5 Weight Training Mistakes I’ve Made (So You Don’t Have To)

When it comes to weight training, everyone makes mistakes - it’s part of the learning process.

Over the years, I’ve had my fair share of missteps, many of which set me back or left me dealing with unnecessary aches and pains. As a coach with a focus on longevity, I’ve come to appreciate the importance of smart, sustainable training.

In this post, I’m sharing 5 weight training mistakes I’ve made so you don’t have to.

Whether you’re just starting out or looking to refine your approach, avoiding these pitfalls will help you train more effectively, protect your joints, and build a body that lasts a lifetime.

In no particular order.

1. Changing Up My Workouts Too Often

When I started weight training, I believed variety was crucial. I was constantly trying new exercises and variations, thinking it was necessary. In reality, this approach stopped me from ever focusing on progressing in any one specific exercise, hindering strength and progressive overload.

Maintaining a handful of solid exercises in your routine over the long term and building in each one is crucial for progress - not just for strength and muscle gain, but also for joint health and movement quality.

Tip: Stick with your resistance exercises for 8–12 weeks, allowing your body to adapt and progress. Focus on refining technique and getting stronger in those key movements before trying a new angle or variations.

2. Focusing Too Much on Muscle Instead of Movement Patterns

All of my workouts used to isolate muscles like biceps, chest, and quads in a typical ‘bro split’ style, without considering the bigger picture: how my body moves as a whole.

Over time, I realised that building workouts around movement patterns - like hinges, knee bend, push, and pull - built more balanced strength and trained the body closer to how it’s naturally designed to move. This improved joint health, enhanced functionality, and allowed me to increase overall volume without overdoing it.

Tip: Structure your training around movement patterns, such as push, pull, knee bend, hinge, and carry. You don’t need to include all of these in each session, but in one workout, focusing on a push (chest press), a pull (pull-down), and a knee bend (walking lunge) allows you to cover more ground. You’ll work harder within those patterns and stimulate more muscle overall.

(This doesn’t mean single-muscle workouts are bad - they’re just not the only way.)

3. Not Prioritising Frequency

This point naturally ties into the last one - I spent too long hammering volume on each muscle group in a single session rather than prioritising frequency.

Here’s what I mean:

When I first started, I’d train each muscle group once or twice a week, hammering it with volume in a single session. (I’m talking 20+ sets for chest in one session.) This approach left me sore, stiff, and overloading my joints far too much in one go, rather than spreading the work out and keeping intensity and effort high.

By exercise 3 of 6 in my “chest day,” I’d be using much lighter loads than if I was fresh, simply chasing fatigue for the sake of it.

Instead, I should have been training muscles or movements more frequently, with fewer sets per session. This would have allowed me to manage joint stress better, recover more effectively, and - most importantly - produce a much higher level of stimulus during each workout.

Tip: Train each muscle or movement pattern 2–4 times per week with low-to-moderate volume per session but high effort. For example, instead of cramming all your leg work into one brutal day, split it across three sessions with fewer exercises - such as two movements with 5–8 total sets per session. You’ll reach 15 sets across the week, perform better in each set, and your joints will thank you.

4. Thinking Warmups Were All About Blood Flow

For years, I’d hop on a treadmill or bike for 90 seconds to get the “blood pumping,” assuming that a bit of warmth was all I needed before lifting. While increasing circulation is helpful, an effective warmup should go beyond this. It should prepare your central nervous system, prep your joints, rehearse the moves to come, and mentally prime you to perform.

Here's a more in-depth post I made discussing how to structure a great warmup.

Tip: Include dynamic stretches, activation drills, and light sets of your primary lifts. For example, if a lunge is your first big exercise for the session, work on hip openers, glute activation, core bracing, single-leg stability, and knee tracking over your toes. It sounds like a lot, but with some planning, it can be quick and highly effective.

5. Underusing Partial Reps

I used to see partial reps as “cheating” and avoided them altogether. But research in recent years has shown that partial reps, especially in longer ranges of motion (in a stretch) can be highly beneficial. For example, during a leg extension, if your quads are too fatigued to fully lock out at the top after 10 reps, you can still get significant benefits from doing another 5 partial reps within the range you can manage.

These can be excellent for applying overload, especially at the end of a set when full-range reps aren’t possible. They also allow you to train weak points safely without stressing your joints excessively.

Tip: Use partial reps strategically to increase volume and intensity. For example, apply them to 1–2 sets per muscle per week - such as the last set of an accessory lift - rather than every set in a workout.

Weight training isn’t about being perfect - it’s about showing up, staying consistent, and making small, steady improvements over time. By focusing on smart, sustainable practices, you can build strength, protect your joints, and create a foundation for lifelong health and fitness. Remember, progress comes from the effort you put in day after day. Stay consistent, and the results will follow!

Keep your eyes peeled - I’ll be sharing a part 2 of this post in the coming weeks with even more tips to level up your training!

Catch you next time,

Ollie