ATHLEAN-X founder Jeff Cavaliere has substantial experience building his body inside the gym. In his latest endeavor on May 1, 2025, he broke down the top seven training and nutrition mistakes that could be sabotaging your long-term gains.
Cavaliere has maintained a ripped physique with low body fat levels for years. He implements a science-based approach to fitness, regularly extracting value from research and studies to inform his fans on the best ways to tackle training and nutrition.
Jeff Cavaliere’s Top 7 Nutrition and Workout Mistakes
Here is a quick breakdown of the mistakes Cavaliere talked about in his recent YouTube video:
- Abandoned the Big Lifts
- Training With Excessive Volume
-
Following Exclusionary Diets
- Over-Reliance on Supplements
- Training Through Pain
- Avoiding Training to Failure
- Not Learning from Mistakes
Abandoned the Big Lifts
The first mistake he highlighted was abandoning big lifts like the squat, deadlift, and bench press. He emphasized that mastering these fundamental movements is essential for long-term progress.
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“I didn’t really want to bench press that way anymore [with no spotter], and I abandoned it at a pretty critical time because as a beginner, your foundation around those big three lifts really does set the stage for strength and ultimately building up a solid base and foundation.”
Training With Excessive Volume
Next, he shared that excessive volume could hurt gains over time.
“There were moments in time where I did 35-set workouts for just chest or did 40-set workouts for back and biceps, and I can tell you that my biceps never needed that much volume. No muscle group in my body ever needed that much volume. I promise you guys, you don’t either.”
Following Exclusionary Diets
While he said nutrition is responsible for 95% of how lean you can get, Cavaliere warned that exclusionary diets (like a zero-fat diet) are not the way to find success.
“If you want to build muscle or the best physique that you can, you need to get your nutrition in check,” he explained. “95% of how lean you are happens to come down to how you eat and fuel your body.”
“Now, when you add that if you want to be lean and ripped, you need to do it well and consistently, then how are you going to do that if you’re doing it based on some type of exclusionary approach. For me, it was dietary fat.”
Over-Reliance on Supplements
He shared that relying on supplements is a common mistake many individuals make and that they should never replace whole food meals.
“When we talk about supplementation, I think people still at times view them as more than supplements, they become staples. Now, there should be supplement staples, but they shouldn’t be staples [they shouldn’t be replacing meals],” he shared.
Training Through Pain
He advised lifters not to train through pain, but rather around it in a safe manner.
“Training through pain instead of around the pain. In other words, training, despite the fact that I was in pain doing the things that I thought I was supposed to be doing.
For instance, I talk all the time about my trashy knees and that there’s nothing left there. That happened as a result of basically hardheadedly going through squat after squat after squat with completely effed up foot biomechanics.”
Avoiding Training to Failure
He believes those avoiding training to failure are missing out on gains, especially if they are natural lifters.
“The people that I was watching, though they were doing 35 or 40 sets were also training to failure. Training to failure, as I said before, train long, train hard, but you can’t do both. You need to be able to put forth that effort and training to failure was a critical part of seeing the results that I believe a natural lifter needs to do.”
Not Learning from Mistakes
Lastly, he stressed that learning from mistakes is essential to achieving consistent progress.
“Mistakes are only mistakes only if you don’t learn from them. We all make them. The key is what you do in response to them.”
In addition to pursuing higher fitness levels, Cavaliere is dedicated to maintaining his strength, mobility, and longevity. He recently walked through his five key exercises to help improve quality of life, demonstrating each movement so those at home watching can try the program out.
Testing himself in the kitchen and gym for years, fans can take some valuable lessons from Cavaliere’s fitness journey. He believes avoiding these mistakes could lead to sustained gains and better progress over time.
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