Bad Form = Bad Fitness

Bruce Lee was a master at executing incredible feats of movement with unparalleled precision. One key to his incredible success was his devotion to perfect training form. While your fitness quest may not include your own version of his famous "two-finger" push up, it does illustrate what the human body is capable of and that proper exercise form is highly important to optimal fitness.

On a more practical level, exercising with bad form often leads to three things:

1) wasted training time
2) poor results
3) injury

Why? Because your bones are not positioned properly, which means your muscles can't create the most efficient amount of force in a balanced way to optimally perform the movement pattern.

What does that mean? Your body won't be trained in the most meaningful way. You'll likely overuse some muscles while underusing others. Supporting structures (aka tendons and ligaments) are forced to perform compensatory actions. Your overall training period is longer than it needs to be, in terms of noticeable change, than if your exercises were done more efficiently. Your results are less than stellar and your body, therefore, is not acquiring the look or ability you were after. Even worse, the imbalances are both visually and practically noticeable, AND they are create wear and tear on your joints and supporting structures. Your acquired dysfunctional strength/weakness then, more often than not, leads to injury.

So what can you do?

Learn to exercise correctly! Invest in yourself by taking whatever steps are necessary for you to get fit the right way.

Here are some quick tips:

1. Get help. Invest in a knowledgeable personal trainer or find a seasoned fitness partner (one who has invested time researching/learning proper technique themselves). Not only will you lessen the risk of injury, you'll also learn the necessary skills to move correctly. You'll also benefit from having someone to watch you and offer cues while you learn.

2. Use the machines. What?! Yes, as you may know I am not a big proponent of machines for most people. If you are NEW to exercise, however, and don't have someone to help you, using a machine can can help to "put" you in the right position. This can help you to acquire sound movement patterns while your mind and body learn correct positioning.

3. Slow down. One of the biggest issues with bad form is that people do exercises too fast. If you have any type of imbalance weakness, your stronger muscles WILL take over the exercise, so to speak, even if they are not suppose to. Slowing the tempo can give you a chance to consciously recruit the weaker ones.

4. Use the mirrors. Watching yourself increases your chances of doing the exercises the right way. Look at your joint positions, notice unnecessary shrugging, see and then feel where your body is in space. It's amazing how many times clients finally "get it" when they can see themselves while receiving cues.

5. Breathe. Your muscles need valuable oxygen to function properly. Holding your breath during even a single exercise repetition can cause you to feel fatigued sooner, leading to sloppy performance. Monitor your breathing and focus on maintaining a constant flow of air.



Stay tuned for more "do it right" tips.