The More Weight the Better?

A guy at the gym tonight kept loading up the bar with plate after plate as he did squats. Impressive, right?

Well, it would've been if he'd even come close to using proper form. He didn't. He barely squatted, not even coming close to getting his thighs parallel to the ground.

So what did he accomplish? Not much.

Go for form and the weight will follow.

The Bad Form Hall of Fame

That was my gym today, the Bad Form Hall of Fame. It seemed that everywhere I looked people were using bad form.

There was one guy who did every exercise he tried incorrectly, which had to be some sort of record. When he did tricep pushdowns, for instance, his elbows were flared out instead of pulled tightly against his body (and I'm not even getting into the discussion about why he was doing them in the first place).

I saw a woman try the same exercise. She leaned into it too much, making her entire upper body do the work, not her triceps.

And another guy did tricep kickbacks (again, why waste so much time on these isolation moves?) and he didn't even extend his arm fully.

There's an easy way to avoid this -- do a little reading or ask an expert. I may not always do everything right, but I do work hard to understand the correct form and then try to get it right.

Rule No. 1

There's an old saying that says if it's worth doing, it's worth doing right. That can -- and does -- apply to many facets of training. But here's where it applies most -- form.

I learned this lesson yet again a little more than a week ago when I was doing squats. I went up in weight and on my third set got to the bottom of the movement and realized it was going to be tough going getting back up. So I panicked a bit and lost proper form in an effort to just get the weight up. I immediately felt it in my lower back, which I'd allowed to round.

Today I squatted for the first time since then. I paid attention to my form the entire time, starting the movement by sitting back, not bending my knees, keeping my shoulder blades together and stomach braced. And even though my back still has bothered me a bit in recent days, I was fine and felt great after the workout.