I’ve had many discussions with members about movement form – what’s considered proper form, range of motion, movement standards, etc. We encourage members to move with proper form, and if it isn’t initially achievable, to build towards it over time. It seems to be common knowledge that proper form is a good thing. But what is it, who decides it, and why do we care? Let’s dive in.
Does Proper Form Prevent Injury?
Many people assume that proper form is necessary to prevent injury. In actuality, there is no evidence linking “poor form” to injury. Barring traumatic injury (car accident, a fall, etc.), injury occurs from tissue overload. Gradually increasing tissue exposure over time through progressive loading is how to build while minimizing risk. Too much volume or intensity, too quickly, and you get hurt. Lack of sleep, nutrition, and hydration further contribute to tissue degradation, increasing injury risk.
In this context, “poor form” general refers to a deviation from YOUR normal movement pattern. If you’ve trained yourself to move a certain way through a specific range of motion, losing your form, that is, a deviation from your norm, means that you use different muscles to varying degrees. If they are underdeveloped compared to your norm, they are more easily overloaded, and then boom! Injury.
This may sound pedantic, but its an important nuance to understand. What it means is that through smart training, we can gradually increase our ranges of motion, and do things that conventional training deems to be “poor form.” Things like lifting with a rounded back, narrow stance squats, knees over toes, etc.
Why Do We Care About Proper Form?
If this is the case, what purpose does “form” serve? Why not just train in weird freaking positions? I would contend that proper form is the movement technique that allows you to move in a way that maximizes your biomechanics and feels the most natural. We can all start with our feet under our shoulders in a squat, but everyone’s anatomy is different.
From that starting point, we adjust. Some people might do better with a narrower stance, some wider. Some might even have a staggered stance. For me personally, I have 3 different squat stances. Front squats are most narrower, followed by back squats, and overhead squats are the widest. And by building capacity in different positions (I can squat over 350 lbs to a 12″ box with my feet together), we create buffer room for if/when we lose proper form due to fatigue, etc.
These little tweaks lead to individual idiosyncrasies. Movement is never one size fits all, and that is something I think CrossFit fails to recognize. Some people may never squat below parallel due to hip anatomy. That’s okay! Our goal should be to find the proper form FOR YOU.
How can we adjust your movement so that you feel the most fluid, and so that you can maximize your leverage to move the most weight? That’s assuming strength is your goal. Trying to build muscle? How can we adjust your positions to get the biggest stretch in the bottom of a movement? It’s a highly individual pursuit, which is why trying to recreate the idiosyncrasies of world class lifters doesn’t work for most people.
All this to say, proper form, to paraphrase Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, is like porn: you know it when you see it. It will look similar from person to person, because movement patterns, by definition, have things in common. The prime movers – muscles that do the main work of flexing the joints, are the same. So, we move in ways to maximize the efficiency of these muscles.
What About Movement Standards?
Why then, do we harp on movement standards? Because our classes focus on specific goals. Powerlifting, weightlifting, and CrossFit all have their own movement standards, for ease of judgement. By setting metrics, we can then gauge progress over time.
One of the goals of CrossFit is to build flexibility and mobility, so for this particular class, we can use improvements in range of motion as a gauge of progress. In the sport of weightlifting, while improved mobility isn’t a goal of the sport per se, it makes it easier to get under the weight and catch it, making it more easier to lift more weight. So, it’s still important.
Outside of class goals, we want to see people live their best lives, with minimal injury risk and overall stiffness. So, we want to see people move through THEIR full range of motion wherever that is, and build from there. Life happens: we trip, fall, play pick-up sports, chase after kids, and move into all kinds of positions. If we don’t build that buffer room for our joints, we’re more likely to get hurt. Therefore, failure to reach YOUR range of motion on each rep is counterproductive.
At the end of the day, proper form will depend on the individual, their biomechanics, and their goals. Our job as coaches is to help you find yours. We start with a textbook definition, and adjust from there, making tweaks based on joint levers and personal goals. So, if you find a coach messing with your starting positions, or stance, that’s what we’re trying to do.
And as we get to know you as an athlete, we learn your mobility restrictions and go from there. So, if you hear us calling someone out for not hitting depth or locking out, but it seems inconsistent, it’s because we know that person A is capable of more range of motion, but isn’t hitting it. Person B is moving through their full range. It’s an individual pursuit, so focus on your own training. Now you know, and knowing is half the battle. See you in the gym.