Purposeful Training
With fitness becoming such a trend and the overload of information available via social media, it is easy to get carried away when planning a training session. There are so many new and "cool" things to do. There are some pretty crazy videos out there of people doing seemingly great exercises. Fitness trends and creative exercises have their place in training, I am not saying that they don't. Before you integrate one of those fancy moves into your routine however, you have to know its purpose and what the proper form is.
Two words are paramount to your training: form and purpose. Before you execute anything you have to know what its purpose is, and then learn how to perform the exercise correctly. Without this information, there are a few risks.
Most importantly, you can get hurt. Whether you're performing any of the classic moves like: squats, presses or dead lifts, if you do not do them correctly you can cause serious damage to your joints and/or muscles. And if that is true for the basic, fundamental movements in a routine, imagine how much more caution you need for the advanced ones.
More over, you will waste your time. Lets say you don't get hurt, that's great! You'd be one of the lucky ones. But, by not performing the exercise correctly you can miss out on the benefits of that movement. Take a biceps curl for example. It is a very basic movement that almost anyone has done. In order to really target the biceps and stimulate the muscle to grow, one must keep the arm in a fixed position. The only part of the body that should be moving is the elbow joint. Also, the biceps must be elongated and shortened completely, that is a full range of motion. But, what is seen most of the time with this movement is swinging of the arms, using the legs and shoulders in order to move the weight. Although they performed "biceps curls", the biceps was not stimulated and they will not receive the benefits.
Lastly, you can really diminish the effectiveness of your routine and hurt your chances of accomplishing your goals. Knowing how to pair exercises and split up your body in a training can make a huge difference.
So, please do your research, ask questions and invest time into doing things properly. If you have any doubts as to how an exercise is performed or what its benefits are, reach out to a certified personal trainer. We are all here to help!