Is "bad form" always such a bad thing?

rubadub

I know some people are cheating themselves using momentum to lift heavy weights that they otherwise couldnt. I know that sometimes this is OK since it allows you to do unassisted negative work.

But when using "bad form" you are often bringing other muscles into play to lift the weight up, is this such a bad thing? They may not be used otherwise and in real life lifting of objects you do use all these muscles for stability and lifting heavier weights than you could if you specifically tried to use e.g. just the bicep. I have heard some term like "odd lifting" where you lift odd shaped objects specifically to bring other muscles into play, like big stones or stuff in strong men contests.

I have been doing one arm overhead presses and find myself using a lot more motion than I could doing barbell military presses. I can lift more weight due to this. I move around a bit like in this link
http://www.exrx.net/WeightExercises/DeltoidAnterior/DBOneArmShoulderPress.html

I suppose it could be called controlled bad form or something. But do any of you do it?

Dragan

To put it simply you gotta work the muscles as they respond for you and keep that in line with your goals. I want to be big and strong. I don't just mean bench strong, I mean lift the back of my brothers car for no other reason than I can strong. As such, I train for size and strenght. I like to do odd moves and lifts and shake things up a bit. These are often not pretty but the do what I want them to do, which is make me strong in unusual ways.

However, I also train for size, so I need to work my muscles in a way that they will respond and grow big. Trial and error has show me the best way for me to do this for each muscle group, so that is how I train those particular muscle groups. I train my chest, shoulders, biceps, triceps, back and legs are completely differently with different volumes, rep ranges, weight ranges and FORM!

That said, there are plenty of people who are just kidding themselve and need to drop the weight, like 4 inch squatters and guys who look like they are being attacked when doing dumbell curls.

Degsy

Dragan wrote:

To put it simply you gotta work the muscles as they respond for you and keep that in line with your goals. I want to be big and strong. I don't just mean bench strong, I mean lift the back of my brothers car for no other reason than I can strong. As such, I train for size and strenght. I like to do odd moves and lifts and shake things up a bit. These are often not pretty but the do what I want them to do, which is make me strong in unusual ways.

However, I also train for size, so I need to work my muscles in a way that they will respond and grow big. Trial and error has show me the best way for me to do this for each muscle group, so that is how I train those particular muscle groups. I train my chest, shoulders, biceps, triceps, back and legs are completely differently with different volumes, rep ranges, weight ranges and FORM!

That said, there are plenty of people who are just kidding themselve and need to drop the weight, like 4 inch squatters and guys who look like they are being attacked when doing dumbell curls.

To say nothing of the mighty "pelvic thrust" method of blasting biceps,the six inch from the chest bench press and upright row on pointed toe!

rubadub

Interesting points. I train really just to keep my weight down, well fat down. So hypertrophy (rather than aiming for strength or stamina) is the best way since my metabolism will increase due to the increased muscle mass. If training for stamina or strength kept my BF% down more I would be doing that, although having muscles is a welcome "side effect". But being strong "in other ways" is needed for safety reasons. So when doing relatively light bench presses, like 12 rep weights, I sometimes lean the bar off to one side to strenghten the stabilising muscles, so when I do get in trouble with larger weights at least these muscles will have been worked a little and will help me trying to recover and load the bar back on its stand.

I suppose this sort of bad form is ok and is done purposely rather than the guys in gyms doing it unknowingly who are only trying to lift more numbers than the next guy "pissing contest lifters".

davyjose

Dragan wrote:

That said, there are plenty of people who are just kidding themselve and need to drop the weight, like 4 inch squatters and guys who look like they are being attacked when doing dumbell curls.

Don't you understand, if they use the same weights as the 120kilo bloke beside them uses, that means they'll be just as strong
You see so many people use bad form, because quite simply they don't have a clue. But if you know what you are doing, and you've got good form then i thi nk it's ok to add a little 'body English' to your workouts now and again.

mloc

i'm a stickler for good form. so much so, that i feel almost embarrassed doing things like cheat curls in case someone sees me and thinks thats how i do normal curls.

i learned through experience that bad form gets you nowhere. doing exercises correctly is the ONLY way to make significant strength, size or endurance gains in the gym. Cheat curls aren't bad form, as such, neither are things like heavy upright rows and forced reps with a training partner. However, those sort of exercises generally only make up about 10% of your overall training regime. Controlled, full range of motion exercises should comprise the bulk of your training. The sooner a beginner realises that, the better, for his or her own sake.

mickoo

rubadub wrote:

Interesting points. I train really just to keep my weight down, well fat down. So hypertrophy (rather than aiming for strength or stamina) is the best way since my metabolism will increase due to the increased muscle mass. If training for stamina or strength kept my BF% down more I would be doing that, although having muscles is a welcome "side effect". But being strong "in other ways" is needed for safety reasons.QUOTE]

Power lifting also massively increases your metabolism-hypertrophy helps,but to gain muscle you have to eat more than you burn and if you do this it will be extremly hard to drop body fat unless your amazing with the oul diet!!
train hard with good technique and get on top of the nutrition-;)