In my last two articles on exercise form I have asked some questions and criticized the popular ideas of exercise form. Read them here Sacred Cows: Exercise Form Part I & Sacred Cows: Exercise Form Part II.
Exercise form. where it all begins
Desired outcome or objective.
You are moving and you are trying to make something happen. In other words you are here at point “A” and you need to move to point “B”.
Weight lifting, Sport, Life- this is accurate for any human action.
In The Movement biomechanics educational program we have break downs to examine movement with precision. To be very simple, here is what you look at:
- Force Application from A to B
- Base of Support changes required from A to B
- Center of Gravity changes/Counter balancing actions required from A to B
This gives you the formula for physics based form. The most efficient movement to complete the action.
But physics based form is not the whole story.
Functional fitness dirty words: compensation and restriction.
Your movement tells the story of your life. When you have a trained eye you will know more about a person observing how they move than anything they could tell you in the same amount of time.
Your body has been shaped by everything you do, and don’t do.
To this end each person moves differently. Differently in a degree of minor to major.
Compensations are what allow you keep moving. If you were unable to make mechanical compensations you would be unable to move.
This industry labels them as “bad” yet this ability of our body to do work arounds is what has allowed us to keep living.
What are some factors associated to compensation?
- The duration, frequency, and intensity (DFI) you perform a given movement
- Injury, both past and present
- Personality and emotional state
There are three forms of tissue misuse, and the majority of people have these.
- Over use: you do a movement too often and the tissue changes associated to movement are disproportionate to other movements
- Under use: You do not do a given movement often enough and tissue changes are disproportionate to other movements
- Disuse: You do not do a given movement, and tissue changes are disproportionate to other movements
Would you like to know the fastest to increase misuse injury?
Keep doing the same movements over and over with little to no variation. The more you do a specific pattern with DFI the higher the probability of overuse and under use injury. Stagnation, injury, and pain found right here. Keep doing the same shit over and over and you will learn for yourself.
Follow a program which orders “DO THIS!” and you will get waist deep in problems. Want more pain in your life? Follow others and ignore your own feedback.
Back to form and tissue.
You have done things, and your body has changed.
Physics based form may not be appropriate for your body depending on your tissue properties.
Plain and simple: There is no such thing as optimum form which applies uniformly to all people.
So how can you know what to do?
The only way to find a quality movement for your body is for you to test it. Someone else can’t look at you and tell you what it is. There are many fitness experts who will strongly disagree with this statement.
Tell me what is more likely.
Option A: You have a nervous system built to run your body, and no one elses. You are the most qualified person to run your body.
Option B: You have a nervous system built to run your body, but personal trainers and coaches have a mystic ability to sense your bodies sensation and better determine the best course of action over your own sensation. You are not the most qualified person to run your body, the trainer or coach is.
I will leave it to you to decide what is right for you.
What is a quality movement?
The movement which gives you the highest movement quantity.
The movement which tests best for you is the highest quality movement to perform the task at hand.
Quality is not directly associated to what other people think it “looks like.”
What is high quality for me may break you.
The best testing movement will often change, depending on the continuing nature of your tissue. How much variation you discover is proportion to the volume of testing you do. If you only question “Bench Press or no bench press” you will be extremely limited.
What if you question to bench press or not, then angle for the press, then hand positioning, then foot positioning, then rep tempo, then cadence, then weight?
In minutes you could determine a much more precise action which is going to give you better results in faster time.
If you do this you will be bench pressing more weight, more reps, faster times, you will gain more muscle, and you will avoid plateaus.
But I was told this exercise was always high quality for everyone?
The person who said that was incorrect.
There is no such thing as a perfect movement which is quality for every person, at any given time.
There are movements which test well now, and movements which do not test well right now.
There is absolutely no need for ideological stances on this topic, because you can test it for yourself.
How do I know this?
Because this is exactly what we with the Gym Movement Protocol.
