Rubbish reps lead to rubbish athletes

I have to give credit to the February 2018 Flax class from Q Academy and Coach Joe for the inspiration for this poster. I had to make it G rated, but the sentiment remains. If you don’t train with good form then you won’t perform with good form.

There are a lot of things to consider when you think about form during competition but lets focus on the simple thought that the better your form the less likely you are to be injured. There are no guarantees in life and athletes who train well with perfect form still get injured and athletes who train with rubbish form avoid injury, however, as I am in the injury prevention game I believe that to give yourself the best chance of avoiding injury you need to train with good form.

I feel like most elite athletes understand this or are at least working with professionals in the health and fitness industry that understand this. I think where the danger lies is in the amateur and weekend warrior athlete. There can be an attitude that you have to complete training sessions no matter what. This is where injury can and does happen. Particularly in people who are exercising for the first time or after a long period of being inactive.

My direction to clients is normally that when you start to lose form that is when you need to stop. Now stop doesn’t mean finish exercising, it just means you need to re-evaluate. Maybe you need to lessen the load or maybe you need to regress the exercise to something simpler that still works the same muscles. There is always an overall goal that we are trying to achieve with an exercise program, be it for rehabilitation or strength, but the last thing that we want is injury or even worse re-injury. I would prefer my clients to finish a set short then to complete a set with bad form. Gray Cook regularly says ‘Don’t add strength to dysfunction.’ Get the form first, then add the strength. This will make for a more complete athlete and one who is less likely to be injured.

If you would like to come in and chat about any questions regarding your training or performance book here.