Sometimes, when you’ve been doing a particular fitness routine for a while, it becomes so familiar that you start to lose your intensity. The problem is, you don’t realize it at the time. You go through the motions, sweat a little, and feel generally good about your workout. But then something happens that makes you realize that you’re not bringing your best form and intensity to your workout. Maybe it’s helping a friend through their workout. Maybe you decide to work with a trainer. Or maybe someone offers some constructive criticism of your workout.
In my case, it was a little different. Every Saturday, I participate in group kettlebell training with a trainer certified as having passed the RKC (Russian Kettlebell Challenge). Our workouts are generally 30-45 minutes of solid kettlebell training – lots of swings, squats, and dynamic movements. It’s generally not only a great strength workout, but also gets my heart pumping!
A few weeks back, instead of our normal group class, myself and two other students went to another gym to help our trainer out with a kettlebell demonstration. We were supposed to be showing people unfamiliar with kettlebell training how to properly do some of the basic kettlebell moves. Since I only train under my trainer’s supervision once a week (I train on my own 2-3 other times a week), I considered myself the least experienced of her students there. So I was really determined to be “on my game,” and give a proper demonstration of swings, squats, and any other moves we were asked to do.
Due to the nature of the demonstration, while we’d be doing kettlebell exercises, our “workout” wasn’t going to have the volume or cardio effect of our normal training sessions. We had far too many breaks, and weren’t doing more than about 10 reps at a time. I fully expected it to be a total write-off, as far as workouts go, and planned to make up my “missed” workout the following day.
As it turned out, the additional scrutiny of my trainer, her RKC certified spouse, and at least a dozen kettlebell neophytes caused me to put the pressure on myself, and I really worked hard to ensure I was keeping my core tight, folding at the hips on the backswing, popping my hips forward, and pulling my kneecaps up and tightening my glutes at the finish of each swing. Although I can swing a 20kg kettlebell, I was using my mid-range size that day – 16kg.
Even with low reps, long rest times, and a kettlebell that was not the heaviest I can swing, I still felt my hamstrings and glutes start to get fatigued near the end of the demonstration. And the next day, I could feel soreness and tightness creeping into my muscles as well, particularly while I was doing my “make-up” workout. I was very surprised that such a light workout had created such a reaction. And that’s when I realized…sometimes it’s not the length of the workout, the weight you lift, or the number of reps you do. Sometimes it’s about making each rep count, and giving every rep your all.
So while it’s exciting to move up in weight quickly, or add more reps than you did last week, I think I’m going to take it a little slower, and try to make my workouts more focused and intense. I’ll work on doing each and every rep with absolutely perfect form. That means my volume might be a little less, but I would wager that I’ll be a lot stronger (and have lower risk of injury) than I would have otherwise.
Do you worry about perfect form when you work out?
Sometimes, when you’ve been doing a particular fitness routine for a while, it becomes so familiar that you start to lose your intensity. The problem is, you don’t realize it at the time. You go through the motions, sweat a little, and feel generally good about your workout. But then something happens that makes you realize that you’re not bringing your best form and intensity to your workout. Maybe it’s helping a friend through their workout. Maybe you decide to work with a trainer. Or maybe someone offers some constructive criticism of your workout.
In my case, it was a little different. Every Saturday, I participate in group kettlebell training with a trainer certified as having passed the RKC (Russian Kettlebell Challenge). Our workouts are generally 30-45 minutes of solid kettlebell training – lots of swings, squats, and dynamic movements. It’s generally not only a great strength workout, but also gets my heart pumping!
A few weeks back, instead of our normal group class, myself and two other students went to another gym to help our trainer out with a kettlebell demonstration. We were supposed to be showing people unfamiliar with kettlebell training how to properly do some of the basic kettlebell moves. Since I only train under my trainer’s supervision once a week (I train on my own 2-3 other times a week), I considered myself the least experienced of her students there. So I was really determined to be “on my game,” and give a proper demonstration of swings, squats, and any other moves we were asked to do.
Due to the nature of the demonstration, while we’d be doing kettlebell exercises, our “workout” wasn’t going to have the volume or cardio effect of our normal training sessions. We had far too many breaks, and weren’t doing more than about 10 reps at a time. I fully expected it to be a total write-off, as far as workouts go, and planned to make up my “missed” workout the following day.
As it turned out, the additional scrutiny of my trainer, her RKC certified spouse, and at least a dozen kettlebell neophytes caused me to put the pressure on myself, and I really worked hard to ensure I was keeping my core tight, folding at the hips on the backswing, popping my hips forward, and pulling my kneecaps up and tightening my glutes at the finish of each swing. Although I can swing a 20kg kettlebell, I was using my mid-range size that day – 16kg.
Even with low reps, long rest times, and a kettlebell that was not the heaviest I can swing, I still felt my hamstrings and glutes start to get fatigued near the end of the demonstration. And the next day, I could feel soreness and tightness creeping into my muscles as well, particularly while I was doing my “make-up” workout. I was very surprised that such a light workout had created such a reaction. And that’s when I realized…sometimes it’s not the length of the workout, the weight you lift, or the number of reps you do. Sometimes it’s about making each rep count, and giving every rep your all.
So while it’s exciting to move up in weight quickly, or add more reps than you did last week, I think I’m going to take it a little slower, and try to make my workouts more focused and intense. I’ll work on doing each and every rep with absolutely perfect form. That means my volume might be a little less, but I would wager that I’ll be a lot stronger (and have lower risk of injury) than I would have otherwise.
Do you worry about perfect form when you work out?
photo credit: jontunn
Popularity: 4% [?]
There are no similar posts. Showing most popular posts:
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Liz Muirhead, Larry Hall. Larry Hall said: Kettlebell mama: http://bit.ly/bMRrvs [...]
Excellent post Liz.
I try to focus on perfect form but I know I often fail. Engaging my core is a prime example of what I don’t always do.
BTW I think it is cool that you refer to the KBs in kg not lbs, but then I am a geek living in a metric and British measurement country. Still stuck at 16 kg using a DB. I need to buy my own KBs.
My cousin recommended this blog and she was totally right keep up the fantastic work!