As a master personal trainer, I have other personal trainers come to me to sharpen their training skills and learn advanced training technique, but one thing I stress to everyone, whether a beginner or advanced exerciser, is the importance of incorporating proper exercise form in the weight room.

Proper form is a must for several reasons. First, if exercise is done correctly there’s much less chance of injury. Most injuries in the weight room don’t happen in dramatic fashion. Most begin with just a little twinge that doesn’t feel right. Then that twinge sometimes gets worse.

Another reason I teach and use proper exercise form is progress. If exercises aren’t completed properly, you won’t get desired results. Also, when you exercise incorrectly, whether using free weights or machines, you emphasize the wrong muscles. This leads to strength imbalances that not only detract from your progress, but could hurt you then, or later on.

Weight training exercises might look simple, but can actually be quite complex. Whether I’m teaching clients or trainers, I show them how many pieces there are to an exercise, how those pieces influence parts of the body, then how best to put all the exercise pieces together. That culminates into the proper exercise routine.

I also show them how just ¼ inch difference in an exercise movement can triple the results received from that same exercise. In fact, did you know just breathing correctly when performing abdominal exercises can double your rate of success?

I tell clients that every exercise I have them accomplish is to get them ready for another exercise.

There’s no such thing as the perfect exercise routine forever. Your body will eventually adjust to the routine and stop making progress. Your exercise regimen will then have to be changed up. The key is knowing how and when to change it.

Yet another reason to learn proper exercise form from the start is when someone has learned an exercise incorrectly, their body gets used to it. The way they incorrectly learned those exercise literally becomes chemically etched in their brain. This makes it harder to re-learn (if you will) the new proper exercises.

Also, if you learn proper exercise technique you’ll enjoy working out more. You’ll be more stable, and able to be more vigorous, having confidence in your exercise ability.

So how do we go about learning proper exercise form? First, what not to do. Don’t learn by copying someone else in the gym who looks like he or she is in good shape. Don’t get your sole exercise knowledge from television, or your computer because you can’t get answers to questions you might have.

Also, there’s quite a bit of incorrect advice out there. Don’t get your information from books or magazines for the same reason. I recommend you contact an exercise expert. Sit down with them and express your goals. When your trainer implements your fitness routine, ask questions, and take notes. Be sure to tell them if something doesn’t feel right during your exercise sessions. Learn proper form and you just might become an expert exerciser.

Diet or exercise question? Email me at dwcrocker77@gmail.com. David Crocker of Landrum has been a nutritionist and master personal trainer for 29 years. He served as strength director of the Spartanburg Y.M.C.A., head strength coach to the USC Upstate baseball team, the S.C. state champion girls gymnastic team, and the Converse College equestrian team. He served as a water safety instructor to the United States Marine Corps, lead trainer to L.H. Fields modeling agency, and taught for four semesters at USC Union. David was also a regular guest of the Pam Stone radio show.