Common Exercise Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Even experienced exercisers often develop form habits that reduce training effectiveness or increase injury risk. These errors typically develop gradually and feel normal to the person performing them. Recognising common mistakes—and understanding why they matter—enables self-correction that improves both safety and results.

This guide examines frequent exercise errors across major movement categories, explaining the problems they cause and providing practical corrections. Whether you're new to training or refining established habits, addressing these issues enhances your training quality significantly.

General Mistakes Affecting All Training

Skipping the Warm-Up

Jumping straight into working sets ranks among the most common and risky mistakes. Cold muscles and joints are more susceptible to strains and tears. Without adequate preparation, you also sacrifice performance—research shows significant strength and power improvements following proper warm-ups.

The Fix: Dedicate 10-15 minutes to progressive warm-up before every session. Start with light cardio, progress to dynamic stretching targeting workout movements, then perform lighter sets before working loads. This investment pays immediate dividends in both performance and injury prevention.

Prioritising Weight Over Form

Ego-driven loading—choosing weights based on what looks impressive rather than what you can control—undermines both safety and effectiveness. Excessive weight forces compensatory movement patterns that shift stress to vulnerable structures and reduce target muscle engagement.

The Fix: Select weights allowing complete range of motion with controlled tempo. If form deteriorates during a set, the weight is too heavy regardless of what others might lift. Progress comes from consistent quality work, not occasional heavy attempts with poor technique.

Holding Your Breath

Extended breath-holding during exercise—beyond brief bracing for heavy lifts—elevates blood pressure dangerously and reduces oxygen delivery to working muscles. Some people unconsciously hold their breath throughout entire sets, particularly during challenging exercises.

The Fix: Establish rhythmic breathing patterns: exhale during the exertion (lifting) phase, inhale during the easier (lowering) phase. For heavy compound lifts, brief bracing with the Valsalva manoeuvre is appropriate, but breathe between repetitions.

Squat Mistakes

Knees Caving Inward

Knee valgus—knees collapsing toward each other during squats—stresses the knee joint inappropriately and often indicates weak hip muscles. This pattern frequently appears as weights increase or fatigue accumulates.

The Fix: Consciously push knees outward, tracking over your toes throughout the movement. Strengthen hip abductors with exercises like banded clamshells and lateral band walks. Reduce weight if knees cave even with conscious effort—the pattern needs correction before progressing.

Excessive Forward Lean

While some forward lean is natural and necessary in squats, excessive torso angle shifts loading to the lower back rather than the legs. This pattern often develops from tight ankles or hips limiting proper squat depth.

The Fix: Address mobility restrictions with ankle and hip stretching. Elevating heels slightly (with plates or squat shoes) can compensate for limited ankle mobility. Focus on sitting back into the squat while maintaining an upright chest. Goblet squats with a weight held at chest level reinforce proper torso positioning.

Incomplete Range of Motion

Partial squats—quarter or half reps—provide incomplete muscle development and may actually increase knee stress by reversing direction at mechanically disadvantageous positions. Full depth squats (hip crease below knee) develop strength through complete range and are generally safer for healthy knees.

The Fix: Reduce weight to enable full depth with good form. Work on mobility restrictions preventing proper depth. Use box squats to build comfort at depth if needed. Quality full-range reps trump quantity of partial reps.

Pressing Mistakes

Flared Elbows on Bench Press

Pressing with elbows perpendicular to the torso (forming a "T" shape) places significant stress on shoulder joints. This position stretches anterior shoulder structures under load, contributing to impingement and rotator cuff issues over time.

The Fix: Tuck elbows to approximately 45-75 degrees from your torso. This position engages chest muscles effectively while protecting shoulders. Think about "bending the bar" or "breaking it apart" to cue proper elbow positioning.

Arching Excessively

While a natural lower back arch during bench press is normal and even advantageous, extreme arching reduces range of motion artificially and can strain the lumbar spine. Some arching improves shoulder positioning; excessive arching becomes a crutch for lifting more weight.

The Fix: Maintain an arch that feels natural and sustainable. Your glutes should remain on the bench, and your feet flat on the floor (or on a platform if the bench is too high). If you're arching to reduce range of motion dramatically, the weight may be too ambitious.

Bouncing Off the Chest

Using momentum from bouncing the bar off your chest removes loading from the muscles and risks sternum injury. This habit often develops as a way to get through sticking points that proper strength would otherwise handle.

