In the gym, quality trumps everything else, including reps, sets, the amount of weight you lift and what your fellow gym-goers are doing. “Proper strength training form yields better end results,” says Hannah Davis, a Tennessee-based certified strength and conditioning specialist.
By using proper form, you’re best able to train intended muscles and see results faster. More importantly, using correct form helps prevent sidelining injuries and limits muscular imbalances as well as excess weight placed on vulnerable structures like the shoulders and lower back, she says.
8 Strength Training Form Mistakes
Here, experts share eight of the most common strength training form mistakes that can limit your results and increase your risk of injury – and how to fix them.
1. Letting your knees cave in when you squat
When knees form a knock-kneed position (also known as valgus), especially when under a heavy weight like in a squat, there’s increased side-to-side stress placed on the knees. Knee valgus may contribute joint injury, says Baltimore-based certified strength and conditioning specialist Erica Suter.
The fix
To keep the knees from wavering, focus on activating the medial glutes, found in the side of the hips, says Hannah Davis, a Tennessee-based strength and conditioning specialist. Simply push your knees out to the sides to track over your feet throughout the entire movement. If you’re unable to do so, lighten the load and integrate medial glute exercises such as lateral band walks and hip abductions, which involve moving your thighs away from the midline of your body, into your routine.
2. Taking too narrow of a stance when you lunge
An itty-bitty stance crunches up the legs and forces the front leg’s knee far past the toes, increasing stress on the knee and the injury-prone anterior cruciate ligament, or ACL, Suter says. Also, many people perform lunges with the goal of working their glutes, but a narrow stance takes the onus off of the glutes and places it on the quads, she says.
The fix
Step farther forward or backward as you lunge. As you land your foot, focus on pushing your front heel into the floor so that the knee doesn’t excessively shift forward, Suter says. The crankier your knee or the more you want to work your glutes, the wider your lunge stance should be.
3. Pulling the bar behind your neck during lat pull-downs
Despite what behind-the-neck lateral pull-down lovers often claim, the pull-behind technique does not increase recruitment of the latissimus dorsi in the middle and lower back, which are responsible for pulling the shoulders back and down, according to a 2009 study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. However, following this technique does place the shoulders in an unstable position and stresses their ligaments.
The fix
According to the 2009 study in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, pulling the lat pull-down bar toward the collarbones is equally effective at strengthening the lats. Plus, it also works the pectoral muscles and reduces strain on the shoulders.
4. Rounding your back while doing a deadlift
Hunching or rounding forward during a deadlift excessively stresses the entire spine, says kinesiologist Ryan Campbell, a training specialist with Anytime Fitness in Wisconsin. This can damage the discs, surrounding nerves or the muscles that stabilize the spine, he says. A rounded spine can also limit the amount of weight you can lift with each rep and, thus, your muscle gains.
The fix
Focus on bracing your core, including your lats, Campbell says. Before starting each rep, draw your shoulders down and together and squeeze your abs. Your back should be flat, with a natural curvature in your lower back. Maintain this back positioning throughout the entire movement.
5. Arching your back as you complete bench presses
While this technique is popular among powerlifters, it’s not appropriate for the general exerciser. Campbell explains that it can stress the lumbar (low) spine as well as the muscles in your neck and shoulders.
The fix
“Keep the spine, including the head and neck, in neutral alignment,” Campbell says. Before lowering the bar, brace your core as if you are about to get punched in the gut. The bottom of your ribs should point toward your knees and not up toward the ceiling. If you can’t complete a rep with a neutral spine – meaning it’s mostly flat with a gentle curvature in the lower back – reduce the weight by around 10 percent and try again.
6. Scrunching your shoulders toward your ears as you row
If you let your trapezius in your upper back drive each movement, which is most noticeable if your shoulders scrunch toward your ears, you risk aggravating the tissues in your shoulders and neck, Davis says. This can also reduce the amount of work performed by the lats and rhomboids, meaning you don’t get the muscle-building benefits out of each rep that you want.
The fix
“Keep your shoulders down away from the ears and aim to graze your elbow just above the hip joint,” Davis says. “This will help keep the traps from overacting” so they don’t become the primary muscles worked.
7. Letting your body hang as you do pushups
“There are so many errors here,” Davis says. “Dropped head, overactive traps [shoulders shrugged toward the ears], poor range of motion, poor core engagement [and] ‘noodle’ legs.” Most everything comes down to letting the body hang from the shoulders, and that can result in everything from lackluster development of the pecs, core and even glutes to shoulder impingement, in which muscles and other tissues become pinched in the joint, causing an injury.
The fix
Work to maintain tension throughout your entire body, Davis says. Keep your shoulder blades pulled down and together, your core tight and your body in one straight line from head to heels. If that’s too hard, focus on holding a high plank pose (picture a pushup position with your arms lengthened) with this body positioning before taking on pushups, she says.
8. Swinging as you complete pullups
The fix
Maintain a “hollow body” position with your torso straight and your legs about 10 degrees in front of your body, keeping your knees as straight as possible. Squeeze every muscle – from your glutes and quads through your abs and lats – so that your body is rigid, allowing it to move as one cohesive unit, Suter says. On both the way up and down, focus on moving slowly to stay in control.
