Form is Very Important
We’ve all heard that before but what does it mean? You often see videos online of people doing exercises in the most ridiculous ways possible. That’s bad form. Most people who go to the gym aren’t trained or haven’t done their homework when it comes to performing exercises correctly.
I underwent many months of personal training when I first started my journey, and my trainer taught me the correct form on every exercise that we were doing. Years after I completed my training I even went back to him to refresh my form on deadlifts and some other key lifts. I didn’t want to hurt myself doing it incorrectly, and wanted to ensure I was hitting the right muscle groups that the exercise intended.
Now its not just the Big 3 lifts (bench, deadlift, squats) that require proper form. There are also many free weight exercises that can be done incorrectly, and you will not be targeting the correct muscles. For instance, dumbbell rows performed on a flat bench. Many people do those wrong, and its easy to screw up. Don’t take advice from people that just started working out, or haven’t been doing it very long. And don’t try to figure it out while doing it.
Bad form can not only result in humiliation at the gym, but it can also result in injury. The all too common shoulder injury that you always hear about. Don’t let that be you. My advice is to get guidance from a personal trainer, or seek someone out that is knowledgeable with many years under their belt of consistently lifting. The injuries can be a lot worse as well, take deadlifting or squats. Do either of those 2 exercises wrong and you could be going to the hospital.
Main reason to have the right form is to meet your goals! You want to build muscle, get in shape right? Swinging around the weights isn’t going to help anyone in the long run. My main piece of advice when it comes to this is, don’t ego lift. And when I say ego lift, it means don’t try to compete with people in the gym or those you see on social media lifting tons of weight. If you can’t lift a given amount of weight with proper form, you can’t lift it. Lower the weight until you can get at least 4-6 solid reps while straining but while still maintaining good form. You want to maintain stability and only utilize those specific muscle groups.
If you are just starting a routine, or getting back into one, ensure you plan your gym routine in advance. Know what specific exercises you will be doing so you can do your research on the right form for those exercises. Start out light, so for bench press, just the bar (Olympic bar is 45lbs). Make sure you understand the correct form and how to fully rep the weight.
Don’t Half Rep
Meaning don’t cheat yourself out of the full range of motion of an exercise just to make it seem that you are lifting more. On bench press, the bar needs to come all the way to your chest and touch it every single rep. Same with shoulder press. Squats, all the way down. Ensure you use the safety’s on the squat rack, that’s there for your own protection and will allow you to measure how low you need to go. The entire range of motion and full repetition needs to be executed on every single set. Lower the weight to get that full rep every time, then start increasing the weight every session. For squat, don’t be shy on using the Smith Machine (assisted squat rack). It can be a great tool to learn from in the beginning, but don’t rely on it. You should start performing standard squats after just a few sessions on the Smith Machine.
For deadlift there are also some assistance tools such as the hex bar. You can purchase one for home use or they typically have them at the larger gyms. This will force you into the correct form and gradually increase the weight for a nice pump and workout. Once you have mastered using this, standard deadlift should be in order.
I won’t cover assistance accessories too much in this article, check out my future articles for more on this.
When you are lifting and performing the exercise incorrectly, other body parts are being brought into the exercise that shouldn’t be. So if you are swinging the weight on a bicep curl, you might be using your back, shoulders, and other muscles to help get that weight up. What that means is less stress on the actual bicep so it won’t really be working at all. Bad form could result from you getting discouraged from continuing on with your plan because you aren’t seeing the results you had expected.
Getting your form down is one major step in your fitness journey. Do your homework, talk to the right people, and practice! My next article will be on safety, so stay tuned for that!
Happy lifting! And remember, RESULTS NOT EXCUSES
Patrick Brouillette