When it comes to resistance training I have one major pet peeve when watching other people work out in the gym: lack of control. This happens when you lift weight that is too heavy for you and as a result your lift too fast and with really bad form.Let's take the bicep curl for example's sake.
When you are lifting dumbbells or a barbell, your upper body should remain COMPLETELY still. When you have weight that is too heavy for you you will rock your body forward and then back to try to get the weight up. This decreases the effectiveness of the exercise probably 85%-90% because now your back, your stomach and your shoulders are doing all the work--and hey, isn't this a BICEP curl? You'll also end up trying to do it as fast as possible just to be done. Not good.
Select a weight that you can control on the way up and on the way down for at least 10 reps. It should be heavy enough that you feel the burn in your muscle, but not too heavy that you lose your form just trying to complete it. Really think about the bicep muscle as you lift and make sure it's the one doing the work.
It doesn't matter if it is less weight than you thought you could lift, you will see more results lifting with a lower weight the correct way than lifting with a heavier weight the wrong way.
Use counts to slow down your lifts and play around with them. You can use 4 counts to get up, hold for 2 counts at the top and take 4 counts on the way back down. You can do 2 counts up, 2 counts down. You can do 3 counts up, hold 1 count at the top and 2 counts down. You get the idea. Decide your counts before your set and do a whole set with those counts. Very slow and CONTROLLED. You control the weight, the weight doesn't control you. Switch your counts up ever couple weeks to change the way your muscle is being stimulated.
Remember, it's not about how much weight you can lift, it's about getting results. If you want an exercise to be effective then you have to allow whatever muscle is being exercised to do all the lifting without help from the rest of your body.
Just a quick form lesson for the bicep curl. As I stated above, your upper body should remain completely still. Feet shoulder width apart. Your arms from your shoulder to elbow stay parallel with your body throughout the lift. Pretend there is a pin through your elbow and it's just rotating on that. Your arms should never "swing" during this exercise. Maintain this form and stay in control of the lift.
3 comments:
My husband says the only thing he hates worse is the guy that has his headphones on and is singing loudly off key while doing his incorrect bicept curls.
But I told him he shouldn't be so mean to Porter.
I see it too, guys think they are getting so strong when they lift more weights, but the swing their whole body into the lift negating the benefit of the heavier weights. There are entire work outs dedicated to only one set of 9-13 reps but you must count to 10 as you lift and lower the weight, forcing you to do it SLOWLY. The entire work out can be completed in 30 minutes and it will KICK your butt. You are on the money with your tip.
Whatever, I just go and swing around the heaviest weight possible to look totally buff. Counts, control, safety...blah blah blah. :)
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