With any exercise, at any point, form is everything.  It’s basic concept behind weight lifting.  If you’re not lifting with good form, you increase your risks of injuries, not only in the weight room, but also on the field.  Getting stronger without consideration for perfect form is really just reinforcing bad movement pattern.

The major lifts are all occasions to reinforce good movement.  This is really what the premise of strength training is about; improve the way you move, and get strong in those “good movement patterns”.  All the mobility work, corrective exercises and foam rolling are tools to help you achieve that very goal.  But it doesn’t need to get more complicated that that.

Whether it’s because of the physical stress that life puts on us, the overuse trauma that certain activities exert on our bodies or the sedentarity of our lifestyle in 2012, our bodies build up dysfunctions.  Playing sports definitely increase the overuse stress on our body, and is really good at making dysfunctions worse.  Displaying maximal effort and energy at high velocities as it is commonly seen in sports, will make your body use the path of least resistance; your body doesn’t “think” about good movement.  It just does whatever it is asked to do.  That’s why it’s something that needs to be reinforced.

Achieving good movement and understanding it is the first step, then you perform repetitions, and lastly you start loading to solidify those movement patterns.  With practice and added strength, your brain will start to make the connections, and the automated response of quality movements under high velocities will happen.

That’s what strength training is all about.  It’s not about who’s going to be able to jump on the highest box.  It’s not about who can perform 50 snatches from the floor the fastest.  And it’s definitely not about pushing yourself when your form becomes shitty.

I’m not pointing any fingers here.

Or maybe I am….

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