Mar-24

0 Comments

Fitness Tip

POSTED BY: Alex Isaly in BLOG

Q. What are some fitness tips that you have for maintaining clean/perfect form while working out?

A. Maintaining proper form and technique is essential when it comes to training. The upside to proper form is performing an efficient and effective exercise through the entire plane of movement. The downside...high risk of injury and less effective movement. The key is to be as efficient and safe as possible.

Some tips to follow to help maintain proper form are:

1. Always start with a good warm-up. This helps prepare the muscles for movement by getting the heart rate elevated and blood flow to the working muscles. Also increases the range of the motion and flexibility. Make sure to focus on the muscles during the warm up that you intend to train. If it's a full body workout then do a full body warm up.

2. Proper set up of the exercise. The entire movement is kinetic, which means that from start to finish the movement is all connected. For example, when performing a squat, start with placing feet approximately shoulder width apart. Chest should be lifted and roll the shoulders up and back. This will set your body up in the correct position to start the exercise. The first movement is critical when performing a squat. A lot of people have a tendency to want to hinge at the hips and lean slightly forward on the downward movement. This puts stress on the lower back and displaces the load to the balls of the feet. When you start the movement this way it takes more effort to correct, thus minimizing the effectiveness of the exercise. Whereas, the movements should start by pressing the hips back and keeping the weight in the heels while the shoulders remain stacked over the knees. The majority of the load will be focused on the quads and hamstrings. The muscles you should be targeting for a squat. You are more likely to finish the exercise in the correct form if you start the exercise in the correct form.

3. Slow and steady. Try not to rush through the exercise. Focus on the muscles that are engaged in the exercise. A good tip to help control the tempo is to count in your head. For example, count to 2 while pulling the weight up in a bicep curl and visa versa on the way down. This also helps with the mind-body connection during the exercise. This is especially important when lifting heavy loads.

4. Ask for help. If you are ever unsure of what the proper form is for an exercise then ask or seek professional help either by a certified personal trainer or a credible publication. It's better to be safe than sorry.

5. Watch yourself. There's a reason there are mirrors in the gym and no they aren't there just to pose in front of. if you are training solo then watch yourself doing the exercise. Sometimes it's not always easy to tell if you are doing the exercise right if you can't see yourself doing it. Use the mirrors...they are there to HELP you.