Thoughts on Form

Have you ever seen someone fit in the gym, who despite all those muscles and their ability to stay on the treadmill running for hours on end, still look a little "off."  Maybe their posture is bad or their legs look skinny or they have a bird chest despite all that bench pressing.

This is where proper form, muscle balance, and activation of the correct muscles for a specific movement come to play.

All too often, I see someone doing a movement wrong. Some of them use tons of momentum to lift a weight too heavy for the muscles that exercise was intended to target. Others use their major muscle groups to plow through a movement that was intended to develop the finer, supporting muscles. I've heard the excuse, "I'm bulking up right now, so it's OK to sacrifice form a little. I'll work on that later."  What they may not realize is that muscles are highly specific in their action and range of motion. If you train in the wrong position or using the wrong movement pattern, you will forever remain in that wrong position. When you try to correct that improper form, you often find yourself having to drop your weights down and I mean ALL the way down. Since most people's pride doesn't let them backtrack like that, they continue their incorrect movement patterns indefinitely. Thus, they end up building a body that is misaligned and unbalanced.

Sometimes form is sacrificed when people join a group fitness class beyond their fitness level. They will try to keep up with someone fitter and do every move the instructor is asking for, whether they can execute the movement correctly or not.  Even when an instructor is recommending a modified version of a challenging exercise for the beginners, most people rather keep doing the advanced version poorly. 

One of the most common issues in poor form and subsequent injuries are people deciding to running before they have the strength needed to maintain proper posture while running or the cardiovascular fitness to lift their legs through the proper range of motion. They end up running in a hunched forward position with their shoulders curled in, while shuffling their feet forward. Not only can this result in an accidental fall, when an elevated piece of sidewalk "attacks" their barely lifted foot, this running form causes much higher loading on their joints and back than running in proper form would. Not to mention that running with such form makes the experience more difficult because you can't breath right all hunched over and that improper loading will make your ankles, knees, hips, and lower back areas ache.

If you are just returning to a fit lifestyle or starting your path to fitness for the first time, challenge yourself to maintain proper form - whether it is in weight training, cardio, or functional training.

If your pride tries to tell you otherwise, I give you this mantra, "You will look a lot more fit, walking briskly with your head held high and shoulders pulled back than you do huffing and puffing, dragging your feet painfully behind you" 

You might also be surprised to find that you will enjoy your workouts a lot more!