Form: The Conscious Connection to Movement

In the last few weeks, I have discussed how our spines are not meant to be wrapped in bubble wrap but should be exposed to unique and varied movements. I also questioned the idea of  Posture.

Reading both of these would lead to the conclusion that exercise form doesn’t matter. Why should I worry about my form if variety of movement is fundamental to spine health and good posture is a made-up concept of the Victorian elite?

That’s fair and something I struggle with as well, especially when movement quality and form are the bedrock of the programming at Uptown Movement.

Here’s a quick snapshot of how I arrived at my current thinking:

When I first started training myself, form was irrelevant. The goal was to lift as much as possible as often as possible. I hated being called skinny; it made me self-conscious and insecure. I didn’t care if what I was doing negatively affected how I moved. This was an all-out assault on my skinniness, my joints be damned.

Eventually, my joints did suffer. Injury after injury, until common sense beat my ego, and I started to learn about movement, biomechanics, and other reasons to train. This led me into my "form Nazi" era. Form needed to be perfect within fractions of degrees of joint angles, or else I and my clients would spontaneously combust. A few years passed, clients were feeling good and surprisingly, no one spontaneously combusted. Job done as a trainer I thought. Not so much, clients had become very fearful of movement. They wouldn’t want to do a movement unless I was with them dictating it from start to finish. I would get questions about if this was wrong or will I hurt myself if I do this. Under supervision they were getting strong, moving well and feeling better. But as soon as my eyes weren’t on them there was trepidation and fear. They may not be combusting but was I helping create strong independent movers. I don’t think I was.  

Around this time I was spending more time learning from extraordinary movers, dancers, gymnasts and competitive strength athletes I started to notice a tendency of these highlevel movers to not be as rigid with form. Almost everywhere I looked the people I admired were talking, writing or questioning in the dogmatic application of Biomechanical principles. 

This was the dawn of my existential crisis as a trainer. If biomechanics were worthless, and there was no point in caring about form, then what is my job. Oh god, who am I? The world is a lie! 

I tried to embrace my new carefree attitude towards movement but it didn’t last long. Didn’t feel right. The counterculture postmodernist theory around form jarred with my life experience. Trying to pay attention to teachers and movers way above my station telling form was irrelevant but  all the while, my clients would get stronger, feel better, and move more when they paid attention to form.

The Light Bulb Moment

Then suddenly that was it “When my clients paid attention”. The key to all of this was attention! My existential crisis was averted, and a purpose to our programming was found once more. My days as a movement Beatnik were over. 

For me, the real importance of form is the conscious connection to the movement you are intending to make versus the unconscious creation of a habitual pattern you are trying to mimic.

Looking at form started to make more sense to me. The highlevel movers that seemed to dismiss biomechanics were in fact making conscious decisions about how best their bodies were able to achieve the movement outcome they desired. As one of the greatest thinkers in the world of movement, Moshe Flednekrais said “If you know what you're doing, you can do what you want.”

Coming full circle: 

Now, I have returned to the importance of Form, maybe not the Nazi was before but lean a lot more towards the right than the left when it comes to exercise form. However, I use for a completely different way.

I am adamant about removing fear from movement. As an industry we need to create a culture of exploration and awareness around movement. You will not get injured immediately due to bad form instead poor form means you lose an opportunity for awareness and a chance to build connection with your body. A layer of communication. 

Focus hard on how you move, work to create the movement you intend. If you do a movement that asks more of your hamstrings, find a form that has you feel your hamstrings. If you are still in the beginner phase and just looking at movements and trying to copy them, slow down and try to feel them! 

Use form as translator between the language of movement. What are you trying to do versus what you feel. That is where form comes in.. The more fluent you become the less conscious you need to be with your verbiage. Use the idea of form to improve your curiosity around movement, your presence in movement and your overall awareness.  Do no let the idea of bad form paralyze you through fear!