Sprout’s Guide to (Generally) Proper Form

Mar 9

Soft knees, brace your core, head up– these are common exercise cues to put your body in the right position, but they can’t help if you don’t know what they mean! Exercise-related injuries aren’t uncommon, and having poor form is one of the leading causes! From the bottom up, here are some general tips and cues on how to exercise with proper form!

What is “Proper Form”?

Simply put, proper form is the correct way to position your body when performing an exercise in order to maximize benefits and minimize injury.

The specifics of proper form really depend on the exercise, but these are some general tips and cues to point you in the right direction!

Find Your Footing

While the exact footing depends on the exercise, hip distance apart is a good place to start!

Many standing exercises, especially core or upper body, require standing with your feet flat on the floor, feet hip distance apart, and toes pointed forward or slightly turned out.

Never Lock Your Knees

This is true no matter what exercise you’re performing. Whether you’re standing up, lying down, or seated, never lock your knees.

Practice this anytime you find yourself standing, like in the kitchen or while brushing your teeth. Your knees don’t have to have a generous bend in them, just a little softness.

Core Engagement

Core engagement is so essential to safe and effective exercise! However, we often hear things like “engage your core” or “stitch the gut” and think sucking in our gut is all it takes to have proper core engagement. That’s not the case!

The core is made up of multiple muscles, not just the abs. These are:

Rectus abdominis
Transverse abdominis
Internal obliques
External obliques
Erector spinae
Latissimus Dorsi

Glutes and hips also play a role, but the muscles listed above are the most important!

Being able to correctly engage your core is essential for effective and beneficial exercise that allows us to stay upright and stable no matter what we’re doing.

A good way to think about proper engagement is to brace your core as if you’re about to be punched in the stomach. This movement isn’t going to be like “sucking in.” Instead, it’s more of a tightening move that pulls your bellybutton to your spine as your muscles contract. It’s essential you maintain the ability to breathe while your core is braced. If breathing is difficult, your form is off. Breathing should allow movement in the rib cage, but your core should stay tight with minimal movement.

Back Position

There are very few occasions when a rounded back is in proper form. However, that’s not to say your back has to be uncomfortably straight for proper form. A neutral spine, which is when all three curves of your back are present, is ideal.

As more research is done and exercise science becomes a better-studied topic, we learn more about the way the human body works and moves. While keeping your back straight is still a generally recommended cue, there’s wiggle room depending on the person. Not everyone's back will look straight during every exercise, but that doesn’t necessarily make a movement more or less effective or safe, so long as the individual is in their proper form.

Maintaining a neutral spine is best, and this leaves space for people to move within their comfort levels.

Shoulders

Keep the shoulders pulled back! Hunching your shoulders forward can also lead to a rounded back. Pull your shoulders down, not scrunched up by your ears.

This isn’t a dramatic movement and our chest shouldn’t puff out from how much we’re pulling our shoulders back. However, pulling your shoulders down and back can help maintain that neutral spine.

Neck

Your neck should be in line with your back, not pushed forward or back. Think about having your chin slightly tilted down and pulled back.

Neck and back strains from crunches are common because of the posture this exercise puts you in. Crunches cause the back to curve and the hip flexors to do a lot of work, sometimes leading to lower back problems.

Be mindful of what your neck is doing, especially during exercises that have you hinge or bend. If you start to feel strain or tension in your neck, pause, reset your position while being mindful of your neck, and start over.

Head

Similar to the neck, your head should stay in line with the back. Very rarely do we want our head tilted up or down or in a different direction than where we want our neck.

If the head and neck aren’t in line, the spine is less stable and the core isn’t able to properly activate.

Putting it all Together

Now that we’ve gone over some of the general cues for our body to be in proper form, let’s put them together with instructions on performing different exercises!

First, we’re getting ready to do a standard bodyweight squat! Bodyweight exercises are just as effective as other forms of resistance exercise, and proper form is just as important! Let’s start with our feet about hip distance apart, toes forward or slightly turned out depending on what’s comfortable and natural for us. Let’s remember that neutral spine position with our pelvis straight and our back stacked on top of that. Brace your core, belly button pulled into your spine. We want to have our shoulders pulled back and down for this move, our neck and head staying in line with our spine. Now we sit back, as if we’re sitting into an invisible chair, and push back up through the feet, returning to our fully upright position.

How about a cable tricep pushdown next? Start by standing in front of the cable machine with your feet hip distance apart, legs straight, and knees soft. Neutral spine again, meaning our back is comfortably straight, and core engaged. Grab the bar or rope and pull it into your starting position, with your upper arms tucked against your body and your elbows bent up to hold the bar. Keeping your hand in line with your arms and your wrists straight, push the bar down until your arms are fully straightened with a softness in your elbows. Remember to keep your upper arms against your body and don’t lock your elbows!

Hopefully what we’ve gone over will make getting into position for these exercises simpler.

While the specific positions of our arms and legs vary depending on the exercise, things like core engagement and maintaining a neutral spine will almost always be applicable!

Different Bodies and Abilities Aren’t Better or Worse

While these cues are a good starting point for a lot of exercises, it’s never one-size-fits-all. There are people who physically cannot keep their backs straight but still perform squats and deadlifts pain-free because that’s how their bodies work. There are people who can have great core engagement and perfectly proper form and still not be able to perform an exercise because of other physical limitations. Let’s all be mindful of the many ways other bodies can look and move differently, but not better or worse, than ours.

At the same time, let’s not assume someone is doing an exercise more correctly than you are based on how fit you perceive them to be. You can build a lot of muscle even with poor form. Be mindful of who you are using as an example and if you need help or guidance, asking a professional like a personal trainer is the best move.

Still Not Clicking? Let’s Chat!

If none of this is making sense to you, that’s okay! Reading these cues and seeing them are very different experiences, especially for visual learners. Maybe we just need to find different ways to explain how to find proper form. No matter what the situation, we can talk it out!

Don’t forget to check other Sprout Wellness blogs for more tips, debunked myths, and support!

Photo by Matthew Sichkaruk on Unsplash

Katie Szymanski