We all know there are more than one line of thought in the fitness industry.  Strength coaches and personal trainers argue a lot over what’s the best way to do things; everybody has his philosophy and his own training system.  There are some things that are backed by science, others not so much, and some that are just good marketing tools.

Regardless of what your training system is and what you believe in, there are some things in common that smart, educated people believe in.  Whether you’re a powerlifting guy, an Olympic lifting guy, a Poliquin guy, an injury prevention guy, or even a Crossfit guy, there is at least one thing everyone can agree on.  If you put all of those people in the same room they might try to kill each other over what they don’t agree on.  But one overlooked principle is actually crucial in making any training system efficient (or somewhat efficient), and that smart people in each camp preach by: form.

Exercise form is often overlooked when judging the efficiency of a training method or system.  No matter which system you believe in, or even if you developed your own, I’m sure one of the things that make your system effective is the way the exercises are performed.  Because after all, good movement is good movement.  This is something that even the smart people in Crossfit would agree on.  I don’t think ALL Crossfit advocates are stupid; I’m sure there are some smart people who believe in it.  And I’m sure that those smart people are preaching good form on their lifts BEFORE trying to get the best time on a given circuit.  There are many things I disagree with about the whole Crossfit thing, but if I was going to get in an argument with a smart Crossfit advocate, I would probably agree that there are some benefits to it when done the right way, with flawless form on every single rep.

Not exactly what I mean by “flawless form”

In the end, no matter what training system you believe in, the most important thing is ‘good movement’.  You want your body to move the right way, and that is not something we can argue over.  Integrity in the joints and in the basic movement patterns is what we’re after.  Moving well and without compensation is the foundation of any athletic endeavor; you develop functional movement first, performance second and skills at last.  Whatever you do, the quality of your movement will dictate the outcome; and the better you move, the easier it’s going to be to achieve high performance and athletic success with minimal risk of injuries.

I’m sure you can agree with me on that….

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