I have spent hours per day in gyms for years, and have seen way too many people doing exercises that either do nothing or do more harm than good. What I want to talk about today is one of the most common mistakes I see in the gym.
When doing exercises like the squat, lunge, leg press, dead-lift, or any other exercise that involves bending of the knees, it is very important to make sure that during the part of the exercise that you lift the weight, your center of gravity is not over your toes. In other words you want to drive with your heels and not your toes.
Driving with your heels will make sure you are using your glutes and hamstrings in the lift and not just your quads. The more your center of gravity is even or away from your toes the more activation you will get from the muscles in the rear and sides of your legs.
Doing this maximizes the efficiency of the lift because more muscles groups are getting involved and it prevents you from getting a muscular imbalance from front to back in your legs. Having muscular imbalances can lead to injury and posture issues if they get to out of hand.
One of most important issues to take into account is that when you lift with your center of gravity over your toes, you increase your chance of a repetitive motion injury to your knees. Doing exercises over and over again the wrong way is the a huge cause of gym related injuries. Most people do not ever realize why they became injured in the first place.
It is very important to make sure you are doing your exercises correctly to prevent injury and maximize your exercise time. If you have any questions about proper exercise form or would like personalized or online guidance please visit my website by clicking below.
