The old weights training adage "Proper form or go home!" Well perhaps its not an old adage, nevertheless a wise one. I have seen one too many athlete or any person for that matter at the gym, allowing his ego to lift weights that are too heavy for him, subsequently, doing what we commonly know as a half-f*@k repetition. Mind you, this is not a cheat rep or a forced rep. We will touch on these two later.
A half-f*** rep is something like not lowering the bar to your chest when you are doing bench press, but lowering mere inches such that the angle at the elbow is more than 90 degrees. This is but one illustration of not training with correct form. He/she might as well go home and watch tv instead of wasting time exercising his ill-placed ego at the gym. One just simply have to put ego aside, drop the weight load and learn to train in correct full range movement form.
Cheat rep sacrifices some form for the sake of completing a full ROM (range of motion) repetition by recruiting some other muscle that are not associated to performing the specific exercise, or by contorting the body into a 'favourable' position to compensate for the failing muscle. ie. using momentum to swing the bar up while doing barbell curl. The latter is especially dangerous as it could result in injury to the joints and tendons. If you find yourself needing to cheat rep, then its time to lower the load of the weight.
Forced reps are assisted reps when one fails to complete the final reps in a set by asking a spotter to assist in the lifting. There are some weight-lifters/ athletes who swear by it. These are usually also the people that swears by the concept of training to failure. Training to failure is but one of the many tools to overload and shock your body into growing stronger and/or bigger, and should not be constantly used. Training to failure overloads the CNS (central nervous system) that controls muscular contraction. Training to failure on a long term basis stresses the body to such an extend that it prevents faster recovery to accomodate regular 3 - 4 times-a-week training that athletes usually do. I will touch on this topic in another article.
Training with proper form should see you performing the exercise in the same manner and tempo from set 1st rep 1st set to your last rep last set. Only the athlete will know if he/she is training at the weight level that will allow this without the intensity being to low. Full range of movement repetition in the proper form will ensure that every singular motor units required to achieve that lift is recruited. Simply put, you are not wasting time doing something that is only training
a certain percentage of your muscle. Moreover, ensuring proper form prevents potential injury, which will only increase down time away from training.
Bottomline: Train to do the correct form, or don't train.
