In the personal training industry I often work with clients who get frustrated by the many verbal cues that I am constantly throwing at them, or the adjustments that I make, such as:

 “Shoulders down and back!”

“Lift up your chest”

“Pull your belly button up and in!”

“Squeeze your glutes”

“Focus on your upper hamstrings!”

“Lengthen your neck!”

The most difficult skill you have to learn as a coach is knowing when to put energy into correcting form, versus just going at it and getting a good productive workout in. But the fact of the matter is this, you NEED to use proper form, ESPECIALLY if you are just beginning a new training program or have recently decided to start weight training or working out.

Everything we do physically becomes a neurological pattern. This is why we call it Training; we are training our bodies to perform a certain movement in a specific pattern.  We are performing “Reps” which means we are performing repetitive movements over and over for a certain muscle group or exercise.

This is why we must first train for structure, stability, and balance, within the body, and this requires perfect, or near perfect form.

A person who performs an exercise incorrectly when they are first learning it sets themselves up for injury and dysfunction down the line. Our body and mind always follows the path of least resistance, and this ends up being the pattern that you have performed more than any other pattern.

This is why so many people have a slouched back, achy necks, and low-back problems, because they naturally follow the path of least resistance into flexion in many cases.

When we train we must always strive to maintain good thoracic extension, proper cervical stabilization, and proper length tension relationships in the hips/hamstrings/glutes.

When focusing on form we must always aim to perform exercises that develop our core stability and keep a neutral spine. 

Thoracic extension – Keeping the upper/mid back lifted, this means breathing deeply and keeping the chest lifted, squeezing the lats, keeping the shoulders locked back in the socket, and keeping the chest “open”

Cervical stabilization – This means that the chin is tucked and we do not excessively flex or extend the neck during exercises.  For example letting the chin hang forward on any back exercises is not optimal, just as overextending the neck during a deadlift is not ideal.  Another good queue to use to maintain proper cervical alignment is: “Lengthen the neck.”

Low back stabilization – This means that you can effectively brace your butt and your core against each other during functional patterns such as the squat and bend.  For the glutes and core to fire properly the hips must not be extremely tight, which is the case in people with an anterior pelvic tilt, and the hamstrings cannot be too tight either which would contribute to a posterior pelvic tilt.  Both of these ailments, if allowed to become a chronic condition, compromise the health of the low back during functional movements.

Some people think weight is king in the gym, especially males who are lifting or training for their egos. Weight is not king at all, FORM and true STRENGTH is king. If you have good structure, a healthy spine, and do proper bodyweight training, your base strength levels will be high enough where you can throw around some decent weight at any given time anyways.

For people thinking about weight training, which I consider to be an essential and extremely healthy form of exercise, when done safely, first make sure you are focusing on FORM.

Many exercises only need a couple added lbs. to make challenging enough to develop the weak areas of your spine and musculature for the first few weeks.

Remember that every single exercise is always a full body exercise. You are always going to be thinking of your upper body from now on during leg exercises, and you will always consider your hip/leg stabilization during upper body exercises.

If you think of a standing shoulder press as just an exercise that isolates the shoulders for example, you would be dead wrong, and you could also injure yourself by not concentrating enough on your lower-body during a functional movement like this.

A standing shoulder press also heavily incorporates the abdominals and glutes to stabilize the spine and also requires a proper breathing pattern so that the chest is lifted tall and the arms/shoulders can effectively maintain the full range of motion for the movement.

Some people forget that everything is connected and over-train certain parts of the body. Many people go to the gym and do the same routine over and over for months or even years, and this leads to dysfunction from repetitive patterns if they are done incorrectly.

He throws some back exercises in, but he does not understand the importance of thoracic extension and rounds his shoulders forward, further training the same pattern that the chest exercises do.

One day a couple of months or a year later, he goes to perform a heavy overhead press and tears his bicep tendon or rotator cuff from doing thousands and thousands of repetitions and developing chronically tight biceps/chest/anterior deltoid/lats.

This guy would have greatly benefited from performing full range of motion Rowing exercises, just as much as he did the chest exercises, to balance out his shoulder and range of motion on ALL exercises.

I personally advocate following a set routine for 12 weeks, and then making sure that you change it up. And make sure the routine that you do follow has plenty of diverse and functional movements that work in different range of motions.

The same goes for your legs, if you are doing a massive amount of squats and lunges, make sure you do plenty of hip-thrusters, deadlifts, and posterior chain building exercises.

Always strive to follow a balanced routine that includes many different ranges of motion and never over-trains or neglects a muscle group. Do your pushes AND your pulls. Do your squats AND your bends.

[readolog_blockquote ]Ever see those giant meatheads in the gym who just do curls all day that are JACKED and look like unhealthy gorillas?[/readolog_blockquote]

Chances are their hormonal systems and organs are stressed to the max, and they are not very functional at all.