The Fix: Lower the bar under control, pause briefly at the chest, then press. This deliberate tempo builds genuine strength through the full range. Reduce weight if you can't complete reps without bouncing.

Deadlift Mistakes

Rounded Lower Back

Spinal flexion under heavy load—the "cat back" deadlift—places enormous stress on intervertebral discs and supporting structures. This error frequently causes acute injury or chronic back problems when repeated over time.

The Fix: Maintain a neutral spine throughout the lift. Set your back position before pulling: chest up, shoulders back, slight natural arch in the lower back. If you can't maintain this position, the weight exceeds your current capability. Never sacrifice spinal position for more weight.

Jerking the Bar

Yanking the bar from the floor creates snap-loading that strains biceps and lower back. The initial pull should be smooth and controlled, taking slack out of the bar and your body before applying maximum force.

The Fix: "Squeeze" the bar off the floor rather than jerking it. Create tension against the bar before it moves—you should feel your lats engage and hamstrings load before the weight leaves the ground. This controlled initiation is both safer and more effective.

Hyperextending at Lockout

Leaning backward excessively at the top of deadlifts—often to emphasise completion—stresses the lumbar spine unnecessarily. A proper lockout involves standing straight with hips fully extended, not arched backward.

The Fix: Finish by standing tall with glutes squeezed—the hip extension comes from glute contraction, not lower back hyperextension. Your shoulders should be directly over your hips at lockout, not behind them.

Row and Pull Mistakes

Using Excessive Momentum

Swinging and jerking during rows and pull-ups uses momentum to move weight that the target muscles can't actually handle. This reduces training effect while increasing injury risk, particularly for the lower back and shoulders.

The Fix: Control both the pulling and lowering phases. For rows, keep your torso stable rather than rocking. For pull-ups, eliminate swinging—if you can't complete reps without kipping, use assistance or focus on negatives until strength develops.

Shrugging During Rows

Elevating shoulders toward ears during rowing movements shifts work from the target back muscles to the upper traps. This compensatory pattern limits lat development and can contribute to neck and shoulder tension.

The Fix: Depress (pull down) your shoulders before initiating the row. Think about putting your shoulder blades "in your back pockets." Maintain this depressed position throughout the movement. This ensures proper lat engagement.

Core Training Mistakes

Hip Flexor Dominance in Ab Work

Many people feel their hip flexors burning during ab exercises while their actual abdominals barely work. This occurs when leg movement drives the exercise rather than trunk flexion. Sit-ups performed with anchored feet particularly encourage this pattern.

The Fix: Focus on curling your ribcage toward your pelvis rather than simply sitting up. Exercises like dead bugs, hollow holds, and properly executed crunches better isolate abdominals. If you feel it primarily in your hip flexors, modify the movement.

Holding Breath During Planks

Many people unconsciously hold their breath during planks, reducing oxygen delivery and compromising the anti-extension benefit by altering abdominal pressure. Planks should involve continuous, controlled breathing.

The Fix: Breathe steadily throughout planks. Exhale fully each breath to help engage deep core muscles. If you can't maintain breathing and position simultaneously, the hold duration exceeds your current capability—shorten it and progress gradually.

Programming Mistakes

Training the Same Muscles Daily

While enthusiasm is valuable, training the same muscle groups daily prevents adequate recovery. Muscles need 48-72 hours between direct training sessions. Daily training of the same area leads to overuse injuries, chronic fatigue, and impaired progress.

The Fix: Structure your training week to allow recovery between sessions targeting the same muscles. This might mean full-body training every other day, or a split routine where different muscle groups rotate through the week.

Neglecting Mobility Work

Focusing exclusively on strength while ignoring mobility creates movement restrictions that eventually limit training and increase injury risk. Tight hips, ankles, shoulders, and thoracic spine impair exercise technique and overall function.

The Fix: Include mobility work regularly—whether as part of warm-ups, dedicated sessions, or both. Address your personal restrictions rather than following generic routines. Consistent mobility practice maintains and improves the movement quality that supports your training.

Correcting these common mistakes may require temporary ego check—reducing weights, slowing movements, or stepping back from exercises you thought you'd mastered. However, this investment in proper technique pays dividends through injury prevention, better muscle development, and sustainable long-term progress. Quality movement is the foundation upon which all fitness progress builds.