This week, I'm not going to begin with a question. I'm instead going to try my best to impart upon the Tufts population the importance of not doing stupid things in the gym. I want to say first that I harbor no delusions of grandeur. I know the entire student body does not read Inside Fitness religiously. I also know that the one person who does read it religiously is my mom. That point aside, this edition will do its best to give you some basic tenets to follow while working out. If you at least keep these things in mind, you should have more productive gym time.
Speed: You are not racing anyone. No, not the guy next to you on the treadmill, not the guy tweaking out under the squat rack. Perform your exercises in a slow, controlled manner. A frantic tempo when lifting invites injury, messes up your form, and makes you look like you've just come from a coke party (which I know may be true for some of you, but the entire campus endowment couldn't afford the amount of coke it would take to make all those people lift like jittery hummingbirds ... so I know it can't be true for all of you).
Range of Motion: I don't care what you read in Men's Fitness. Don't even try to explain that "in the latest issue of Flex ..." For the uninjured, a full range of motion is the most fundamental aspect of lifting weights. Doing half-reps on the bench press may allow you to put more weight on the bar, but you are certainly short-changing your chest development. Throwing your chin at the bar when you reach the top of a pull-up may make you feel cool - hey, a nice flick of the chin is a universal meathead greeting where I'm from- but it's not going to allow you to develop the back strength and mass you are looking for.
Bad Position: If you find your body in any of the following positions, stop what you're doing:
*Knees leaning out over your toes (common when squatting)
*Wrists behind your head (any sort of behind-the-neck exercises, such as pull-downs or military presses).
*Locked knees (never lock out your legs when you are lifting. This goes for squats, leg presses, and any other exercise where you have weight resting on your legs).
*Neck turned (common when struggling to lift heavy weight during most compound movements, bench press in particular. Keep your eyes straight ahead during all exercises).
Ab exercises: People do so many ridiculous things that I could devote an entire column to this, but here's the rundown:
*Ab exercises are meant to be felt, not merely completed. If you find yourself doing 1000 crunches in the gym, you are simply not doing them right. Tempo should be relatively slow on the up and down portion of the exercise. On the up portion, crush your abs together as if they constituted an accordion.
*DON'T PULL ON YOUR NECK. And I'll say it again, too. DON'T PULL ON YOUR NECK. Having your hands behind your head inevitably leads to neck-tugging. This can lead to injury, it lessens the effectiveness of the exercise, and it will probably make you sick from all the neck and chinning.
*Keep your lower back as flat on the mat as you can.
Please, pass this along to your favorite gym idiot and hope he or she reads it. While I do not claim to be preaching fitness gospel, this advice is simple logic that everyone could figure out if they stopped to think before they worked out.
