I have been taking my return to working out slowly. Doing light weight and high reps. During today’s workout, I was reminded of how important it is to use proper form.  So often we try and lift the heaviest weight possible.  In doing so we lose the form that is truly going to benefit our muscles the most.

Today I was doing some curls with 15 pound weights.  Light I know but I did them slowly, really slowly. And I paused at the top and bottom. A guy next to me had 30 pounds weights. He was going so fast that he was literally swinging them behind him, and then curling up. There was no pause in his momentum at all.  My arms where spent when I was done; I suspect his weren’t. I also suspect his back will be hurting later.

Lesson learned.  Who cares how much weight you can lift if you cant do it correctly.  Take your time, lift slow and throw pauses into the routine.  Your muscles will thank you.