Superior Fitness – gaining strength and size starts with proper lifting form.
You can now bounce the bar high off your chest, squat until you reach a 45-degree angle, and swing those dumbbell curls as fast as you want.
Freedom is sweet!
Or is it?
Turns out weightlifting form doesn’t just have to do with satisfying the old-timers.
Lifting with proper form greatly accelerates your gains in strength and size.
And the opposite is true—crappy lifting form will slow down your gains, increase your chances of injury, and ultimately lead you nowhere.
Fortunately for you, superior fitness can easily be achieved with just a few simple weightlifting tweaks.
These 10 simple tips will help you dramatically improve your lifting form. When you emerge from the shadows to do battle with the undead, your superior fitness will make you unstoppable!
SUPERIOR FITNESS WEIGHTLIFTING FORM TIPS
START WITH LIGHTER WEIGHTS
To master the movement of any exercise, you’ll need to start with lighter weight. Lighters weights allow you to freely master the form of the exercise. Once you begin to feel confident, don’t just jack the weight up to your max—start off small. Never sacrifice your form for weight!
CONTROL YOUR MOVEMENTS
Lifting isn’t a race. And it’s not about who can lift the most weight (though some will try to convince you otherwise). Once again, never sacrifice your form for weight. Always use a weight you can raise and lower in a slow, controlled movement.
The rate at which an exercise is performed is known as Tempo. The “best” weightlifting tempo is debatable, but make sure your personal tempo is consistent with your exercise. This means you take the same amount of time to lower, hold, lift, and hold the weight each time you do the exercise. Avoid the urge to bounce the bar off your chest when benching or drop your arms quickly when curling. Both the lifting and lowering motions work specific muscles—don’t skip half the workout!
DON’T FORGET TO BREATHE
Breathing is a huge part of your lifting form. It’s just as important (if not more) as your hand placement or feet placement. Many beginners hold their breath until their faces turn bright red as they struggle to lift the weight. Remember to breathe! Some lifters recommend breathing in on the way down and breathing out on the push. Studies show the breathing isn’t as important as your abdominal muscles “bracing,” and research doesn’t prove which breathing method is more effective for “bracing.”
WARM UP PROPERLY
Before you lift heavy amounts of weight, you need to warm up your muscles. An effective warmup will help loosen up your muscles, and this will help you perform the exercise properly. Stretching is not an effective warmup! Studies show “stretching the muscle you’re about to train can cause a significant loss of strength during your lifts.”
To effectively warm up, practice the exercise with lighter weights first. This will allow your body to get used to the motion before you throw on a ton of weight. Perform a warmup set at half of your target weight, then perform two more warmup sets at 75% of your target weight. Now the blood should be flowing to your muscles, and you should be ready to lift with proper form!
STUDY THE EXPERTS
Watch the guys who do it best! Visit reliable websites or YouTube channels to study the experts and their lifting form. You can even find tutorial videos that break down the exercises step-by-step. A common mistake many lifters make is in learning/following the form from someone who has no idea what they’re doing. I’ve seen way too many guys in the gym showing their buddy how to do a deadlift so terribly that my heart wants to burst! Here are a couple of my favorite go-to YouTube channels where you can find experts doing exercises the right way:
BUFF Dudes
Athlean-X
Scott Herman Fitness
Omarlsuf
WATCH YOURSELF IN THE MIRROR
This might come as a surprise, but the mirrors in the gym aren’t just for the narcissistic flexing meatheads. Use the mirrors to monitor your form. Once you know what an exercise should look like, you can check the mirrors to perfect your form. You can’t always feel the minor flaws in your form—some you can only see.
Helpful Tip: I currently workout at a gym that has zero mirrors. Gasp! I know, it’s a sin, right? If you don’t have mirrors, use your phone’s camera. To monitor my squat and deadlifting form, I just prop the phone up against a dumbbell in front of me. This allows me to check my form and make minor adjustments.
WORKOUT WITH A BUDDY
A smart workout buddy can help identify flaws in your form you might not see. He might be able to recommend you go deeper with your squats or keep a more neutral spine during your deadlifts. A workout buddy can also give you a psychological boost to maintain proper form—this is because many lifters sacrifice form during their last 1-2 desperate repetitions. Sometimes, to push for that last rep, lifters go through all sorts of crazy movements just to get the bar up. But this isn’t necessary if you have the security promised by a spotter.
