We’ve all seen the guy in the gym who loads-up a barbell on the bench press, gets underneath it and as he lowers it to his chest and begins the push phase, he proceeds to arch his back and lift his butt off of the bench in an all-out battle to push that weight up off his chest. Then you think, is he doing a bench press or a hip thrust? Same thing with the guy doing heavy bicep curls while rocking his body back and forth to help with the momentum.
Gym cheaters!
To be fair, it’s not all their fault. It’s natural to focus on a specific part of the body when exercising and ignore everything else that’s going on. Some people don’t even realize how much they may be cheating on a certain exercise until someone points it out to them. They’re simply fooled into thinking that they are stronger than they really are.
Our bodies like to cheat. If something is hard, it wants to find a way to make it easier.
The key is to become more aware of what your body is doing. Not only will this make your workouts much more effective, but you’ll greatly decrease your chance of injury. Just think of how happy your back will be if you stop throwing those hips thrusts into your bench press.
About the writer: Ken Grall is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) and owns and operates an Edge Fitness in Madison, Wisconsin. Learn more about Ken.