Visual form cues?

[Mr_Krabs]

Are we using the wrong “visual cues” for form, cutting corners instead of looking at the whole picture?

I just wanted to raise a few issues I haven’t really seen discussed on this board in the hope to open a few eyes that may be as closed like mine were.

Lately due to injury and generally re-thinking things Ive had this realisation that myself and a lot of other gym go-ers have been under the illusion they had good form on some lifts due to hitting their “visual cues”.

Using the squat for example: No back rounding, knees out not over toes and chest up. I thought sweet I have good form, my lower back never hurts after squats it must be bomb proof. Problem was just cos I wasn’t rounding my back and was keeping my chest up doesn’t mean I had good form, what I was infact doing was subconsciously over-arching my lower back with a huge anterior pelvic tilt to make up for and compound an inflexible thoracic spine.

I decided to tell this story because I keep seeing other guys in the gym doing the same thing, Ive even seen PTs supervising this poor posture/form they are just watching for the same visual cues as I was.

Now for me the cause was the anterior pelvic tilt (which Im in the process of addressing) but it brings me to my next point.

Posture/form outside of the gym is just as or more important than maintaining tight form in the gym. Ive really had to stop and look at what Im doing for the other 23 hours a day Im not in the gym. Theres many other postural issues around that Ive come across while reading up on my issue so Im sure a lot of you out there have had experience you may want to share?

So anyone else had issues with things like this, do we all keep tight form when surfing these forums on the net? Or are you hunched over the keyboard with internal shoulder rotation asking for an impingement tonight when you nail your shoulders in the gym…

[ThePman]

Anterior pelvic tilt from immobile t-spine? What's your thought process on that?

As far as your topic I agree completely. Most people that think they're lifting correctly really aren't, and quite a few (probably most) PTs really don't know how to teach or correct the issues.

I mean I can think of quite a few permutations of back squat form that are worth playing with, changing grip, bar position, stance and so on, but look at your average person squatting in the gym and they aren't even close. It doesn't stop w/ the squat either, but that's the most obvious example.

[steak]

I lean all over the keyboard and constantly spill food on it

[Mr_Krabs]

Sorry wasnt really a cause and effect link as such, But have noticed since I am quite flat and immobile through the thoracic when I try to retract/depress and flatten my scap my spine subconciously arches mostly from the lumbar and the body flicks out the pelvis to keep the centre of gravity even...

Its hard to explain in words but hopefully that goes a lil way?

[rose]

Yep, good points. More recent examples I've seen (but not experienced) are people noting back problems while squatting and deadlifting etc. Form checking won't help much if your arse is lazy from lack of use or hours/days/years of sitting in a chair. Glute activation appears to be a foreign concept in western culture, let alone when it comes to PT's. Yet it's such an important factor for healthy posture.

As an aside, these are both good articles, regarding pelvic tilt, lazy glutes etc.

The Plague of The Mediocre Athlete - "No Glutes Equals No Results"

The Bushman's Buttocks: A Lesson to be Learned!

[Mr_Krabs]

Yep guilty on the lack of glute work and Ive got the double whammy of being a cyclist so Im very quad dominant adding to the issue

[ThePman]

Sorry wasnt really a cause and effect link as such, But have noticed since I am quite flat and immobile through the thoracic when I try to retract/depress and flatten my scap my spine subconciously arches mostly from the lumbar and the body flicks out the pelvis to keep the centre of gravity even...

Its hard to explain in words but hopefully that goes a lil way?

Gotcha. It sounds more like a proprioception issue than anything; awareness and working on the mobility issues will probably sort that out.

What are you doing to mobilize the t-spine?

[ThePman]

Yep, good points. More recent examples I've seen (but not experienced) are people noting back problems while squatting and deadlifting etc. Form checking won't help much if your arse is lazy from lack of use or hours/days/years of sitting in a chair. Glute activation appears to be a foreign concept in western culture, let alone when it comes to PT's. Yet it's such an important factor for healthy posture.

As an aside, these are both good articles, regarding pelvic tilt, lazy glutes etc.

The Plague of The Mediocre Athlete - "No Glutes Equals No Results"

The Bushman's Buttocks: A Lesson to be Learned!

I don't do a lot of the direct activation work but I do focus on foam rolling and stretching the glutes, piriformis, hams and hip flexors, since almost everybody's got some issues in that department.

Seems to be a big chicken-and-egg problem, since not using them leads to lazy posture and exercise technique, and lazy posture/technique leads to them not being used. Improving the tissue quality and strengthening them in a general sense does help though.

[Mr_Krabs]

Seems to be a big chicken-and-egg problem, since not using them leads to lazy posture and exercise technique, and lazy posture/technique leads to them not being used. Improving the tissue quality and strengthening them in a general sense does help though.

Nicely put!

Yep awareness is a huge one (mostly why I wrote this post in the first place) Wasnt till I glanced in the mirror while I was doing cable external rotations that I noticed how much I was sticking my arse out!!

For T-spine mobility Im foam rolling and stretching (rotations) seeing a great physio for the issue at the mo too. Have seen an osteopath in the past but he barelly made a diff.

[rose]

Seems to be a big chicken-and-egg problem, since not using them leads to lazy posture and exercise technique, and lazy posture/technique leads to them not being used. Improving the tissue quality and strengthening them in a general sense does help though.

In my experience it's the former that's the problem, primarily due to an apparent lack of awareness re how important glutes are and how to activate them, or even what activating them means. People don't generally notice they're not using them, because they never learned. I sure as hell never got told to squeeze my bum at school :shock: Well not by a gym teacher anyway!