If your new year’s resolution includes more exercise be sure to consider your body positioning during each and every fitness activity. This is to ensure the safety of your muscles, joints, and ligaments.
Over time, improper alignment can lead to a vast number of injuries, ranging from tendinitis to torn discs between bones. Therefore, every time you walk into a fitness studio be sure you’re considering alignment.
If you are a first-time exerciser, consider hiring a personal trainer to help you get into great first-time habits. Although hiring a personal trainer for the long-term provides a necessary motivational component for some there is no requirement to do so.
Even just having a certified personal trainer guide you through the basics can help you develop an awareness of proper alignment and appropriate exercise speed. This awareness can then help you avoid injury in the long-term.
Even for long-time exercisers looking to increase the level of exercise in the new year, a trainer can give insight into alignment considerations you may have missed or been taught improperly.
Additionally, exercise science often sheds new light on better ways to exercise and with that knowledge recommendations from personal trainers is ever evolving.
In the above video certified fitness instructor, Tom Holland discusses proper alignment for one of the most common exercises, the squat.
Sources: American College of Sports Medicine