FORM IN THE GYM
How important actually is it ?
EXPLANATION
How you execute exercises is possibly the most important thing when it comes to training.
You must learn to drop your ego and use a weight which you can control. I’m sure you’ve seen many a people jerking their body whilst they’re doing reps or doing half range of motion because the weight is too heavy. But just because a weight is heavier does not mean you will get stronger or bigger.
Let me put it simply for you - You need to be able to move the weight with the desired muscle. Picking a weight too heavy means your muscles take less force and your joints, tendons and ligaments take more. Not only does this mean you increase your chance of a serious injury, but your muscles aren’t moving the weight. The more the muscle is used in the rep, the more you will grow, so don’t use a weight which you cannot control completely, choose a weight where you can feel just the muscle working for a rep range which you can fail in.
STEP BY STEP :
Firstly a general rule of thumb is control the eccentric slowly- studies show that the timing of controlling the eccentric (downward portion of the movement, or where the muscle is stretching) isn’t important in itself but to make sure it is very controlled because you can load far more weight on the eccentric than you can concentric (upwards portion of the rep or where your muscles contract) so make sure you use that too.
Then power up on the concentric and squeeze really hard then straight back down to controlling the eccentric. I’m sure everyone would love to add more weight on because it really does feel better when you move a heavier load but I can assure you a torn ligament or tendon will not. I would recommend going heavier on 1 set per muscle group per session.
BELOW is an example of adequate form, slow on the eccentric, faster on the concentric, squeezing at the top.
When using heavier loads, the slight breakdown in form is ok as long as you are still in control. The new stimulus from the increased weight enables you to progressively overload, so don’t be scared of the heavy weights, just be in control and confident.
Range of motion as proven in case studies - IS a limiting factor for growth, it is the MOST important way to build muscle. You need to use a range of motion where the muscle is fully stretched, going right to the bottom of each rep or doing partials in the lengthened area.
If you are not fully stretching out the muscle, you are leaving gains on the table, for a fact.
And remember to keep your form consistent when you progressively overload, because otherwise it’s a waste of time.