If you are doing resistance training, you are putting your body against some resistance to make it stronger. When we are doing resistance training, we are basically moving the resistance or in simple term the weight from point “A” to point “B.”
Moving the weight from point A to point B is not the only goal. How you move the weight from point A to point B is more important here. This example will help you to understand what I am trying to say. Just think of squats; the starting or standing position is point “A” for us, and the squat or sitting position is point “B.”. While going from points A to B, there are some checkboxes we need to check to make the exercise beneficial. One of the most important among them is maintaining proper posture while doing the exercise. If you are doing squats where your back is getting rounded, or your toes are coming off, it increases your chance of injury. You will be moving from point A to point B, but it will not get the job done.
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The importance of maintaining good posture while exercising
If you do not maintain proper posture during an exercise, you will not get the most benefit from it. You will not be able to track your progression. By doing cheat reps, you might be able to lift more weight, but the muscle that you are trying to improve will not improve.
Maintaining good posture is very important and it will help you in:
Engaging the targeted muscle properly
When you maintain the correct posture for exercise, there is very little chance of cheating. When you are not able to cheat, you will engage the targeted muscle to its full extent, which is the goal.
For example, when you are doing a bicep curl, if you keep your elbow fixed and your body straight and do not use swinging as momentum, you can fully milk out the biceps. You might be able to do fewer reps, but they will be more effective reps. Properly performing 8 reps of biceps curls will be much better than doing 15 or more reps if done improperly.
By fully engaging the targeted muscle, you will be able to push that muscle to near failure, which promotes strength and muscular growth.
Reduce the chances of injury
Maintaining correct posture is important for some exercises. This especially emphasizes compound exercises like squats or deadlifts. If you perform them with bad posture, your chances of injury increase.
If you are familiar with exercise, you will know that you need to maintain a straight back throughout the movement of deadlifts or squats. If your back gets rounded while doing the exercise, it can put excessive pressure on the lower back region, leading to injury.
When performing compound exercises, always focus on maintaining the correct posture. Weights can be increased only when you do a certain number of reps with proper form and technique. Do not rush to increase weight.
I would always recommend using supporting gear like gym belts, ankle or knee wraps, etc.
Reduce Joint Stress
Joint health suffers if you do not maintain proper posture while performing exercises.
Think of doing exercises like bench presses where your elbow holds the load. If you do not perform the exercise in the correct form, all the weight will be carried out by the elbow instead of the chest, which can put stress on the joints and cause pain.
How can you improve posture?
In almost all exercises, there are practically the same postural corrections that you need to maintain, with few exceptions.
- Keeping the shoulder blades retracted
- Arching the back
- Engaging the core
- Place the feet in accordance with the exercise requirement.
- Not using momentum
There are a thousand articles you will find that will give you 5, 10, or 12 postural correction exercises without even analyzing your requirements.
I personally faced the problem of lack of mobility, which made it hard for me to maintain the correct posture. There are two things you need to do to maintain the correct posture.
Find your weak spot
Different exercises require different muscles to be engaged. Sometimes, stiffness in one muscle group makes it difficult to maintain good posture.
I had stiff glutes, which made it really hard for me to perform squats or any exercise that required glute flexibility. When I tried to perform SLDL (stiff-legged deadlifts), I was not able to bend much due to the stiffness in my glute muscles.
When you want to improve your exercise posture, always find your weak spot. Suppose you do not try to find out why you are not able to perform a specific exercise with the correct form. In that case, you will continue doing that exercise in bad form.
I have an article regarding exercises for every body part. Before your next workout, check that and see if you are maintaining the correct posture while performing the exercise.
Work on the weak spot
After finding out what is causing the problem, you need to work on the solution.
As I had a problem with glute flexibility, I started doing dynamic stretching for my glutes. I performed toe touches and glute bridges. After three weeks of doing that, I felt that I could bend much lower than previously. I can now do SLDL with full stretch. Not only that, but I can squat almost parallel to the ground.
Usually, stiffness occurs in the glutes, shoulders, or chest, reducing mobility. Stretching exercises will fix these over time.
After finding your problem, work on it, and you will soon be able to perform exercises with perfect posture.