admin | 
09 20th, 2008| 
First let me make it clear that there’s a difference between cheating at the end of an exercise and generally having bad form. I would say that at least 50 percent and usually more of the people at the gym have terrible form and are doing exercises improperly throughout their entire workout. As I mentioned in my abs article, I’ve learned it’s best to leave people and their workouts alone, so I do my best to ignore them and focus on my own routine.
The body for life website has a great flash app that shows how different exercises should be done and what joints should (and more importantly shouldn’t) be moving during that exercise. The most common exercises I see bad form in are bicep/shoulder workouts where people aren’t getting full extension, and are using momentum to get the weight up. In a bicep curl for example, your elbow needs to stay against your side and in the same place throughout the motion. If you elbow is ending up forward of your side at the end of the rep, you’re using your shoulder and ultimately the weight was too heavy for you. Another example that drives me nuts is when people improperly do a tricep cable extension. The pad on the back of the machine is there for you to keep your back against, and your shoulders and head should stay straight. At least half the time, I see people facing the back support, and using their shoulders and upper body weight to move the cable down. In this exercise, your back, shoulders and head should stay straight, your elbows at your side, and all of the weight being moved only with your triceps. If you’re doing it differently, you’re not working out the muscle you intend with the weight you think you’re doing. Bad form spreads out the load of the weight across multiple muscles and the end result is you doing light weight on the intended muscle. Light weight is not going to build muscle mass.
However, if you’re not working out with a spotter to help you pull out that last rep, cheating isn’t necessarily a terrible thing. I almost always workout with a buddy, and he can give my last rep just enough help to get it through, while I keep clean form. But if I’m working out alone doing a bicep workout, and I’m aiming to do 8 reps and if I barely pull out my 7th rep, instead of just setting down the weight, cheating a bit with your shoulder to get the last rep out is essentially the same as having a spotter lightly helping you. For the most part I think a spotter should only be there for safety and very light assistance at the end of a set, but for me it helps mentally to have a goal in mind and achieve it and keep me pumped up for my next exercise.
