One of the ways I’ve seen people get sidetracked is trying to be perfect with their nutrition and healthy habits.
But I’ve also seen the pursuit of perfection get in the way at the gym.
People know I’m a stickler for proper form; it’s one of the reasons they train with me. But if you become obsessed with performing an exercise perfectly, there’s a chance you’ll miss out on some of the benefits.
If we want to force our bodies to adapt and change, we must regularly push ourselves to a point of discomfort. And being overly obsessed with technique can cause us to fall short of that threshold.
So while our intent might’ve been good, we wind up going through the motions.
Now, obviously, if I see you performing an exercise in a way that could be dangerous, I’ll stop you and help you make it safer. This could be lowering the weight, limiting range of motion or substituting a different exercise.
But remember: Short of that, there’s a lot of gray area in technique. Some people are going to have a wide squat stance, and others are going to have a more narrow stance. It’s important to some people’s goals to squat to full depth, while others just want to burn enough calories to lose a few pounds.
The point is, yes, proper form is important … and I will always make sure you’re doing the exercises safely.
But I’m also going to let you spend some time in the gray area, because your body needs to be pushed in order to change. Perfection is the enemy of that progress.
Your innie friend and coach,
Paul F. Sweatt CPT PN1
Train Smart. Train Hard. Train Safe. Train to Sweatt
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