Myths About Exercise and Sports Technique

When visiting the gym or searching for information online, we often come across differing opinions on how to “exercise correctly”, what counts as “proper technique” or the “best exercise”. This article will help you make sense of the flood of information and apply it effectively to your training plan and everyday movement.

Myth 1: Your knees must not go past your toes

Let’s debunk this myth once and for all. When climbing stairs or playing badminton with friends in summer, the knee often travels well past the toes. So it’s extremely important to practise this position. If a deep squat is hard for you, start with a half squat and gradually work your way up to a comfortable full squat, first to parallel with the floor and then even lower.

Myth 2: The deadlift is done with a straight back

When picking things up off the floor, such as keys, or lifting a child out of a car seat, it isn’t always possible to keep a perfectly straight back. It’s completely normal for the spine to bend in certain segments. Of course, we don’t recommend deadlifting maximal weights with your spine bent into a “C” shape. However, training different torso positions and loading individual segments of the spine while lifting can be excellent training for everyday life.

Myth 3: I’m upright when my shoulder blades are squeezed together

The shoulder and the shoulder blade, i.e. the shoulder girdle, can be your best friends or your worst enemies. The interplay of their movements is what lets us perform various movements with the torso, such as bending forward, straightening up or leaning back. That’s why it’s important to train all of these movements, rather than focusing only on pulling the shoulder blades together.

Myth 4: I can’t squat because my ankles are stiff

In clinical practice as a physiotherapist, I’ve found that squat problems aren’t necessarily caused by reduced ankle mobility alone. The movement happens as a chain involving the ankle, knee, hip, pelvis and torso. It’s important to train simpler squat variations and, at the start, help yourself with exercises such as the static lunge or the goblet squat (a squat holding a weight in front of your body).

Myth 5: One of my legs is shorter than the other

A genuine diagnosis of unequal leg length is fairly rare. An uneven pelvic position, which we see in ice hockey players or in people who predominantly stand on one leg, can create the impression that one leg is shorter than the other. You can easily test this yourself by standing on one leg in front of a mirror and watching the position of your pelvis. The pelvis may tilt more on one leg than on the other, which suggests one leg dominates when walking and that you need to focus on balanced training of the legs and torso for both limbs.

Conclusion

With this article we want to emphasise that every person is an individual. There is no conclusive evidence that the myths mentioned cause pain or pose an increased risk of injury. However, if you feel pain or have doubts during training, we recommend consulting a physiotherapy professional. A tailored approach and expert advice will help you achieve better results without unnecessary risk of injury.