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Positioning Yourself for Perfect Form

Summary & Participants

We've all heard about folks who have thrown out their backs picking up a box. And most of us have received the advice, "Lift with your knees!" at one time or another. You can imagine how important it is to adhere to the rules of good posture if you're a weight lifter. Good posture and maintaining strength in the center of the body are two golden rules of proper weight training. Join our experts as they discuss the principles of proper posture and "core strength."

Medically Reviewed On: May 07, 2008

Webcast Transcript

DAVID FOLK THOMAS: Welcome to our webcast. I'm David Folk Thomas, and today we're going to be talking about staying fit, specifically weight training. But everybody goes out to the gym these days. You can't walk a block in New York City without bumping into some health club, lots of people in there working out, working weights, doing the exercise bikes. How many of them are actually doing it the right way, using the right form? Well, after you watch this you're going to know all about doing it the right way.

I'm joined by two of the fittest guys we could have in the studio. On my left is Jim Ramsay. He's the Athletic Trainer for the New York Rangers hockey team. So he's used to working out with some pretty big, world class athletes.

Sitting next to Jim is Dr. Jonathan Glashow. He's a sports medicine orthopedic surgeon at Lennox Hill Hospital in New York. He's also a consultant to the aforementioned New York Rangers, as well as numerous olympic athletes. Guys, thanks for joining us here on the webcast.

I mentioned we're dealing with form at the gym. How important is perfect form and good form when you're working out?

JIM RAMSAY: Well, David, more and more people are getting involved in weight training. It seems to be the "in" thing in most fitness facilities today. When you go in there you'll notice a lot of different people using a lot of different forms. We try to stress with our athletes that form is important before technique and basically the two are intertwined. Proper form reduces the risk of injury and maximizes your workout.

DAVID FOLK THOMASJonathan, can you further what Jim said right there? You're sort of on the operating side, maybe after people have messed up. But you also can tell them what to do.

JONATHAN GLASHOW, MD: Both before and after, the position and technique have a great deal to do with any result one wants to get out of the gym. While Jim has direct contact with athletes on a day-to-day basis, I often see numerous athletes who come in who've done things the wrong way and then wound up in trouble. So a little bit of prevention and proper form and technique goes a long way to prevent injuries down the road, specifically in the knee and shoulder which I happen to see a fair bit of.

DAVID FOLK THOMAS: Jim, for example, let's say a health club in New York City or anywhere, if you walk in there and you look around, are you noticing that there's a lot of bad form going on there? Do you take note of that?

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