​Part 1:

In Ben's introductory post, he mentioned the importance of good quality form and technique during training. ​

This is a very important point to take on board and is one I would like to expand upon here.

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As a strength and conditioning coach, there are certain things I want to see from my athletes relating to technique in the gym and there are important reasons behind this.

1. The first is safety.

No one, coach or athlete, wants to see an injury in the gym.

Lifting weights that are too heavy will cause your technique to fail and increase your injury risk.

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2. The second is performance.

With a lot of the exercises, there is a preferred technique that will allow you to safely lift the maximum amount of weight, getting you stronger. The movements you perform in the gym will transfer to what you do on the pitch (think lifting in the lineout or jumping for a high ball).

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One of the aims of training is to make that preferred technique automatic so that it happens in the match without you thinking. This limits your risk of injury and improves your ability to tackle harder, run faster and jump higher during the match. This is in much the same way you may practice your kicking technique to make sure your kicking is consistently accurate and long in the match.

Before you perform an exercise in the gym, spend a few seconds thinking about the technique you're aiming for and ask your training partner for their feedback after you've finished. This will greatly improve and speed up yours and your training partner's awareness of your technique meaning you can progress with your training. Then you can use that awareness so that if you start to feel like you're losing your technique, all you need to do is decrease the weight you're lifting slightly.