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There are some common mistakes that a lot of people who work out are making at the gym.
It’s important to keep exercising during the winter to avoid getting that extra layer of insulation. But if you’re not careful, you can pick up some pretty bad habits.
And unfortunately, some bad habits when it comes to our posture outside the gym can make us more prone to improper form when we’re working out. So it’s important to look out for these common mistakes.
What you do to your body in the gym affects your daily life. And it’s a two way street.
Jeannie Crawford is a fitness convert: “I can tell the difference if I’ve been slacking in my outside life when I come here. And vice versa.”
Bad posture at home can create bad workout habits. And bad workout habits perpetuate that vicious cycle.
Bryan Smith, Catalyst Specialized Personal Training: “As low as you can comfortably. Now you can see, when you come down, the first thing that happens is the ankles start to turn in.”
Many people, especially women, struggle with the basic squat. And your choice of footwear may be to blame.
Bryan Smith: “It shortens the back of your leg so when you try to do things like squat or bend down, you lose that range of motion through your ankle.”
You can reverse the high heel effect over time by stretching and flexing your ankles.
Another by-product of our modern lives is tight back muscles from hunching over at a desk. At the gym, we tend to let those bulky muscles do the heavy lifting. Our bodies ignore the small muscles that really need the workout.
Smith: “It uses the muscles that are already strong to work on the strengths that you already have. But people tend not to be strong in the right positions.”
Repeating the wrong movements can cause problems over time. And that’s easy to do in a fitness culture that preaches harder, faster, stronger, longer.
“They want you to build up and be able to hold it for two or three minutes.”
Most people use their lower back muscles when they hold a plank for too long. Instead hold a proper plank for 20 seconds.
Smith: “Hold that. This is your new plank.”
“A good workout doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re sweating horribly and that your legs are really sore the next day. It means that when you wake up the next day, maybe you have a little less shoulder pain or your hips move more properly, you can get out of the car without problems.”
When you squat or lift improperly, you’re more prone to injury, so it’s important to have someone check out your form. And if you can’t squat right away, don’t worry. We’re told it will come eventually.
