What is the correct exercise form? Does it actually exist? Find out why I do lots of "weird" exercises to produce results.
Everyone is obsessed with the "correct" form and obviously the correct form is important - but the correct form actually depends on so many different variables.
The correct exercise form depends on:
- Your goals and aspirations
- Your current level of fitness
- Your anatomy and structural balance
- Weight, intensity and volume
There are millions of ways to skin the cat and not one form is right for everyone. You literally can do a squat in 100 different ways by focusing on different aspects of the movement.
You don't necessarily know what the person is trying to achieve by doing an exercise in a certain way.
Sometimes partial repetitions is exactly what the person needs - he could be isolating certain muscles to make them stronger. Sometimes the "wrong" round back deadlift is there to strengthen a certain part of the back.
In the beginning, the exercise form is important because the beginner doesn't know what he is doing. No exercise is dangerous by default - exercises only become dangerous when you are using too much resistance and your body cannot handle it!
The body can adapt to anything and do any form safely... as long as the person is 1. strong and mobile to do the form and 2. has done the correct preparation to get to that point.
Because beginners aren't yet fully informed and experienced, they need to stick with the basics and use light weights and simple forms to learn the correct execution of different movements. Beginners need to test the waters and see what feels good and what doesn't.
Once the trainee becomes more experienced and eventually advanced, the exercise form jumps out of the window and the training becomes more "feeling based" rather than based on any external structures or forms.
When a talented bodybuilder uses a "bad form" he is often using the exact right form, whereas for everyone else that form doesn't necessarily work and isn't worth to do.
Let's recap.
- The right exercise form doesn't exist.
- Exercises are only dangerous if the person attempts to lift too much without correct preparation. This is why beginners need to stick with the basics.
- The more experienced you become, the weirder and more refined the training should become. Yet, the basics are always the foundation of everything.
Train hard stay safe.
