Keeping Good Form In Your Strength Training Workouts

Maintaining good form during strength training not only helps achieve the best results but also protects you from injury so you can keep fitness a part of your lifestyle. Read on to learn our top 10 tips for perfect form and more effective workouts.

Keep Your Focus on Your Workout

It’s amazing what a difference your attention can make to your workout. If you’re performing reps but your mind is wandering or distracted, you are likely to injure yourself, engage incorrect muscles, or lose the full benefits that come with strong muscle engagement.

Don’t Use Momentum

When you rely on momentum to complete your reps, you’re using the “swing” from your last rep to help you complete the next, instead of engaging the proper muscles to perform the exercise. This decreases the benefits and can cause damage to the joints because they end up bearing the load of the “swing”.

The patented resistance on the FitForm helps to counteract this tendency. Unlike free weights, it offers a consistent tension on the pull and minimal resistance on recoil to minimize momentum and lower the impact on your joints.

Maintain Good Posture

Your form is a critical part of every exercise you perform. View each as a full-body effort; everything should be in good posture to help you build functional strength and avoid injury. Be aware of how your hips and back are aligned, if you’re hunching instead of drawing your shoulders back, and if your neck is positioned properly over your shoulders.

One crucial part of good form is maintaining good back posture. Don’t round the lower back! The back should be in a neutral position during each exercise. To encourage this, push your chest up and out and draw your shoulder blades together to prevent any rounding in the lower spine.

Focus on Breath

Breathing is another important part of exercise that is often forgotten. It can help you stay focused, pace your reps evenly, and give you that extra “oomph” you may need to finish your set. Generally, you will want to inhale at the starting position and exhale while you’re doing the hardest work (activating your muscles).

Listen to Your Body

Know the difference between a “good burn” and real pain. If you feel discomfort or pain in the joints, lower back, or other areas of the body, it’s important to decrease the resistance and correct your form or stop the exercise. Pushing through pain will only create more problems down the road.

Don’t Cheat the Move

While each exercise is designed to target a specific muscle group, it’s sometimes possible to assist the work with supporting muscle groups. Instead, work on improving the muscle-mind connection. Focus on feeling each and every rep in your targeted muscle group for the best results.

Engage the Core

Consider the abdominal muscles the foundation of every exercise. Before starting each set, imagine drawing your abdominal muscles toward your spine, and focus on holding them engaged. This will also help you maintain good back posture!

Stay Within A Natural Range of Motion

Be careful not to overextend when straightening your legs and arms during your workout. “Locking out” your knees or elbows can add stress to the joint and result in injury. Instead, focus on keeping a slight bend in the knees when straightening the legs, and a slight bend in the elbows when straightening the arms.

Don’t Rush Reps

With each exercise, opt for a slow and controlled movement that lets you focus on muscle contraction. This will lead to better results over time.

Rest Is Required

For your muscles to repair and absorb the benefits of your training, they need time to rest and restore. We recommend alternating workouts so you’re not exercising the same muscle back-to-back. Also, allot one training day every week to rest or active recovery.

Check out Max’s Healthy Joints series on the Teeter Move app for a great restorative routine!

Incorporate these strength training tips for good form into your workouts and you’ll be well on your way to happy, healthy, and strong muscles!