Form-ula for success

Good form in weight lifting is important.  For one thing, it helps prevent injury, which is always a good thing.  I am not big into pain.  A lot of good form comes down to alignment, making sure that the body bears the load in a way that makes sense for the bones and joints and muscles.  Trainers, workout buddies, and mirrors can all help us see whether we are aligned and help us adjust our own perception of what aligned is  (It can be surprisingly far from what we think it is!).

Another part of good form has to do with range of motion.  When we don’t use our full range of motion, we begin an unfortunate cycle in which that range gets smaller and smaller.  The world is a big place and we can use it all!  Also, the work at the beginning and end of our range of motion provides extra challenge.  This is why we so often cheat out of it:  too much work!!!  We need to shift our perspective and see that that extra work is where the extra superpowers come from.

Sometimes we discover that we can’t have good form and use the same weights.  We may have used cheats to curl those bigger dumbbells, so good form might mean dropping to a smaller set.  Our egos may hurt for a bit, but our muscles will improve in a better way.

We can do this.