Inspirational 1-Minute Video: This Little Kid Has Better Form Than Me!

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I found this awesome video on twitter earlier and wanted to share it here:

Of course the triumph of hard work and determination is always a beautiful thing to witness. #WeightRoomWednesday is more about that than the actual mechanics of exercising, but she also has awesome form. I started breaking it down like a nerd, but if you really care, these will be a better place to start:

Here’s a breakdown on squats

Here’s one on the difference between squats and deadlifts, plus how to master each. (PRACTICE!)

Pelvis tilts may help improve both of them. (If you’re having a difficult time keeping your back straight, because your whole spine sits on your pelvis so it’s commonly the “root” problem.)

I included all those blogs instead of breaking down jumping form because you should probably be able to do all those things pretty well before you start incorporating regular jumping into an exercise routine. It requires a good amount of skill and athleticism. As you can see, things can go wrong; and grown-ups don’t hit the ground as gracefully as little kids.

I also certainly wouldn’t recommend the box for most people! That’s a risk/reward ratio you probably don’t need in your life.

If you are jumping, it is best used in rounds of 3-5 jumps, resetting between each one and using flawless form. Use it like that as a warm up before squats or deadlifts (pause in the bottom position of either and explode out of it), instead of doing 50 straight with sloppy form as a “finisher”.

Down With The Fitness is here to give you simple, actionable tips that will improve your health. If you found this helpful, feel free to check out the archives for more. I'm pretty proud of the rabbit hole this thing has become.
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Have fun and do your best,

Matt Koch

Certified Personal Trainer and Nutrition Coach (American Council on Exercise; Precision Nutrition)

P.S. Since writing this blog, I've since discovered this video syncs of perfectly with the last minute of Perseverance by Hatebreed. Due to copyright laws, I can't put them together myself, so here is Perseverance. If you cue it up so you can hit play on the video from twitter at RIGHT the 1:20 mark of this (fittingly it's when Jamey says "And admit that your faults will not restrain you"), you will see what I'm talking about.

It's like the Dark Side of Oz for a guy who works out to HAtebreed multiple times a week.