various injuries are possible.

• In gyms, many people injure their backs, knees, neck and chest. It is best to do this calmly, even under supervision, with a personal trainer.

In the hall, it is necessary to control movements: both when we carry and when we bring weight

“From a joint perspective, controlled movements work the muscles, not stress the joints. We also need to control when we carry and when we bring weight. Otherwise, we can get injured,” he explains.

• For example, if we perform a side swing, we raise the bar to the side and immediately release it: in this case, we can hit the bar above the leg or do a stretch.

It’s recommended, he says, to train while looking in the mirror, seeing the movement you’re doing and being there with your head, rather than training and talking to a colleague next to you or looking for someone around the gym. Then the risk of injury is greater.

Warm-up with small dumbbells weighing 1-2 kg

During this period, when it is cold, it is good to warm up the joints with 1-2 kilograms of goose, he says.

• You can do joint warm-up: turns with the hands, back, neck, trunk bending, trunk extension. Then grab two dumbbells and simulate each exercise you’ll be doing during your workout.

“It is very important to go from light to heavy: warm-up, and then we gradually take weights,” he explained.

Why is the stretch at the end important?

“Stretching at the end of the training helps the elasticity of the muscles. Many people with increasingly large muscles, if they do not stretch, can end up not being able to scratch their head. They lose that ability,” Julian explained to Dean.

According to him, stretching promotes muscle relaxation.

“You take a little pressure off the muscle. It is important to do it gently, not to strain the muscles. After the workout, in which you pumped up the muscles, the blood went to the muscles, if you suddenly stretch, you can stretch at the end of the workout,” explained the trainer.

Deadlifts or deadlifts are not for beginners. At first, the exercises should be performed under supervision

Deadlifts or deadlifts work the lower back and biceps, but in his opinion are not recommended for beginners.

“If you do it wrong, you can seriously damage your lower back. Athletes or people who have been doing sports for some time came to the surgery,” he explained.

• Therefore, beginners are advised to avoid such exercises unless you are performing them under supervision or unless you are carefully watching the actual movement. It’s a good idea to have your trainer teach you how to perform this movement correctly.

“Going to the gym under the supervision of a trainer is like driving school: we had a few sessions with a specialist in the field to explain to us the importance of keeping the distance between cars etc. We can draw this parallel in the gym: how to choose exercises, what to do, how to warm up properly, which exercises are recommended for our training goals and which are not recommended if we have different medical problems.” “, he added,” Julian declared to Dean.