Hundreds of men and women world wide have discovered they are the ones who need to determine what exercise form is. These people do not get hurt in the gym playing by other peoples rules. They do not stagnate following others peoples programs.
What they do instead is break personal records every day. They are gaining muscle, losing fat, restoring function to their body, resolving pain issues, and achieving their goals.
One of the unifying stories of this group is how the individual challenged a belief related to how a movement “must be done” and learned everything they were told was incorrect for their body.
Are you one of us?
Now it is your turn
Conclusion
Good form is individual, and is found by examining your leverages and your tissue limitations (if any related to the movement).
If you want to get maximum results you have stop being told what to do and start thinking for yourself.
There are people who will tell you that you are wrong, and that you should only listen to them.
I say listen only to your body, question everyone else.
ATG
P.S. Did you get your copy of my new Ebook? It’s right on the side of the page, you will love it
{ 15 comments }
well said mate
well said indeed
The most important thing is to know your own body. Everyone’s body is designed slightly differently. Work on identifying and fixing imbalances, getting enough rest between sessions and eat right.
Rest between sessions is a belief system worth questioning.
The frequency with which Adam & I train would probably be deemed impossible by most people.
adam
the info you laid out here is game changing per usual it makes me better everyday , i just keep putting it to use and let my bodies feedback decide with a simple pass fail test, so awsome keep up the great work adam thanks
The logical conclusion to the whole debate. Very well led, mate.
My favorite sentence:
“Compensations are what allow you keep moving. If you were unable to make mechanical compensations you would be unable to move.”
I hope you do not qualify as a Dead Asian because i’m going to quote you on that.
I am almost 9 months into regularly using Gym Movement. I’m learning more about my body everyday, and apply that newfound knowledge to the best of my ability.
I make progress and I break PRs every time I train, and probably even more than the data I’m keeping.
@David – Same here. The only days I don’t train are usually due to schedule issues. Despite this I can assure you my CNS is in top shape.
Cheers people, keep on being more and more awesome!
Not an expert by any means but I have a thought about proper form. I get what you speak about with testing and proper form for one may not be proper for all. This makes good sense, especially with form as applies to snatch and other multi joint movements.
But my question is that can there be one sacred cow in regards to form? (at least for beginners and intermediate lifters) And that is in regards to the neutral spine in things like the deadlift or squat. While a advanced guy may be able to get away with some flexation in the spine during some beastly lifts, a beginner may not be able to get away with this at even a low load. So even if a rounded back tests well, may it be a good idea to forgo this result and stick with the neutral spine anyway?
the physics applied to spine seem to severe to play experiments on.
Gene : do you think beginners can get to these so called “neutral spine ” positions? People are more chair shaped each week. You are still assuming that position is safer, and an assumption is all it is. There is no such automatically safe or good form.
this is just for me and not for all, but when I do not have a neutral spine (or at least try my best to keep) I pay the price later on. (like right now unfortunately) For me, my own personal sacred cow is to keep the spine neutral.
thanks Adam!
Gene
Nothing wrong with that- but consider there are people who would seek to tell you that your neutral spine is not neutral, and you need to lift their way. What would be your answer to them?
As soon as we get on that path of telling others how they must move we enter a most slippery slope and the cost of falling can be severe.
Now where the hell has this blog-site been all my life, ehh? Right now, I am stoked knowing there are a couple badasses out there who knowww what they’re doing. Badasses who get nothing, but pure results out of their training. I thought I was a lone wolf out here, man. Adam, your posts on ‘form’–I could not have said it better myself. Since, I am still relatively new to this site–I am not exactly sure what Biofeedback is, but I am getting the picture.
