YOUR FORM SUCKS ! 100709

By John Zimmer

Poor posture can create poor results and cause injuries. Dr. John Zimmer explains how to improve posture for best performance and safety.

“Your form sucks.”This harsh statement is something I politely announce on a regular basis, along with telling the athlete he or she is pulling with the arms or has muted hip function, and it usually comes in response to myriad questions that are either injury- or performance-related.

“Why does my shoulder hurt when I do cleans?”

“Why does my back hurt when I deadlift?”

“Why do my knees hurt when I squat?”

“Why do I jerk the same as my push press?”

“Am I doing this right?”


The quick answer is always easy: “Your form sucks.”


When it comes to good form, the same fundamentals that apply in the gym still hold once we set down the barbell and leave the gym. CrossFit stresses midline stability—chest up, weight back the heels. But what happens when we leave the gym? The first thing that happens is we lose this great positioning.


Look at the posture of most people as they sit in a car. Is
the head’s center of gravity in line with the center of their
hips, or are they leaning forward toward the steering
wheel? Is the low back stable in extension, or rounded
forward in a weak position? Sitting like this for hours at
a time can be worse than bad form during a workout.
Bad posture puts undue pressure on the lower neck, the
upper back, the shoulders and the lower back. It can
also cause uneven joint pressure and strain, leading to
less than optimal performance and even injury when the
body is stressed under a heavy weight moved quickly
over a long distance.
Let’s look at the front squat as an example. What is the
main thing during this exercise that keeps you from losing
the bar forward? It is your core strength and your ability
to keep your torso upright. What if you had spent the last
eight hours sitting at your desk with your torso slumped
forward? Maybe it would leave your core muscles well
rested and ready for a heavy front squat ... not! Poor posture is training your body over an extended
period of time to have bad positioning. If your body
is slumped forward or off to one side, then you have
trained muscles, tendons and ligaments to be tighter
on one side and more slack on the other, and your front
squat (among other things) will surely suffer. Your muscles and tendons may not explode into a ball of fire
or contract into an immoveable spasm, but you are not
putting your body into the best position for success.
A Brief Review of the Anatomy of Posture
When discussing posture it is helpful to talk about the
spine. The spine is made up of seven bones in the neck
(cervical spine), 12 bones in the mid-back (thoracic
spine), and five bones in the low back (lumbar spine).
There are 24 freely moveable vertebrae that are able to
rotate, flex and extend to the left, right, front and back.
Ideally in the neck, the first cervical vertebra is centered
in line over the seventh and lowest cervical vertebra,
with the cervical curve having its apex in the front.
The curve from the neck leads into the mid-back, a long
curve with the apex at the back of the torso. This curve
towards the back of our body is also called a kyphotic
curve, or kyphosis. This leads to a strong curve in the
low back.
Like the neck, the low back curves toward the front of the
body, also known as a lordotic curve or lordosis. (In the
low back, this is where the Ab-Mat goes.)
I never tell someone to “sit up straight.” That could give
people the mental image of straightening out their neck
and the rest of the spine. We need these strong curves
from front to back in our spine because they give leverage and mechanical advantage to the muscles of the spine.
They also help spread pressure throughout the joints of
the spine so increased pressure isn’t concentrated at a
few joints.

Here is a helpful posture check:

• Stand up. (Go ahead. I’ll wait.)
• Now reach behind your low back and put your hands
on the muscles along the spine just above your belt
line.
• Lean your head back until these muscles feel
relaxed. (You might have to lean back more than
you are used to in your regular standing posture.)
• Now lean your head forward just a couple of inches
until your feel these muscles completely contract.
• Lean your head back again until you feel these
muscles completely relax again.
• Notice where your head is resting in this position
as the muscles in your low back are relaxed. If you
sit or stand with your head in this position, you are
likely putting your body in better posture.
• Instead of “sitting up straight,” attempt to put the
body’s center of gravity in the best position. Many of
the cues that we hear in the gym are helpful:
“Chest up!”
“Weight back!”
“Heels and midline stability!”
And last but not least: “Don’t be so fucking lazy!”
(Thanks to Jon Gilson for constantly giving me this
helpful reminder.)

Remember: posture is a dynamic. If someone were to sit
or stand with excellent posture, he or she would still need
to move. Take, for example, the seats for pilots in space
flight. NASA has engineered seats that essentially have
four balloons underneath them. These balloons inflate
and deflate individually in a slow and subtle manner.
They shift the person sitting to different positions to
keep muscles and joints from fatiguing from sitting in the
exact same position.
We may not have million-dollar technology in our chairs
and seats, and as CrossFitters we know that we don’t
need it. We can start by sitting with the head over the
center of gravity, similar to having the bar in plane over the front of our ankles (the mid-foot) during a front
squat. To add dynamism to this posture, we can sit in
intervals broken up not only by shifting in the chair but
also by standing, stretching, walking, bending, lifting,
etc. You can be as creative as the confines of your office
will allow.
The point is not to sit with ”perfect posture” for the eight
hours that you are at work or to stand with “perfect
posture” for the entire day, even if such a thing is
possible. Posture is a dynamic. It incorporates structure
and function, mobility and stability. The first step is to break up the patterns of bad posture
and to avoid holding those positions for long periods of
time. When you find yourself slumped into your chair
with your head leaning forward and curving toward your
computer screen, ask yourself, “What would happen if
I caught a power clean in this position? Would it land
neatly in the rack position or would it dump forward (like
my posture) and land with a thud on the platform?”
When you are back in the gym, get feedback on your
form from a coach or workout partner with a keen eye
for motion, and film some of your reps and sets during
your WOD. Any inexpensive handheld camera with a
video function will do. Those seemingly hidden lapses
in form will become painfully obvious when you hit play.
Reducing weight and working to improve form is often
the next step. Form and Intensity
I am not a total “form Nazi.” When it is game day, I have
a huge appreciation for all-out effort at end ranges of
strength, power and speed, where form not only breaks
down but can also become an abomination. I am not
denouncing a nearly exhausted marathon runner’s lack
of midline as he struggles through the last mile of the
race. I am cheering the effort.
But if you practice with this “get ’er done” sense of wild
abandon and lack of form, you are limiting your own
success. Never be afraid to take a step back and focus
on the fundamentals. Build the base of your pyramid as
wide as you can that one day you can build it higher.

About the Author
John Zimmer is the team chiropractor for Gentle Giant
Moving Company, where he works with CrossFitters, rowers,
runners, climbers, rugby players and martial artists who also
happen to move furniture. In his spare time he can be seen
hitting the WOD at Crossfit Boston.

Have a great weekend ! Stay conscious of your midline!
Most of all....STAY STRONG!
-Johnny