The Importance Of Proper Exercise Form
Many people are under the impression that it’s about quantity, such as how much weight you can lift or the number of reps you can perform.
So walk into any gym and you’re sure to see a myriad of motherfuckers using heavier weight than they should, with them arching their back and contorting their body in all sorts of other fucked up ways to lift the weight that’s too fucking heavy.
Problem?
Besides setting themselves up for serious injury, lifting weights in the described fashion makes the exercise movement less effective because the muscle that’s supposed to be doing the work to lift the weight isn’t. Instead, what’s responsible for moving the weight is momentum.
Now, some of us want to be crippled and possess fake strength. If that’s you, then, by all means, keep doing what you’re doing, baby. We should all have dreams to aspire to!
If, however, handicapped living and continued weakness is not a childhood dream of yours, what on earth are you to do?
Hmmmm…
Eureka!
The answer is to use proper lifting form, or give a fuck about the quality of how a given exercise movement is performed.
Yes!
Yes!!!
Save the jerking for when you’re by yourself or giving out handjobs to your date because you don’t want them to think of you as a whore for having sex on the first night but also don’t want them to think of you as a prude!
Every exercise has an optimal way to perform it. That’s what’s meant by proper form and how that looks for any given exercise will vary from person to person depending on body type, limb length, injury history, and joint mobility, as well as the kind of training and goal, for instance. As such, there’s no such thing as “textbook form”. There are, however, general principles that apply to every person and type of exercise to increase the effectiveness and reduce the risk of injury.
The basic tenets of proper form include maintaining good joint alignment; breathing out as you lift the weight and breathing in when lowering it; working through a range of motion that’s appropriate for the muscle you want to target; and lifting with control while using an amount of weight that’s suitable to your strength level. Those are the things that go into the ideal way an exercise should be performed. As to the matter of applying them to particular exercises to achieve a form that’s correct in accordance to your biomechanics and other individual needs, that can be learned in a number of ways.
To learn proper form, there are several options available. One is to use a reference book or online guide with detailed instructions and illustrations you can gather information from and then practice on your own. Workout videos from trusted authorities are another alternative if you’re more visual. While both of those are good choices, they leave a lot of freedom to fuck shit up. So what’s even better is to hire a personal trainer because not only can they demonstrate exercises in person but they can also watch you perform the movement and correct your mistakes in real time. The same can be done with the help of an online coach that offers one-on-one personal training via video conferencing. If that isn’t part of their virtual service, then you can record yourself doing an exercise and send it to them so they can evaluate the video and provide feedback on what you’re doing right or wrong and suggest adjustments to make. Similarly, you can record videos of yourself and post them on social media and crowdsource advice on what should be improved.
Glossary: exercise, goal, gym, lifting form, muscle, personal trainer, reps, training
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