Have you ever taken a fitness class, watched the instructor, and tried to recreate the exercises or poses that were demonstrated? Did you ever wonder if you were doing it right?
I remember taking a “body sculpting” class maybe 15 years ago and the instructor, who was also my boss, would teach these wide squats. Her toes were turned way out and in every class, I would try to recreate this. I tried everything and it took everything in me to get my feet turned out and my butt rolled under so that I looked just as close to her as I could. And… eventually, my hips hurt so bad that it hurt to walk and my low back was sore.
What I know now is that everyone’s body is different. There was no way I was able to get my body to look like hers, it wasn’t a matter of strength or mobility. It was that my hip joint was very different from hers. I could however obtain the same amount of glute, inner thigh, and other work that she queued. That, however, was not how this particular squat was taught. She taught us to open the feet and legs as wide as we could, and the wider the better. When in reality, none of that mattered.
So how do we know if we’re doing an exercise correctly?
Unfortunately, we won’t always know. A couple of good guidelines are:
- Exercises should feel muscularly challenging vs. challenging in your joints
- Unless otherwise instructed by a doctor or physical therapist you trust, all exercises should be pain-free.
- Work from whatever is closest to the center of your body. We want to feel some work in the core, back, and chest in push-ups. If we’re only feeling sensation or discomfort in the wrists and forearms, we’ll want to look into possible causes of distress in these areas.
- If these suggestions don’t help or you still have questions, ask!! Ask your trainer, instructor, or us, “where should I be feeling this work.”
