Exercise ensures good health. Although it has many advantages; if done improperly it can lead to some serious complications. While exercising it is important that you maintain the right body posture to avoid any injury.
The following are a list of mistakes people often make while lifting weights and how you can go about fixing the problem.
HIPS AND PELVIS
If you’re moving your pelvis back and forth during bicep curls, you are using momentum to help you thrust the dumbbell upward, rather than isolating the muscle and using it to lift the weight.
How to fix it: To make sure you perform the motion using only your biceps to move the bar, do the exercise seated, with your legs spread, and rest your right elbow against the inside of your right leg, then do the same on the left side. You should have a 25 degree hip angle, with your legs straight.
USING SHORT CUTS
Not exercising through a full range of motion is a common mistake, especially when doing bicep curls. Many people stop the exercise before they’ve extended their arm all the way down. This means they are only strengthening the upper part of the biceps instead of fully developing the muscle.
How to fix it: Each exercise should be done in a slow, controlled manner through the complete range of motion, with emphasis on a completely contracted position. Full range of motion movements, contract and strengthen the muscle you’re working and stretch the opposing muscle (in the case of the bicep curl, the triceps).
HIPS
When you lift your hips off the bench when doing a bench press, you change the angle of your shoulders as you lift the bar, so you are using only your lower pectoral muscles instead of the entire pectoral muscle. Your feet are also contributing to the movement, so you’re not working as hard.
How to fix it: One simple way to prevent this is to place your legs on the bench with your knees bent and your feet down.
ELBOW
As discussed earlier, there is a fine line between a full range of motion and hyperextension. For example, allowing your elbows to go too far behind the back in a bench press or chest press. It’s hard to know how far is too far. In the case of a bench press or chest press, the farther you bring your elbows down, the more you increase your chances of injuring your shoulders.
How to fix it: A general guideline if you’re doing a bench press is to lower the weight onto your chest until your forearms are perpendicular to the floor. This means that your elbows drop slightly below your chest — but this will not overstrain your shoulder because aligning the forearm helps you keep good form.
WARM-UP
If you are lifting significant weight and you don’t warm up, it will be harder for you to lift because your muscles won’t be ready. You will also increase your chance of injury.
How to fix it: Do a general warm-up before you start lifting, by using a cardio machine at a moderate level for a minimum of at least four to five minutes.
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