Fitness star Kayla Itsines shares the gym mistakes that are stopping you from reaching your fitness goals – and how to fix them TODAY
- Fitness star Kayla Itsines has highlighted common gym mistakes people make
- In a Instagram video she demonstrated how to complete several ab exercises
- It’s important to focus on form when exercising to avoid injuring yourself
Australian fitness queen Kayla Itsines has highlighted the common gym mistakes everyone makes and the correct way to complete several ab exercises.
The 29-year-old founder of the Sweat empire shared a video with her 12.8 million Instagram followers demonstrating how to improve abdominal form while working out.
‘We all know that I love to do ab exercises, and if you’ve ever followed one of my programs in Sweat, you will have completed a lot of ab workouts!’ Kayla captioned the social media post.
‘But, when you don’t complete the exercises with good form, you might not be getting the most out of your workout, you might even be setting yourself back by causing injury.’
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Kayla Itsines, 29, (pictured) shared a video with her 12.8 million Instagram followers demonstrating how to improve abdominal form while working out
Kayla first completed one round of straight leg jack-knifes by laying on her back and raising her hands and legs upright. When performing the exercise many often overarch their lower backs
The video was split horizontally in two to demonstrate the common error on top with the correct form on the bottom.
Kayla first completed one round of straight leg jack-knifes by laying on her back and raising her hands and legs upright.
When performing this exercise many often overarch their lower backs, which isn’t necessary and can place strain on the back.
Next, she completed a half-burpee and said many fall into the habit of not engaging their core muscles by curving the back outwards.
In the video she also demonstrated how to correctly do a side plank (left) and ab bikes (right)
When performing a side plank, Kayla said it’s essential to ensure the shoulder and elbow are in line to do the exercise correctly.
Decreasing the range and motion during ab bikes or not rotating the torso enough during the movement is another common fitness error.
The final exercise Kayla demonstrated was the mountain climber, which is best to do with a straight back and eyes looking towards the ground rather than at the toes.
‘As a personal trainer, I always emphasise that you should aim for quality over quantity, from burpees to planks and ab bikes,’ she said.
The final exercise Kayla demonstrated was the mountain climber, which is best to do with a straight back and eyes looking towards the ground rather than at the toes
After sharing the video on social media, the post was viewed more than half a million times and many were unaware of the errors they were making while exercising.
‘Ohh so I’m doing them all wrong,’ one woman wrote, another added: ‘Thank you! I’ve been doing the side plank wrong.’
Many others thanked Kayla for sharing the helpful insight, which will help prevent injury and increase overall fitness.