If you're starting up or getting back into your fitness routine this fall, the last thing you want to do is waste time or end up injured. It's always worth reviewing exercise technique, particularly on foundation exercises for major muscle groups to ensure you optimize your time and results.

Just because they're termed "basic" exercises doesn't always mean they're easy to perform. Common exercises like squats and push-ups are multi-joint movement patterns that involve a complex combination of muscle balance and strength, core stabilization and joint mobility.

Here are a few common errors with some tips and fixes:

 

Cardio

Cardiovascular training is always a hot topic with a lot of research that can often be confusing and sound conflicting. There are specific protocols if you are training for a sport or event, keep balance in mind if you're working out for general fitness and health.

Common mistakes:

  • doing the same routine all the time - leads to adaptation or plateaus
  • doing only trendy workouts - like Tabata, high intensity or steady state training
  • being unaware of your intensity

Tips to improve your results:

  • monitor your intensity by using heart rate or rate of perceived exertion (RPE). Using RPE, you can rate yourself on a scale of 1-10 (modified Borg scale) which is an easy and accurate option for general fitness purposes
  • think "comfortable but challenging" as a cue which will start and grow with you as you improve your cardiovascular strength and endurance
  • vary your routine to avoid adaptations to demands or plateauing
  • vary your intensity with routines: too much high intensity can be stressful on the body and end up doing more harm than good

 

Squats

Squats are such a common exercise and yet one of the most challenging to teach and execute. Squats are a "functional" exercises as it's a movement pattern we need and use in both sport and everyday life.

Common errors:

  • knee and toe alignment - issues can arise from issues with joints and/or muscles involved including knees, quads, hips, hip flexors or glutes
  • knee movement - when the knee moves too far forward, it creates shearing forces that stress the joint
  • back position and posture - squatting does require a hip hinge but so much can go wrong here from extending too far forward causing stress on the low back or rounding through the thoracic or mid-back area
  • attempting to lift too much weight - which often promotes poor posture
  • draping the arms - over a straight bar, it promotes protraction or rounding of the back
  • poor neck positioning - very often people end up looking down or up causing stress on the cervical or neck area
  • range of motion issues - there is a lot of controversy over full squats vs. a 90º range, but it really is dependent upon individual issues; your range of motion should be dictated by your goals and your mobility

Tips to improve your results:

  • knees and toes forward - you can do variations, but including this forward position will help promote proper recruitment and muscle balance (if you have specific joint or muscle issues, though, you should consult a qualified health/fitness professional for individualized recommendations)
  • proper hip hinge - you do need to hinge or bend at the hip but always keep a long torso with a natural lordotic curve (small curve in the small of your back)
  • neutral neck - keep the natural curve in the neck area which means the head stays still as you hinge; if you keep your eyes forward, you'll end up adding stress
  • knees behind toes - you want to maintain your knee position somewhere within the foot range; ideally
  • range that fits you - there are two options for this - 1) keep the lower leg should be parallel with the torso; 2) use a dowel on your back maintaining touch on the head, upper back and tailbone

 

Push-ups and chest press

These are great "functional" exercises as you want to be able to lift and push your body weight for everyday activities.

Common mistakes:

  • arm positions - arms too far forward which ends up using more joint than muscle
  • back position - whether supine (facing up) or prone (facing down) the back can often sag or be rounded

Tips to improve results:

  • hand/arm position - place the hands out at the sides somewhere between the shoulder and chest area
  • arms like goal posts - one option to recruit more chest is to have the arms out with the wrists under elbows and elbows out from the shoulders
  • arms in - placing the hands closer into the body shifts more focus on the triceps
  • wrist options - when using weights for chest press, keep the wrists in a neutral or flat position; when doing push-ups, you place hands on a bench or dumbbells to have your hands in a more neutral position

 

Crunches

Crunches are the most common ab exercises - and yet one of the least functional. We don't often have cause to crunch in the day and it's not the most effective option for training the core but people still love them!

If you want to keep them in your routine, keep the following information in mind.

Common mistakes:

- over training - when you over train any muscle, you risk sacrificing form

- momentum vs. muscle - when crunches are done so fast, you often end up using more momentum and very little muscle

- back issues - rounding through the back and potentially exacerbating low back issues

- neck issues - pulling more on the head than using your abs

Tips to improve:

  • think quality vs. quantity - work muscles using sound FITT training principles (frequency, intensity, time and type)
  • balance - include a variety of exercises that target all movement patterns including flexion, extension and rotation
  • incorporate into your routine - be conscious of using your core muscles as you execute other exercises as they often used as stabilizers or in combination with multi-planar movements (like hip hinges, burpees or cross chops)

 

Pre and post workout fuel

We have been learning so much more about the importance of "nutrient timing". Fuelling properly around workouts can increase results, improve recovery and help you to burn more calories. It can, however, still be confusing to know what and how much to eat.

Common mistakes:

  • starving your workouts - working out on an empty stomach detracts from your energy and works against your metabolism
  • over compensating - eating too much will end up negating all your hard work!
  • indulging in sports drinks and bars - watch the ingredient list and the calories on these as they may contain too much sugar or simply more calories than you need for an average workout

Tips to optimize results:

  • have something healthy one to two hours before you work out - what that is depends on your workout but it should include a combination of healthy carbohydrates, proteins and fats
  • eat after your workout - eating something healthy within the hour of workout out will help optimize results and recovery; the sooner you can eat, the better
  • 150-200 calories - is a healthy range as a post workout fuel guide and should be a balance of healthy carbohydrates, protein and fats
  • some ideas and options - chocolate milk is that one we hear about so often, but you can also try an apple and cheese, cottage cheese and grain cereal, tuna and crackers, a homemade protein shake, rice cakes with almond butter and jam, pita and hummus

If you have a specific question we'd love to hear from you at www.libbynorris.com. We also have a quick survey to find out your biggest challenges to help plan workouts and support for our new online challenge to be announced soon!.