The Importance of the Contraction
When you see people training in a gym, you see a wide range of both good and bad techniques.
Typically its women who have good form. They listen when they are taught, and dont assume they know better, and then they focus on working the area they are trying to work.
When it comes to men, there seems to be a real difficulty with leaving their 'ego' out of their workouts. Dont get me wrong, pushing as hard as you can, getting stronger and lifting heavy are all fantastic and a great part of the gym experience when using weights.
However, a large number of people when training worry more about using the big weight for something that losely resembles the exercise they are doing, than performing controlled reps, and really squeezing the muscle. This is not only less effective, but also puts the joints under pressure from much more weight than they need to be.
Muscles react to time under tension. Therefore, by slinging weights around, you end up recruiting other muscles to help the ones you are trying to focus on, and reduce the amount of direct tension they are under.
If you lower the weight a bit and really focus on feeling it in the muscle you are working, from the stretch through to the contraction, really squeeze at the most contracted point, then control the movement back to the stretch, you will notice a huge difference in the feeling of the muscle you are working. Believe me, it will let you know how much more difficult it is!
This is how you progress, whether your goal is to tone, build muscle or burn fat, the muscles that have been really worked properly will burn more calories, and if you eat for it, grow larger to deal with this new intense strain.
Have a personal trainer or any other fitness professional spend some time with you and look over your form. It will do wonders for your training, health, and results!
