Quality counts when you’re exercising. To get the most from your workouts and avoid getting hurt, don’t just do it—do it right.

If you rush through your gym workouts with sloppy style, your fitness routine could be little more than a waste of time or even dangerous.

“Good form is important because it prevents injury and allows you to get the full benefit of the exercise,” says Ron DeAngelo, director of sports performance training at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center for Sports Medicine in Pittsburgh. “All strength-training exercises should be performed to fatigue—that’s how your muscles get stronger. But if your posture starts breaking down toward the end of a set because you’re tired, you’ll recruit peripheral muscles to do the work and start twisting and turning, which can strain joints, ligaments, and tendons.”

Here are some of the form faults DeAngelo spots regularly, and the easy fixes that can get you on the right track.

The Botched Crunch
The abdominal crunch is safer than the old foot-anchored, full-body situp— done right, anyway. But many people put their hands behind their necks and yank, jeopardizing the delicate cervical region of the spine supporting the head.

Form Fix: Place your fingertips lightly on your temples with palms facing in. Because you’ll have nothing to grab onto, your abdominal muscles will do the work as you slowly curl up, lifting your shoulder blades off the floor.

High Reps, Low Weights
When they’re lifting weights, DeAngelo often sees gym-goers quickly pumping through dozens of repetitions.

“They’re trying to do high reps of low weights so they won’t bulk up. But basically, they’re wasting their time. If they slowed down, used good form, and did fewer reps, they’d get a lot stronger faster,” he says.

The best weight-training form emphasizes the negative, the second part of the motion, when the muscle is lengthening.

When you’re doing a bicep curl, for example, lifting the weight to your bicep is the positive part of the motion. You can do that quickly, says DeAngelo. But when you’re going back down, you should go slower so momentum doesn’t do the work for you.

Form Fix: In general, strength-training exercises should have a three-two-one tempo, with the most time devoted to the negative part of the motion, when your muscles are working the hardest. If you’re doing a squat, for example, you should take three seconds to go down, then hold for two seconds at the bottom, and then go up in one second.

The Stair-Climber Lean
Using the stair-climber console as a brace or leaning heavily on its handrails can cut your calorie burn by as much as 25 percent because you’re not depending on your quadriceps (major calorie-burning muscles) as much as you would otherwise, says DeAngelo. You also could strain your back.

Form Fix: To get the most out of your time on the stair-climber, rest only your fingertips on the console or rails when you need to for balance. Otherwise, use your arms, too.

“With all cardio equipment except the stationary bike, you should have your arms and legs involved in the exercise,” says DeAngelo. “If you feel the urge to lean, reduce your speed—most likely, you’ll still get a better workout than you would at a faster pace with heavy arm support.”

Sandra Gordon spoke with Ron DeAngelo, director of sports performance training at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center for Sports Medicine in Pittsburgh. For more information, visit the American Council on Exercise at www.acefitness.org.

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