Following the injury prevention blog, today we will discuss the importance of form.
Sometimes it’s ok to win ugly, deviating from form and just getting the job done; however, when we do regularly, it can lead to reduced performance and, potentially, injury (one of many factors – as discussed). So, why is it important to maintain form?
Biomechanical inefficiency
Muscle imbalances
During a squat, if your weight shifts towards one leg whilst squatting, you reduce your ability to transfer force vertically. As the centre of mass shifts to one side, the distance you have travelled (displacement) creates more work and increases the demand on one leg, simultaneously limiting the capacity of the leg you have glided away from. This leads to a reduction in the force applied to the bar and more effort is required to overcome the weight.
Or
Technical inefficiency
If the bar comes forward off the floor during the first pull of an Olympic lift, then the bar is further away from the centre of mass. The longer the lever arm, the heavier the weight feels relatively, so if this happens, then the weight feels and requires more force for you to make the lift. For an example, watch the shoulder matrix video here. If you press a dumbbell forwards, as shown in the first direction, it feels much heavier, and you can lift less weight than if you press directly overhead.
This is due to the change in leverage at the shoulder joint.
Resulting in…
Physiological inefficiency
This follows from the biomechanical inefficiency if we use more effort per rep because we are not distributing the load between both legs. Therefore, we are using more energy to overcome the weight.
Furthermore, human movement has an elastic component due to the elastic components and structures that comprise our tissues.
These components provide free energy. For example, they assist in muscular contractions without using energy (ATP) to create movement. If you find it hard to jump and lack the speed to do so, then you cannot use this elastic component and are using more energy per rep as the muscles have to work harder to overcome the weight.
To increase your performance and reduce the stress on tissues (and mitigate injury risk), you must strive for better form. Doing more good reps than ugly reps whilst working on any muscle imbalances you may have.
The people at the top of most sports make the complex look easy. Strive for this as your base, and build a foundation of form and efficiency you can rely on.
It is not only better for you but healthier for you too!