Hey Team, an interesting discussion has popped up a couple of times now regarding ‘correct technique’.
This is a massive topic so I will try and condense this as best I can.
I run technique sessions to help people understand body ‘posture, position and alignment’ as well some muscle engagement. This is pretty much a mandatory requirement for people who have never been taught how to lift weights. This is for your own safety and body longevity.
There are definitely positions, postures and movements which are detrimental to your lifting weights successfully for a long period of time.
That being said, there is an infinite number of ways to activate muscles through nearly as many different exercises.
example – Whether you squat till your thighs are parallel to the ground, or don’t go to that depth, neither is wrong. They just work muscles differently, through a different range of movement. The exact same is said with any exercise. There are a bunch of different ways of attacking every muscle.
When I instruct a class or a PT client, I have specific goals in mind which guide how I instruct. The biggest of these goals is teaching people how to control their body !!! Unfortunately we aren’t taught how to lift weights during any period of our childhood (at least I wasn’t, neither has anyone else I have trained) so it is unfair to expect people to ‘automatically’ know how to lift weights. I liken it to going to school ……. who ‘automatically’ knew algebra in Maths without being taught ?? Lifting weights is no different. Sure, you can grab a weight and lift it, did you do it safely ?? do you know what muscles you used ?? this might be fine if you are lifting something once at home ……. but you didn’t walk into a gym to lift something once did you ??? You came in to lift weights to achieve a goal, whatever that goal may be.
Once you know how to control your muscles, and then have the muscles that you want to work actually working, rather than just any old muscle that turns up working, then you can decide what and how you want your muscles to work. Up until that point, I am primarily teaching you control and safety for longevity, as well as strengthening your core !!!
The main point there is longevity !!! I want you still lifting weights in your 90’s because all of your joints are in as good a shape as you can keep them.
This is quite a broad over view but hopefully it gives you a bit more of an understanding of what we are trying to achieve through our instruction of lifting weights.
If you are looking for further insight and instruction, please give me a call on 5482 6588 and we can arrange a Technique session.
