Listen to your body. If something doesn’t feel right during exercise, there is a good chance that your form may be off. Lots of things can cause improper form: Too much weight, injury, going too fast in your reps, holding your breathe and just plain old bad form.
I am a big believer in slowing down and focusing on proper form. All exercises are most effective when executed with proper form. Sometimes this means lightening your load, or taking a modification for an exercise. This is not a failure! This is progress. This is you listening to your body, and reacting. Pushing through to injury is just silly!
Take a few minutes and watch your basic moves in a mirror. Here are a few common things to look out for:
Are you you squatting correctly? Are your knees slightly behind your toes, make sure your knees do not turn in. Is your fanny dropping towards the floor?
Are you keeping your arms pinned to your sides during a bicep curl? Be sure to squeeze your muscle and not swing the weights. Control it both concentrically and eccentrically.
Are you keeping a flat back during a bent-over row, or bent-over tricep kickbacks? Looking about a foot in front of you (and not at your knees).
Is your back flat in a plank position? Get that fanny out of the air!
Are you keeping your lower back pinned to the floor when doing leg raises?
Are you crunching by lifting head, neck and SHOULDERS off the ground, and not using your neck.
All of these are slight adjustments (that make a big impact) to keep in mind as you progress through your workouts. Proper form is just as important as proper nutrition. Lets stay injury free!