Are you practising, right now, what you want to become?

The body adapts with every single rep and in order to reap maximum benefits from your training and avoid injury you must constantly search for and produce perfect repetitions.

This is a point emphasized by almost anyone who works with strength training. I remember Paul Chek, HHP, telling a story about a day when he went to Charles Poliquin's gym. Paul apparently had a minor flaw in his squat technique. Charles did not let him work out until the flaw was corrected!!

I'll assume here that you know the correct technique for the lifts you are performing. Yet here is a short list of typical errors that can occur in often practised lifts.

• Over-extending the neck in squats and deadlifts.
• Letting the low back round in squats and deadlifts.
• Letting elbows move out and up in bench presses.
• Forceful extension of the elbow joint (with no muscular control) in exercises like biceps curls and triceps extensions.
• Letting the wrist drop back (extension) in exercises like snatches and military presses.
• Letting the knees move in front of or inside of the toes in standing exercises.

Faults like the above mentioned can sometimes help you move more weight in the short run and thus produce quick results. But the flip side of this coin is an overload of joints, ligaments and tendons, which in time will wear these structures down and cause injury. Subsequently, you are forced to cease or change your preferred training routine.

Since developing a truly great physique takes many years, you better make certain that your body maintains that tolerance for the heavy loads!

If you have a lifting buddy, he or she can check your technique so it’s on the mark. On the other hand you might be training alone with no help from anybody.

Click here to learn how to correct your lifting technique when you are training alone.

Committed to your uninterrupted success,
Karsten Jensen