Technique, biomechanics and mobility

Why there is no universal 'perfect technique', how a movement is really learned and what improves your range of motion.

There is no universal 'perfect technique'

Your femur, torso and arm proportions, and the shape of your hips, completely change how your squat or deadlift should look. Someone with long femurs needs to lean over more in the squat to stay balanced; someone with long arms has a natural advantage in the conventional deadlift. 'Correct technique' is not a fixed position everyone must copy: it is the one that lets you produce force with the least joint load given your own anatomy.

How to apply it

• Do not force a 'textbook' position that is impossible or painful for you: try variations (stance, grip, depth) until you find yours
• If a training partner does an exercise very differently from you with good technique, it is probably anatomy rather than one of you doing it wrong

Why some exercises 'feel' different: the body's levers

Your bones are levers, your joints are the fulcrums and your muscles generate the force: at most of your joints, the muscle has to produce considerably more force than the weight you are moving, in exchange for gaining speed and range. Small changes in angle, or in where a tendon inserts, explain why one person finds an exercise easy while another, with the same weight, finds it brutal.

How to apply it

• Do not compare absolute loads with someone whose proportions are very different from yours
• If an exercise always feels disproportionately hard for you, it may be your anatomical lever rather than a lack of strength

How to protect your spine when lifting heavy

Your spine needs to be both rigid (to transmit force) and mobile, and that rigidity depends mostly on your trunk musculature, not on your ligaments (which alone are not enough to stabilise it under load). Bracing your whole abdomen as if you were about to take a punch, together with an inhale and a slight breath hold during maximal effort (the Valsalva manoeuvre), can reduce the compressive load on your spine by up to 40%. This manoeuvre is not advisable if you have uncontrolled hypertension or a relevant cardiovascular history.

How to apply it

• Before a heavy set, brace your whole abdomen as if you were about to be punched, not just 'pull your belly button in'
• Keep the natural curves of your back (neither completely flat nor heavily arched) instead of forcing it into a rigid 'neutral' position

The 3 phases of learning a new technique

When learning a movement you go through three phases: first you understand 'what' to do (the cognitive phase, lots of errors, mentally tiring fast), then you refine 'how' to do it (the associative phase, you start spotting your own errors), and finally the pattern becomes automatic (the autonomous phase, you can think about other things while executing it). A common coaching mistake is bombarding someone barely in phase 1 with 5 corrections: in that phase the brain can only handle 1–2 cues at a time.

How to apply it

• If you are learning a new exercise, ask for or look for just 1–2 key corrections per session, not a long list
• Do not get frustrated if it feels odd and uneven at first: that is normal in the cognitive phase, it improves with quality repetition

How to practise a new movement: short sessions beat marathons

Spreading practice of a new technique across several short, fresh sessions teaches more than cramming it all into one long session, even though the long session 'feels' better at the time. What really builds the skill is not the total number of reps but how many of those reps are done with full attention and clean technique: repeating while fatigued with degraded technique can groove the faulty pattern instead of improving it.

How to apply it

• If you are learning a new lift, prioritise practising it on more days with fewer sets per session
• Stop the set before technical failure while you are building the pattern, not once your form has already broken down

Why mixing variations in a session teaches more than doing them in blocks

Doing 4 straight sets of squats and then 4 of deadlifts (blocked practice) feels better during the session, but alternating patterns or variations within the same session (interleaved practice) improves long-term retention and your ability to adapt to new variations, because it forces your brain to rebuild the action plan each time instead of repeating it on autopilot. It is more useful once you have some base: with complete beginners, introduce it gradually.

How to apply it

• If you are no longer a complete beginner, try alternating exercises or variations (grip, tempo, stance width) within the same session
• Do not expect to feel smoother doing this: it is normal for the session to 'feel' worse even though it teaches more

Too much correction makes you dependent on it

Getting feedback on every rep improves how your technique looks in the moment, but it harms real learning: you become dependent on someone correcting you and never develop your own ability to notice and fix your errors. Spacing out feedback, correcting only when the error goes beyond a reasonable margin (not every tiny detail), and letting you be the one who asks for help when you need it, teaches more than constant correction.

How to apply it

• Before someone corrects you, try to guess for yourself what felt wrong in that rep
• If you train alone with video or a mirror, use it occasionally to review, not on every set: it creates dependence

The simplest mental trick to improve your technique: external focus

Thinking about 'squeezing your glute' or 'tucking your elbow' (internal focus) performs worse than thinking about the effect of your movement on the environment, such as 'push the floor away from you' or 'throw the bar at the ceiling' (external focus). Dozens of studies show external focus produces more force, more efficiency and better learning: focusing on your own body interferes with the automatic processes your nervous system already handles better without conscious supervision.

How to apply it

• Switch your mental cues from 'body parts' to 'effects on the environment': from 'squeeze your chest' to 'push the dumbbells away from you'
• If an internal cue has not been working for a while, try its external version before persisting with the same one

What really limits your range of motion

Your range of motion depends on three things: bone/joint structure (little or not at all modifiable, some hips simply hit a bony end point sooner than others), soft tissue (muscle, tendon, fascia: modifiable over time), and the nervous system, which imposes a protective limit on 'how far I will let you go' long before the tissue is at any real risk. Much of what feels like 'being stiff' is really your nervous system protecting you, not a genuinely short muscle.

How to apply it

• If you never reach a certain position (e.g. a very deep squat) no matter how much you stretch, it may be your bone anatomy rather than a lack of flexibility: do not force it
• The rapid flexibility improvements you notice within weeks are mostly your nervous system accepting more range, not your muscle 'lengthening'

How to stretch according to your goal

Before training or competing, use dynamic stretching (actively moving the joint through its range): it does not reduce your performance and may slightly improve it. To gain lasting range, static stretching (15–60 seconds, at a tolerable sensation of tension, not pain) or PNF (with a partner, combining stretching and contraction) are the most effective, ideally in a separate session or at the end of training. Training strength through a full range, especially with slow eccentric phases in lengthened positions, improves range as much as stretching and adds strength and control there too.

How to apply it

• Before training: dynamic stretching, not prolonged static stretching
• To gain lasting flexibility: static or PNF at the end of training, and full-range strength work as a parallel strategy

Foam rolling: what it really does and what it does not

A foam roller raises your range of motion for about 30 minutes without penalising your subsequent performance, and it can reduce the sensation of soreness: that is why it works well in a warm-up and in recovery. What it does not do is 'break up adhesions', 'undo knots' or remodel your fascia: the pressure you apply is nowhere near what that would require. Its real effect is mostly neurological (it changes how your nervous system perceives tension), not mechanical.

How to apply it

• Use the foam roller as a convenient complement in a warm-up or recovery, not as the basis of your mobility
• Do not expect it to 'undo knots': its effect is more a sensation of relief than real structural change