Saturday, May 10, 2014

Fitness Friday: The Form Guide

One of the things that has been really bothering me lately, is that there's an abundance of newly posted 'fitness for beginner' videos and blog posts springing up around the place. And the blogger or vlogger posts a video or some photos of them doing some exercises, to advise their followers on somewhere they can start out.
This is great, because encouraging easy fitness that anyone can do is always a good thing. But, not at the risk of injury. And what a lot of these people don't realise, is that they're demonstrating dangerous ways to do activities. They may not notice that their form is out while they're performing the exercise, but continue doing reps with the wrong form and you could end up doing some damage to yourself. Not cool.

So today I'm going to take you through the basic form for the most common exercises that I see being messed up. This post is a little  quite picture heavy, so click through to read.


PUSH UPS
The wrong way:

There's a number of things that could go wrong with doing a push up. Most commonly, the core is not properly engaged, so you end up with your hips pushing too far up so the butt sticks up (see the top photo), or sagging through the back (bottom photo). 

The correct way:

When doing a push up, you want to make sure your abs are properly engaged so that your back forms one straight line. Position your hands at slightly wider than shoulder-distance apart. It doesn't matter too much where your fingers are pointing, just do whatever feels comfortable to you. Similarly, it doesn't matter how far apart your feet are placed. If you feel comfortable at shoulder-width distance, go with that. Generally, the wider your feet the more stabilised you'll be. Use your toes to stabilise you, and keep your gaze slightly in front of you to keep your spine neutral. 
When you lower yourself down, keep your arms at 45 degrees and close to the body (see below), NOT splayed out to the sides (like above). This can hurt your shoulders. 
Although push ups are an upper body exercise, make sure that you squeeze your legs and your glutes!


If you're doing push ups on your knees, all the advice remains the same. Keep that core engaged, and push through the shoulders and chest. 
Inhale on the way down, exhale as you push up.

SQUATS
The wrong way:

Squats are an exercise that engages your entire body. So, you need to make sure you're doing them properly and engaging all the right muscles to get any benefit from them. In the above photo, the knees are tracking over the ankles, which puts a lot of unnecessary pressure on the knees. 
Also notice how the heels are slightly off the floor. This can put too much pressure on the ankles. 

The correct way:

So in this one, the knees are directly over the ankles, rather than tracking in front of them, and the heels of the feet are flat on the floor. In this photo my thighs are not as parallel as the "wrong" photo. Ideally, you do want your thighs to hit parallel, but you may be unable to due to hip flexibility issues (which is my problem). To get proper technique; keep your chest out and your shoulders back, so you don't round out your back. That being said, there should be a slight curve to the lumbar spine - that's totally natural. Just make sure you're not hyper-extending through your lower back. Keep your head looking straight to keep your neck in alignment. Point your toes slightly out to the side. This will help with keeping your balance.

LUNGES
The wrong way:

The correct way:

Just like in a squat, you want to make sure that your knees are not tracking in front of your toes (which is so, so common). The easiest way to rectify this is to step that front foot a little more forward. In that first photo, notice how the shoulders are rounded out, and the head is slightly tucked. Make sure to keep your upper body straight. Pick somewhere in front of you to look at, so your gaze isn't moving around. Whether or not you realise it, where you look affects what direction your head goes. Notice in the second "wrong" photo how obtuse the angle of the back leg is. Ideally, you want both legs to be at 90 degree angles. 
To get the proper technique: Pick somewhere in front of you to look. Step forward with your front leg (this may be a wider step than you think you need). Focus on lowering your hips to the ground, rather than focussing on bringing the legs to the ground. Do not touch the floor with your back knee. 

CRUNCHES / SIT UPS

The wrong way:

The correct way:

Firstly... DO NOT 'CRUNCH' UP INTO A LITTLE BALL. This uses absolutely no abdominal muscles, and you're far more likely to strain your neck than work your abs. Keep your head and neck neutral so as not to hurt your spine. See how in that first photo the neck is quite scrunched? Rather than focussing on bringing your head to your knees, think about lifting your shoulder blades off the floor, and 'rolling' through your abs until you hit your bra strap. If you're really struggling with this one (and it's a hard one, don't be fooled!) you can put your hands on your thighs and gently slide them up, bringing your shoulders off the floor with you. See the second photo? The crunch / sit up is a much smaller movement than people seem to realise. Keep your feet flat on the floor, exhale as you lift off the floor, and inhale as you come back down. 

With every one of these exercises, it's important that you keep looking forward, to keep your neck in alignment. So then, how do you check if your technique and form is correct? Ask someone! If you go to the gym, as the staff! If not, then the easiest way (and what I rely on often) is to film yourself. Sure it's a little bit cringe-y, but watching yourself performing the action is the easiest (and safest) way to check in on yourself. 


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