Breaking through the wall!!

[mmuscle]

Are there any benefits to cheating with form?

Okay, you lift for a while and get to a decent weight, which you can move in good form, but can't seem to progress any further.

Do you think that it's worth sacrificing some form, just to increase the weight and then maybe work on improving the form once you have got used to the heavier weight?

Cheers!

 

[R W Elphinstone]

Yes and No...

I am a strict believer in form to build your strength and overall musculature, however many bodybuilders do promote 'cheat/forced reps' at the end of a specific exercise to further stress the muscle being worked. Technically, this is not really sacrificing form, however when you're pushing out half a rep on a dumbbell press and your arm feels like spaghetti, form does suffer a bit.

Now, I do not promote throwing around the weights with bad form. How many times have you been to the gym to see someone doing standing barbell bicep curls, where they've obviously got way too much weight on, and their back is constantly going out of alignment because they're swinging the weight up? It happens every day I'm at the gym, and people just aren't getting it.

In the end, slow, concentrated reps are the way to go. If you need to add weight, add as little as possible. You will notice gains in strength.

You can actually buy single pound weights, and even half pound weights for your home gym barbells and dumbbells, if you're serious about upping your weight slowly. When my friend was bodybuilding, he had these special plates where he added a single pound each time he worked out, and he made serious gains really, really quickly!

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