Please mind the transcript errors!
Okay, let me get right into it. The reason why most people get injured is not because they had bad form. Typically, we will get injured when our body is not prepared for the thing that we're asking it to do.
Now, let me clarify, that can look like, you know, never having lifted a barbell in your life and then trying to lift a 300 pound barbell.Your body's just not prepared for that.You'll probably straighten your back and you'll get hurt. So you're just not prepared for the thing that you've never done before.
And then there's the other scenario where it's like, oh my gosh, I was bending over to pick up a grocery bag and I threw out my back. And that's a different scenario, but similar. So it's typically going to come from an experience of
Hey, maybe you've been under a little bit of stress or a lot of bit of stress for a long duration of time, or you didn't sleep well, or perhaps you've had a few too many drinks during the holiday season and your body is not recovering well and cumulatively over time, it is getting more and more susceptible to a spasm or a small injury or even a big injury.
So typically it's going to be the thing like the straw that breaks the camel's back, like bending over to pick up that grocery bag that throws out your back, both of which are two sides of the same coin, if that's the right expression, of your body is just not prepared for the thing that you're asking it to do, because either it's too hard, or you actually have not recovered well over a long period of time.
So this is just to remind you that you can have bad form and you can not get injured for it too. And that should hopefully give you some sort of solace and peace when you go to the gym if you're not perfect.
Now, what is form about then? I always like to clarify that form, when we're looking at technique for say any kind of lift or sports demand, it's actually just about efficiency* and how accurate someone might be [in that movement].
So you know if we're doing say a deadlift from the floor we want the movement to be really smooth and a direct line vertically from the floor to standing and that's because it makes the movement more efficient meaning over time you're going to be able to add more weight and you're going to be able to challenge yourself because it's more efficient but the more inefficient it is the less you're going to be able to progress.
So form is really more tied to efficiency. And even then there's a little bit of leeway. But hopefully this kind of clarification gives you a little bit of understanding of when we look at form and then when we also don't attribute form to some version of pain or injuries.
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*Efficiency can include things like how well we are targeting the muscles we want to use, how precise a movement is executed (like the perfect dive to minimize splash in the Olympics), and much more.
