Correct exercise form is one of the most misunderstood things in the weight lifting and fitness industry.
It's absolutely ridiculous what some of these people in this industry teach.
These people are supposed to be fitness experts, and they are the ones teaching absolutely horrible form on weight lifting exercises.
This includes most of the personal trainers in commercial gyms.
I'm going to give you a few video examples of people teaching horrible form. I'm sure they'll take them down if they ever see this page, so if the videos have been removed it's because of that reason.
Remember, this is exactly what you'll get in a commercial gym from personal trainers. Ignore all advice from others in your gym and use Weight Lifting Complete as your guide.
If there really is a true and verified expert like a REAL weight training coach in your gym, feel free to take his/her advice. Don't be fooled, though. Many people think they are experts when they are not.
The Most Important Exercises Are The Hardest To Perform Correctly
Some of the exercises that people never get right are some of the most important weight lifting exercises out there.
Squats, deadlifts, bench press, and overhead press are some of the most important exercises that the majority of people just don't know how to do correctly.
Once you learn how to do these exercises with proper form, you will start gaining strength quickly. You'll build more muscle using correct exercise form.
When you use correct exercise form, you are using all of the correct muscles in your body to perform a particular lift. When your form is not correct, you are using certain muscles more than they are meant to be used and other muscles less than they should be used.
So, you end up using less weight, and you never progress because you just don't use the intended muscles the way they should be used.
Use proper exercise form and lift more weight. Building muscle can get quite easy using correct form on the best exercises.
Loose Exercise Form Is Okay???
Don't get me wrong here. I am not talking about loose form on all exercises. I personally believe in loose form on some exercises because it allows you to lift more weight.
Most of the more muscular people you'll see in the gym use loose form on many of the exercises they do.
I use loose form on some exercises. Other exercises should never use loose form. For example, squats should always use tight form while dumbbell curls can use loose form.
You should always use perfect form for deadlifts. Barbell Rows are an exercise that you can use loose form with to get more weight up. The list goes on and on…
The form the guy is using in the video below is perfectly fine. He is using huge weights and controlling the weight. The target muscle here is the forearms. He does a great job using his body to help him lift the weight, but still puts tons of stress on his forearms.
This is what builds muscle. He is overloading the muscle. He is applying stress to the forearms that they have never received before. They have no choice but to grow.
If anyone makes negative comments about this guy's form, they have absolutely no idea what they are talking about. He is using correct exercise form for himself. He knows that it works for him and he has increased the weight from smaller weights to larger weights over the course of several years.
He is lifting 125 pounds in each arm, and he definitely knows what he is doing. I do the same thing with pinwheel curls when the weights get heavy.
And trust me, loose form and more weight is much better for building muscle than perfect form with less weight.
Bad form is much different than loose form. Bad form will get you injured eventually. Loose form on the correct weight lifting exercises will not injure you and will build more muscle.
Experienced weight lifters will know exactly what I mean. The inexperienced weight lifters will eventually learn.
And correct exercise form can be different for different people depending on how the person is built. Make sure you understand that. A good weight lifting coach will know how a specifically built person should make a particular lift.
For example, one guy may squat totally different than the next guy. Both of them could be using perfect squat form.
It just depends on how a person is built. One guy might have long legs and use a wider stance and lower bar position while the other guy might have short legs and use a higher bar position on the squat.
Make sure you understand the above and never try to teach someone unless you know what you're doing.
Bad Advice on Exercise Form
Now, let's take a look at some of the bad information given out on proper exercise form. It's very easy to find. All you have to do is go to You Tube and search for certain exercises.
Let's have a look at bad information for barbell squats:
(If the video below doesn't work it's because the user removed it probably due to this web page)
The video above gives absolutely horrible information about how to perform a squat. Horrible. I feel ashamed to put this video here, but I want you to know that this is not the proper form for the squat.
Correct exercise form should be taken seriously! Over ten thousand people have viewed that video. I hope none of them used the advice there.
He does about a quarter squat, starts the movement by bending his knees, bar placement is horrible, hand placement is horrible, and so on. I hate seeing bad information like this!
I would bet that the guy instructing others has never even done a real squat. I'm not saying this to rag on the guy. I am just trying to get people to be more responsible about teaching others — you can really get someone hurt.
Let's take a look at another one:
If you don't know what you're talking about, then please don't make videos instructing others how to do exercises. The guy in the video above knows a lot more than the guy in the first video, but it's still a horrible example of the squat.
First off, don't place the bar at a height where you have to tippy toe to unrack it and rack it when you're finished.
This makes it much harder to get into the correct position for proper squatting. And a half squat is no good either. Let's forget about these horrible examples and look at some better examples.
Good Advice On Exercise Form
Now, let's look at some videos of people using correct exercise form. These are the good ones, so feel free to pay attention to these. You don't have to forget this information purposely.
The part I like about the video above is the set up. His set up is perfect. Pay attention to everything he does here. Notice the bar is set about chest height.
See how tight he gets before unracking the bar? The set up for the squat is one of the most important parts and so many people take it for granted.
The guy in the video above starts the motion with his hips like you're supposed to. Pay attention and watch how he begins by moving his butt backwards.
He then has to bend his knees. He doesn't start by bending his knees. You have to pay close attention to see this. I love to see squats when someone gets it right.
I want to go over one more example of correct exercise form for the overhead press.
The overhead press is one of the great upper body exercises. It works the entire upper body but puts more focus on the shoulder region.
I always ignored overhead press form because I thought I had it correct. I wasn't even close. Once I watched the video below and corrected my form, my strength went thru the roof! Do the same, and you'll start building slabs of muscle in no time.
Please watch the video above and learn how to do the overhead press. You'll love the strength you'll gain from this exercise simply by performing it with proper form.
Spend The Time Learning How to Do The Weight Lifting Exercises
Good luck with learning how to do the exercises properly. It's going to take some time and lots of practice.
Since you need the practice time with the best exercises, we've developed the WLC Workouts Manual that is to be used along with the WLC System. You'll get the weight lifting workouts you need to make amazing progress while you learn how to do the exercises.
Correct exercise form is a must if you are serious about reaching your goals. It should be one of your top priorities.
If you treat it like a top priority and learn proper form and technique, your progress will be so much faster.
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