STOP MOVEMENTS THAT CAUSE PAIN
This might sound obvious, but you’d be surprised how many people push through the pain. “No pain, no gain!” Right? No. If you feel pain while doing any exercise, stop doing the exercise and evaluate your form. If you feel like you’re doing the exercise properly and still feeling pain, then consult with a personal trainer or expert—you may have conditions preventing you from performing that specific exercise.
REST ADEQUATELY BETWEEN SETS
Poor form often comes from exhaustion. When your muscles haven’t fully recovered for the next set, you often must compensate with jerky or uncontrolled movements. Always make sure you rest adequately between sets. When doing heavy compound exercises, rest for 2-3 minutes between each set to allow your muscles to recover sufficiently. For lighter weights, rest at least 1-2 minutes before attempting the next set.
RECORD YOURSELF LIFTING
A great way to identify flaws with your form is by recording yourself. Recording your workouts allows you to watch every detail of your form—this is especially useful when you watch your own form while watching the form of an expert. How you video record yourself is up to you. If you have a home gym, recording yourself will be simple. For those who workout at a gym, there are quite a few ways you can go about this:
Ask your workout buddy to record an exercise
Set up your phone and start the video before the exercise (a great option for crowded gyms)
Use a tripod and camera to record your workout (a great option for less crowded gyms)
CONCLUSION
Superior fitness isn’t determined by who lifts the most weight. Super fitness is determined by who lifts the most weight with the proper form.
Anyone can lift massive amounts of weights when they cheat on their form. No, this doesn’t mean cheating your form will help improve your strength—it means cheating your form fakes improved strength.
Your superior fitness is a product of your input. Cheat yourself in the gym, and your strength and physique will be cheated. Cheat your strength and you cheat your survival chances!
Zombies could care less “how much you can bench.” A lad benching 135 lbs with proper form has exceptionally more practical survival strength than the bro who lifts 200 lbs with bouncing, heaving, squirming, and screaming.
Begin using these 10 simple tips and watch your form dramatically improve. And as your form improves, watch your strength and size increase.
That’s not a theory—that’s a promise!
READY TO OBTAIN SUPERIOR FITNESS? THEN START TRAINING WITH PROPER FORM TODAY!
You can now bounce the bar high off your chest, squat until you reach a 45-degree angle, and swing those dumbbell curls as fast as you want.
Freedom is sweet!
Or is it?
Turns out weightlifting form doesn’t just have to do with satisfying the old-timers.
Lifting with proper form greatly accelerates your gains in strength and size.
And the opposite is true—crappy lifting form will slow down your gains, increase your chances of injury, and ultimately lead you nowhere.
Fortunately for you, superior fitness can easily be achieved with just a few simple weightlifting tweaks.
These 10 simple tips will help you dramatically improve your lifting form. When you emerge from the shadows to do battle with the undead, your superior fitness will make you unstoppable!
SUPERIOR FITNESS WEIGHTLIFTING FORM TIPS
START WITH LIGHTER WEIGHTS
To master the movement of any exercise, you’ll need to start with lighter weight. Lighters weights allow you to freely master the form of the exercise. Once you begin to feel confident, don’t just jack the weight up to your max—start off small. Never sacrifice your form for weight!
CONTROL YOUR MOVEMENTS
Lifting isn’t a race. And it’s not about who can lift the most weight (though some will try to convince you otherwise). Once again, never sacrifice your form for weight. Always use a weight you can raise and lower in a slow, controlled movement.
The rate at which an exercise is performed is known as Tempo. The “best” weightlifting tempo is debatable, but make sure your personal tempo is consistent with your exercise. This means you take the same amount of time to lower, hold, lift, and hold the weight each time you do the exercise. Avoid the urge to bounce the bar off your chest when benching or drop your arms quickly when curling. Both the lifting and lowering motions work specific muscles—don’t skip half the workout!
DON’T FORGET TO BREATHE
Breathing is a huge part of your lifting form. It’s just as important (if not more) as your hand placement or feet placement. Many beginners hold their breath until their faces turn bright red as they struggle to lift the weight. Remember to breathe! Some lifters recommend breathing in on the way down and breathing out on the push. Studies show the breathing isn’t as important as your abdominal muscles “bracing,” and research doesn’t prove which breathing method is more effective for “bracing.”