If you are just starting a weight-training program and you want to be like those jacked cross-fitters, or big and strong like the other guys in the gym, DO NOT WORRY ABOUT THE WEIGHT AT FIRST. Weight is not the biggest indicator of your progress and health in the early stages of training, or if you are trying to correct bad form.

Focus instead on your POSTURAL strength, you are only as strong as your weakest link, and this is why we need to build up our deep spinal stabilizers and build good neurological patterns.

By focusing on having extremely strict form and following the tips listed, you will be laying the foundation for an extremely strong body and strength system.

Ever see those giant meatheads in the gym who just do curls all day that are JACKED and look like unhealthy gorillas?

Chances are their hormonal systems and organs are stressed to the max, and they are not very functional at all. They just look strong on the outside. But the foundation is WEAK and their looks will be fleeting at best.  They have no stabilization from performing many repetitions in a small range of motion, they have no structure from heavy machine use, and there is no athleticism or functionality.  Just bulky and useless muscle.

Most people do not want this, and if you are a young guy being fooled into thinking that you need supplements or an abnormally huge body, trust me you do not. It is much better to be able to slam-dunk, or be able to deadlift 300lbs. safely without any back problems.

Aim to build a foundation of good posture and strong movement patterns that will transfer over to everyday life and make you more functional. Taking the time to focus on form at first will allow you to explode with gains and functional strength, once you have developed a good stabilizer system and movement patterns, you will then be building and compounding strength for many years while others get injured and plateau.

Tips for keeping great form and developing functional movement patterns and stability:

• Always aim for a full range of motion on exercises. Always try to perform the full range of motion on an exercise, many times when training this just means using a lighter weight. If you cannot perform the full range of motion, then identify which muscles are tight and work on stretching them to improve flexibility or use self-myofascial release.
• Always follow a diverse training program with different exercises in many different planes of motion. Make sure that you push weights above your head, straight up from a bench, and straight out in front of you. Do pulling exercises from overhead, underneath you, on a side angle, horizontally, etc. Do lunges out to the side, laterally, forwards and backwards. Training in all of these different planes of motion ensures balance and keeps challenging your body for more functionality and limits the chance of an overuse injury.

• Most exercises require a neutral spine, so always keep your chest tall, chin tucked, and brace your butt and abdominals.
• Do not go too heavy at first. There is a time for beating the crap out of your body and sacrificing your form a bit, but that is done AFTER you have your foundation set. Even when I do max effort sets of 1-3 my form is still at least 95% solid or I will simply lower the weight.
• Identify tight spots on your body and stretch regularly, use techniques such as YOGA and PILATES to develop core strength and flexibility. These practices will greatly improve range of motion and allow you to develop proper movement patterns in the first place.
• Do deep tissue work with foam rollers, lacross ball, massage therapy etc. Mobilizing your fascia and rehydrating areas that have knots and scar tissue built up will greatly improve mobility.
• Start with a functional body-weight routine at first. Starting with just body-weight training will allow you to first make sure you can stabilize the resistance your own body can provide (which can be a ton) and will ensure that when you start hitting the weights you have solid fundamentals. I would say that for the general population 75% of the work I do is bodyweight just to maintain overall health and fitness.
• Stay grounded from your feet up. This means staying connected to your feet and trying not to let your arches collapse in. You should always have an even distribution of weight throughout the heel, outer edge, and balls of your feet. Do not let your arch collapse or your feet distribute weight unevenly or the kinetic energy will weaken your body further up the chain, during an overhead press for example, your feet need to be set perfectly.

• Put 100% of your focus into the movement. Wherever your mind and energy goes is the type of body you will build. If you are all-over the place and performing sloppy half-assed reps, you will manifest this in your body. If you are focused 100% mentally and physically you will build a strong and grounded body. Focus as hard as you can, and then focus even more on your mind-body connection. Building and harnessing this connection is what training is all about, someone who has control of their body also has control over their psyche.

• Breathe effectively for proper form during functional movements, deep inhales and forced strong exhalation. Learning the proper way to breathe during a movement can help to brace the core and maintain spinal stabilization. A good general rule of thumb to follow is to exhale on the exertion, or concentric portion, of a movement.   Always be mindful of your breathing and research and learn how to breathe for new exercises.

The importance of proper form during exercise cannot be overstated.  We are TRAINING our bodies to perform and function a certain way, we need to make sure that we are training them to be balanced and injury free.  By focusing on proper form and technique before we worry about weight or explosiveness, we can ensure good ranges of motion and a stronger foundation.

You cannot fire a cannon from a canoe, and this is what many people literally manifest in their bodies by relying on machines or only worrying about the size of their muscles.

It is about integrating the nervous system with the muscular system as one functional unit. Make sure that the patterns you develop are allowing your muscles to lengthen properly and keep your spine neutral and strong.  You will become a stronger person who will not succumb to injuries or plateaus by taking the extra time to focus on proper form.