Learning Proper Exercise Technique: Avoiding the Overuse of Stronger Muscles

Learning correct exercise technique is a challenge and one of the biggest reasons is because, when left to its own devices, the human body is rather lazy. This means your body tries to expend as little energy as possible when exercising or doing any other activity. One of the main ways this is accomplished is by performing activities or exercises with an over reliance on the strongest muscles.

Everyone has some muscles that are proportionally stronger than others. The stronger the muscle and the more often you use it, the more your body tries to rely on it. If you perform exercises primarily designed to work your strongest muscles, it may not be much of a problem, but a good training program should work all muscles and strengthen muscles that are relatively weak in order to minimize muscle imbalances.

When performing exercises that target weak or infrequently used muscles, your body naturally attempts to contract any stronger muscles in the area to help out. For instance, many people's muscles in the front of their shoulders and chest are disproportionately stronger than the muscles in the back of their shoulders and upper back.

When a person with this issue does an exercise to work the back of the shoulders and upper back, the front shoulder and chest muscles should be kept as relaxed as possible, so the muscles in back can do the majority of the work. The problem is that when many people exercise, they just go from the starting position to the ending position using whatever muscles their body feels like using.

In this example, since the muscles in the back of the shoulder and upper back are relatively weak, the body will try to engage other muscles for assistance. Unfortunately, this defeats the purpose of the exercise, because it means the target muscles do not have to work as much and it further increases the imbalance between the stronger and weaker muscles.

Sometimes the overuse of stronger muscles is accomplished simply by contracting those muscles more, but it can also be done by changing body position (posture, alignment) during exercises. Correct body position is an important part of proper technique, because changes in body position alter the amount of leverage different muscles have to perform specific movements.

In other words, by making small position changes, your body is able to shift effort from weaker muscles to stronger ones, thus making the exercise easier. Posture and alignment changes can also put your body in a better position to generate momentum during exercises, which is another way for weaker muscles to perform less work. In addition, this can move stress from your muscles to your joints, which is something you should definitely avoid.

All of these things essentially result in circumventing the use of weaker muscles, which may allow you to perform more work or lift heavier weights. This may sound like a good thing, but it is actually just a form of cheating and it minimizes the benefits you get from the exercises. Plus, it further increases the imbalances between strong and weak muscles, eventually leading to pain and other problems.

The real challenge when learning proper exercise technique is that these cheats are usually unconscious, so you have to take conscious steps to prevent them. In this regard, the most important thing is to pay attention to how your muscles are feeling during each exercise. A good habit is to think about what muscle(s) you should feel before you begin an exercise and focus on those muscles during the movement.

Focusing on the muscle(s) you want to work is an effective way to increase the contraction of those muscles and minimize the chance that other muscles will take over during an exercise. However, as sets progress and your muscles fatigue, undesired muscles will kick in to help out, but that is usually when you should stop and rest. This is especially true when learning new exercises or working to improve technique.

If you still have problems with the wrong muscles contracting, it can be helpful to concentrate on the muscles you don't want to contract, but focus on having them relax. Sometimes this is just the thing the body needs to allow the right muscles to start working correctly.

If you are just learning to exercise, try not to get discouraged as it can take a lot of time and practice to develop great technique. It is not necessary to have perfect technique, but you should always try to perform exercises as well as possible. That way, even if your form is not ideal, it will be much better than if you simply let your body do what it wants and your form will improve much faster as well.

Since exercises are meant to be done throughout your life and you will likely repeat certain movements thousands of times, it only makes sense that learning proper technique should be a priority. Some of the benefits of exercising with proper form may not be noticed right away, but you will experience a significant improvement in how your body feels and functions years down the road.

Source:

14 years of experience and education in health and fitness