The Importance of Proper Posture During Exercise
Also known as form, it is among the keys to successful results and optimal health.
Ever heard someone say; I’ve been doing this workout for ages with no results? Or I got an injury from doing a certain move? Well, Working out is not just a matter of moving, but instead, doing the move correctly. Otherwise, among the major consequences you may bear are injury and failure to achieve the desired result.
Bad Form Prevents You From Achieving The Intended Goals
It targets the wrong muscles.
In fitness, each move is aimed at achieving a certain result. For example, squats, albeit working the full body, are majorly aimed at building/strengthening the butt & legs. This is achieved by the amount of pressure you put on the legs as you squat as they are tasked with supporting most of the body weight.
When squatting, the butt should be pushed backwards (like in a sitting position), the back not slouched, and the legs should be stable. Failure to do this will not give the leg/butt muscles the needed stress. Consequently, you may be doing numerous squats daily but not see any change!
Let’s take another example of a push-up, if you go down by lowering your lower body only instead of the whole body in a straight line, then the upper body is not bearing any pressure. Hence, you’re doing useless work, as this move is meant to work mostly your shoulders, back and core.
Bad From Can Cause Serious Injury
Assuming you arch your back while squatting, then you’d be exerting pressure on the wrong parts of the back from the bad posture. This is deadly and may cause serious injuries or even completely stop you from working out.
The wrong posture is known to cause temporary to serious injuries such as damaged nerves and joints, spine injuries, paralysis & torn muscles and tendons…Yes, working out with the wrong posture can damage your nerves and spine leaving you unable to either walk or ever work out again. A good example of this is bad posture when squatting with weights, the wrong lifting technique or not engaging the correct muscle harms the spine, making it prone to long-term malfunction. Another common injury is a hernia.
Wasted Energy
Wrong form makes you spend energy on something meaningless. In the end, you’ll be tired with no results to show for it. Let your energy be worth it!; You’d rather spend 10 minutes doing proper lunges than spend 30 minutes doing the wrong ones; the latter is a waste of your precious energy.
Limited Ability
With bad form, you may not be able to lift the weight you want or are capable of. As such, you’ll struggle to lift only 7Kgs when you can comfortably do 10 or 20. This not only wastes your energy and time but also limits you from the gains and progress you’d have made. It may also make you hate weights when they can be such a delight and important addition to exercise.
This is also evident in athletes, for example, bad posture leads to improper landing techniques and poor body control, which greatly affects athletes’ performance and also causes injury.
Detrimental to Career and Life
For one whose workouts are for professional sportsmanship, it goes without saying that the resulting injuries from bad posture can end their career or keep them away for a while. There are various famous athletes whose careers have ended due to injury, some of the injuries being posture-related.
Forget about the sportsman for a minute! Even regular workout enthusiast like you and I can end careers due to workout injuries. How? Well, assume you break your leg, back, or neck yet your job depends heavily on your physical ability, wouldn’t your employer have to let you go?
Plus, you’d also be unable to optimally function, say, playing with the kids and having a good sex life…So, proper form is crucial.
The most important parts to consider are:
1. Your back
In most instances, keep your back straight. When bending, only hinge at the waist and maintain a straight line from your waist to the neck.
2. Legs
Legs must be kept stable (not wobbly). Always remember to engage your core & legs so that they help in supporting most of the weight instead of leaving it all to the back. Engaging the proper muscles helps to eventually build/tone that muscle.
3. Full body posture.
In lying/horizontal positions such as the plank, push-up, also keep your body/posture in a straight line.
Examples of Bad Postures:
Wobbly legs and arms
Arched back
Slouched posture while running
Dragging feet while running
Not looking straight ahead e.g. with deadlifts, squats, planks, etc.
Bending the waist when picking something from the floor. Instead, bend your knees, back slanted forward from the waist up but kept straight, engage your core and leg muscles, look straight ahead-This also applies to deadlifts
Summary:
Bad form/posture wastes your energy, can cause injury, limits your capabilities and hits the wrong muscles hence many months of working out with no visible results.
Pro tip-Back/body straight, look straight ahead, engage your core and leg muscles, and no wobbly legs and arms.