During the past couple of years as I trained–I always told my friends “dude, if it hurts…why are you doing it? There are hundreds of ways to get stronger. You should not be in pain to get stronger.” Then they respond back with the typical “C’monn, man. No pain, no gain”. Don’t get me wrong, pain can be your friend–but in situations like where my buddy was trying barbell rows for the first time. I (honestly) “tried” to alter his form since he was new to weightlifting–then he told me ” it hurts, man!” The first thing I said was “dude, if it hurts…don’t do it. Try it the way you were just doing it if you believe it is pain-free and will still get you results”. Lo and Behold, he’s one of the best ‘rowers’ I know even if his style is a little awkward. People used to dis him, I was always in their face asking if they could do what my buddy was doing? No? Shut the hell up. We all have different bodily structures/frames, which means we all will not ‘operate’ in the exact same manner. This should indicate common sense, but I do not know what the hell is going on out there. “You’re a tall, lanky 6’5 basketball player. Im a short, stout, 5’10 ‘farmer type of body’, do you really think our form is going to be the same dumbass?”
A lot of these guys used great examples. That guy who talked about walking. Logan and his incredible snatching performance. Adam, when you posted the world record holders(videos). Frankie- regarding training duration. There are hundreds of examples out there where you take any two people and they will do something ‘slightly different’ and yet, “No no no no, that’s not acceptable.” WHAT?!
Adam, Frankie, keep doing what you do. Spread the word. Lead from the front.
But dudes, this biofeedback—it’s interesting. I am not sure if I am doing it already. Personally, I can just ‘feel’ what my body would be better at (as If I know I was going to beat my old PR in the squat, compared to if i decided to deadlift even when I am much better at deadlifting.) Sometimes I can ‘feel’ that I could be better at this chosen exercise than the other and usually, i am always right when I listen to my body. I have bested by PRs the past 4 months everytime I left my garage(that is before i even stumbled upon your kick-ass site). So, I must be doing something right. I am still confused on how this biofeedback exactly works. I saw somevideos regarding toe touches. (I am deaf, so I cannot hear what the heck ya’ll are talking about. ha!)
Rock on, fellas.
Dustin I am glad you are digging the site!
Dustin, are you seriously deaf? If so I would be happy to write out some instructions in a more detailed way for you.
David,
First of all, I have to compliement you. You’re the man who does tons of sick deadlifts and puts NBA basketball players to bed when it comes to jumping, haha! I can only imagine what kind of progress you will make in a year.
To answer your question…yes. I am a bona-fide deaf dude who graduated from the Indiana School for the Deaf in 2006. That should be enough proof (if you’re going to trust my word) If It helps, i can certainly send in a video someday performing some feat of strength and communicating in American Sign Language, haha!
If you would like to write a short paragraph, that would be awesome. But no pressure. As I said before, I think i am already listening to my biofeedback, in a manner of speaking, but maybe my approach is oversimplified. I just can ‘feel’ what I would be better at. Lately, it has been working for me. I am assuming the toe touches has something to do with the amount of ‘tension’ perhaps? I am intrigued in your biofeedback process though. If you are willing to do so, thank you. I appreciate it, David.
38, 27, 15…
disappointing.
Ok, I decided to do myself a favor and browsed through the past blog posts hoping I could find some clarification on biofeedback. Little by little, the information added up. In that case (adam, I am definnitely digging the site after a little more browsing. The brain droppings, effing hilarious) Toe touches–measuring the amount of tension. (question, is this the only way ya’ll measure tension?) Example–Two reps in the squat, toe touch, measure. Two reps of the deadlift, toe touch–measure. Two reps of the Power Clean..toe touch, measure. Which tests best? Ahh, the deadlift? Raise hell. Hopefully, that sounds just about right?
Question–(I do not want to fill up your ‘comment page’ with questions about biofeedback since it should refer to comments regarding sacred cows: form”, but if you do not mind–it would be helpful knowing the answers)–I am running a little experiement on myself. Let’s just say–I am limited to two ‘fixed’ weights that I train with. Suppose I want to work on ehhh, curls. How would I know if it would be a good time to work on volume/density via say sets of 10 as opposed to doing a single set and beating my old PR in that BUT using the exact same grip placement, style, and/or equipment? How does the biofeedback process help you with that? Thank you!
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