You Probably Care Too Much About Exercise Form
“Proper” form is not the end-all be-all when it comes to injury prevention nor being able to lift more weight. There are many high level strength athletes who have unique forms when lifting and are healthy and injury free.
What Is Overtraining?
The fear of overtraining comes from outdated/under-researched ideas of the limit of how much volume humans can lift. Average (or above average) exercisers generally do not have to worry about overtraining. Pushing too hard, too fast can lead to injury, but intentional, slow development from a well designed workout plan allows for people to safely train hard.
The Death of ‘Functional’ Fitness
The trend of ‘functional’ fitness aims to train exercisers with movements that are supposedly more likely to carry over to practical everyday uses. However, in doing so, many ‘functional’ recommendations contradict long-standing, well-researched and evidence-based practices in fitness, to the detriment of their followers. Unfortunately, there is something that functional fitness is uniquely good at - gathering attention on social media via highly viral, unusual movements likely to attract attention because of their novelty.
Are Jumps A Good Training Exercise?
Jumps are an excellent exercise for developing explosive power, and are absolutely essential in many athletic programs. At the same time, they have some serious drawbacks that make them less good of a fit for most other exercisers. Despite this, jumps have a popularity that seems to exceed their general usefulness, in part driven by social media.
I Just Don't Like The Reverse Nordic Curl
The reverse nordic curl and the nordic curl have become especially popular recently becaue of the ongoing COVID pandemic and the fact that these are bodyweight exercises that can be done at home. Both of these exercises are tough and can be especially hard on the knees. The best thing you can do is listen to your body! If you don’t like an exercise or if it doesn’t feel right, there are plenty of alternatives out there.