WARM UP PROPERLY
Before you lift heavy amounts of weight, you need to warm up your muscles. An effective warmup will help loosen up your muscles, and this will help you perform the exercise properly. Stretching is not an effective warmup! Studies show “stretching the muscle you’re about to train can cause a significant loss of strength during your lifts.”
To effectively warm up, practice the exercise with lighter weights first. This will allow your body to get used to the motion before you throw on a ton of weight. Perform a warmup set at half of your target weight, then perform two more warmup sets at 75% of your target weight. Now the blood should be flowing to your muscles, and you should be ready to lift with proper form!
STUDY THE EXPERTS
Watch the guys who do it best! Visit reliable websites or YouTube channels to study the experts and their lifting form. You can even find tutorial videos that break down the exercises step-by-step. A common mistake many lifters make is in learning/following the form from someone who has no idea what they’re doing. I’ve seen way too many guys in the gym showing their buddy how to do a deadlift so terribly that my heart wants to burst! Here are a couple of my favorite go-to YouTube channels where you can find experts doing exercises the right way:
BUFF Dudes
Athlean-X
Scott Herman Fitness
Omarlsuf
WATCH YOURSELF IN THE MIRROR
This might come as a surprise, but the mirrors in the gym aren’t just for the narcissistic flexing meatheads. Use the mirrors to monitor your form. Once you know what an exercise should look like, you can check the mirrors to perfect your form. You can’t always feel the minor flaws in your form—some you can only see.
Helpful Tip: I currently workout at a gym that has zero mirrors. Gasp! I know, it’s a sin, right? If you don’t have mirrors, use your phone’s camera. To monitor my squat and deadlifting form, I just prop the phone up against a dumbbell in front of me. This allows me to check my form and make minor adjustments.
WORKOUT WITH A BUDDY
A smart workout buddy can help identify flaws in your form you might not see. He might be able to recommend you go deeper with your squats or keep a more neutral spine during your deadlifts. A workout buddy can also give you a psychological boost to maintain proper form—this is because many lifters sacrifice form during their last 1-2 desperate repetitions. Sometimes, to push for that last rep, lifters go through all sorts of crazy movements just to get the bar up. But this isn’t necessary if you have the security promised by a spotter.
STOP MOVEMENTS THAT CAUSE PAIN
This might sound obvious, but you’d be surprised how many people push through the pain. “No pain, no gain!” Right? No. If you feel pain while doing any exercise, stop doing the exercise and evaluate your form. If you feel like you’re doing the exercise properly and still feeling pain, then consult with a personal trainer or expert—you may have conditions preventing you from performing that specific exercise.
REST ADEQUATELY BETWEEN SETS
Poor form often comes from exhaustion. When your muscles haven’t fully recovered for the next set, you often must compensate with jerky or uncontrolled movements. Always make sure you rest adequately between sets. When doing heavy compound exercises, rest for 2-3 minutes between each set to allow your muscles to recover sufficiently. For lighter weights, rest at least 1-2 minutes before attempting the next set.
RECORD YOURSELF LIFTING
A great way to identify flaws with your form is by recording yourself. Recording your workouts allows you to watch every detail of your form—this is especially useful when you watch your own form while watching the form of an expert. How you video record yourself is up to you. If you have a home gym, recording yourself will be simple. For those who workout at a gym, there are quite a few ways you can go about this:
Ask your workout buddy to record an exercise
Set up your phone and start the video before the exercise (a great option for crowded gyms)
Use a tripod and camera to record your workout (a great option for less crowded gyms)
CONCLUSION
Superior fitness isn’t determined by who lifts the most weight. Super fitness is determined by who lifts the most weight with the proper form.
Anyone can lift massive amounts of weights when they cheat on their form. No, this doesn’t mean cheating your form will help improve your strength—it means cheating your form fakes improved strength.
Your superior fitness is a product of your input. Cheat yourself in the gym, and your strength and physique will be cheated. Cheat your strength and you cheat your survival chances!
Zombies could care less “how much you can bench.” A lad benching 135 lbs with proper form has exceptionally more practical survival strength than the bro who lifts 200 lbs with bouncing, heaving, squirming, and screaming.
Begin using these 10 simple tips and watch your form dramatically improve. And as your form improves, watch your strength and size increase.
That’s not a theory—that’s a promise!
READY TO OBTAIN SUPERIOR FITNESS? THEN START TRAINING WITH PROPER FORM TODAY!
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