Quick – what’s the best training tool available to correct your exercise technique and take huge steps to advance your strength training?
The video camera!
Trainees of all levels can use video analysis to transform their exercise form and improve performance and safety.
Mirrors, however, don’t offer the same feedback as a video camera and also have large drawbacks:
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- To see from a side angle, it’s dangerous for your neck because you have to turn your head while lifting.
- It’s visually distracting.
- You can’t see what’s going on behind you. Try turning your neck for that!
- It’s hard to analyze your lift while lifting. Multi-tasking with 300lbs on your back seems a tad dangerous.
- As your eye level changes, things look different.
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During your lift, take a video from the front, side, and back angles. Try propping your camera or phone against something or ask a training partner or friendly stranger to record you. I typically record my work sets and review the clips after my workout so I can incorporate new cues when I warm up the next time I do that exercise.
Fortunately, with all the technology available nowadays, it’s easy to whip out a camera, iPhone, Android – or other gadget – and film yourself. What a time to be alive…
Maybe after videotaping your front squat, you discover that you aren’t breaking parallel and your left knee caves-in (valgus) during the concentric phase. Maybe during your deadlift, you see that your stance is too wide. Or during the bench press, you catch some hottie checking you out.
Whatever it may be, reviewing your technique will help you identify flaws in your technique; fixing those mistakes will help you lift more weight and stay safe.
And, possibly, get a date.
“The camera never lies.”
– Anonymous
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