I came across a great article by Greg Nuckols about using perfect form, The myth of perfect form. and what it might be. It’s a great piece on why the perfect form that is often talked about really doesn’t exist as it is generally described. He uses the back squat as an example and talks about how chasing the mythical dream of squatting like an elite weightlifter might not be either desirable or even attainable. First off when we are talking about elite level athletes there is a massive amount of selection that has taken place by the time we see them in the sporting arena breaking records. We can apply these principles to most physical endeavors. Your physical shape from limb length to how heavy you are will all have an impact on what your form looks like and trying to shoe horn yourself into a particular form based around some prescribed ideal that doesn’t take these into account is looking for trouble and a lot of frustration. In this TED talk by David Epstien called “Are atheletes really getting faster, better, stronger?” where towards the end of the talk he looks at just how the shape of elite level athletes has changed to such an extent that is dramatically demonstrated by pointing out how swimmer Michael Phelps at 6’4″ and 1500m runner Hicham El Guerrouj at 5’9″ have roughly the same length of leg.
Coming back to squatting, the shape and depth of our hip, femur length and ratio of the femur to torso will impact on what our squat looks like. In the video below Dr Stuart McGill discusses what some of the anatomical issues are that will dictate what your squat will look like. Weightlifters are likely to have relatively short femurs in relation to their torso length as this allows them to maintain as upright a posture as possible much more easily when they squat. Powerlifters optimise their squatting stance so that they can break parallel and lift the most weight and with less emphasis on the need to maintain a very upright torso there is more variation in what their squats look like and some squat with the feet very wide whilst others will look more like weightlifters. The reasons behind this variation can be be both goal driven and anatomical. .
If we take running as another example, as with squatting, we want to achieve a comfortable and safe form that allows you to move efficiently so you are looking for again an upright and stable torso, as this allows you to generate the most power from your hips, and we want your foot to land under your hip as this avoids the braking force that landing in front of the body would generate. The topic of where your foot hits the ground isn’t particularly important be it on fore foot, midfoot or heel and can be dependent on speed or fatigue. It is also worth noting that the recent marathon world record, 2:02:57 set in Berlin by Dennis Kimetto who was a heel striking whilst he did it. Another topic in where there is lot of talk about is cadence and it is thought that running with a cadence of around 180 strides/minute as the ideal stride rate yet there is great variation in this and at higher paces good runners may be running at 200+ SPM.
So when you are trying to sort out your form when exercising it is wise to keep in mind that what is often thought of as perfect is perhaps based around a false premise that we will all fit into one form. Our specific anatomy, injury history, age all will play a role in what we can and can’t do and outside of some general guidelines we need to find our own “perfect” form.