The Importance of Technique in Fitness

If you send any time researching poor exercise technique as a means of avoiding it, you’re likely to stumble across warnings of dangerous exercises or exercises to avoid if you’re over a certain age. Here at Framework Personal Training in Reno, we specialize in fitness over forty, and we know that these kinds of dire warnings should be taken with a grain of salt. Individual limitations and personal fitness goals should be the deciding factor in choosing one exercise over another – not a random list on the internet. Fitness after a certain age should be approached with understanding and a focus on proper form. Here’s the importance of technique in fitness – at any age.

Understanding the Mechanics

Viewed from the side, a body that’s in a neutral position will have properly alignment from the ear to the shoulder to the hip, knee, and ankle. The farther the body moves from this position of neutrality, the more wear and tear it suffers. Consider your own posture. A head that’s pitched forward to look down at a mobile device or laptop promotes rounded shoulders and a steeper lumbar spine extension. It’s a posture that has its own problems, but what’s worse is the programming itself. Repeated poor posture is a habit that you can train yourself into, setting you up for problems down the road.

In fitness, proper technique begins with good posture. Bad exercise technique is not only dangerous because you’re putting yourself at serious risk of injury – particularly when your exercise includes any kind of resistance training, meaning there is some kind of weight involved – it’s also inefficient. It compromises the integrity of the exercise, wasting your time and energy with little  reward and potential risk.

A Long Term Problem

Poor exercise technique is often exacerbated by the fact that the pain it creates doesn’t always appear right away. Months of poor technique have a cumulative effect that can show up even years later and may be able to difficult to trace. Fortunately, it’s an avoidable scenario – if you’re committed to improving your physical fitness, make sure you’re doing it properly. That’s especially true if your workouts are particularly intense, or if you’re even a little unsure of what you’re doing. The best way to keep your injuries to a minimum and help ensure proper body function in the future is by practicing proper technique in every exercise and doing your best to maintain good posture. The professionals here at Framework can help you get started. Contact us today to learn more.