Strict form or cheat a little?

FrankG

New Member
What are your thoughts on this?  For hypertrophy, do you think its best to always use strict form no matter what, or should you sometimes cheat a little in order to use a heavier load?  Obviously some exercises don't really lend themselves to cheating, but a little cheating can be used safely on some exercises.  For example, shrugs can be done very strictly using just traps to move the weight, but you can also do "power shrugs" using your legs and back to help lift the weight and use considerably more weight.  What do you think?
 
I don't see much point. If you are cheating, then you are using other muscles, so it isn't even putting any extra load on the muscle you are trying to work. You may also be risking injury.
Basically, in my opinion, if you can't use proper form, then you aren't ready for that weight yet.

I do see a point in using cheats when doing negatives, since you can cheat the concentric part, which is unimportant for eccentric only, then use a strict eccentric form.
 
i agree entirely with the above,the only time ive ever used any cheating method is when i wanted to break through a plateu and then this was before i started hst which gives you no reason to do so.it is however an interesting point and i think it crops up more in other training methods,theres a guy in my gym he presses 50kg on dumbell press and uses the same on lateral raises!this is due to swinging the weight like hes trining to take off,no good at all.
 
Frank

The guys are right, you'd be better off on some exercises reducing ROM slightly to get a heavier weight.

Or even using techniques like loaded stretches afterwards or drop sets or pulses, but cheating ain't gonna get you there mate!

Unless of course it is negatives, then the cheating portion is only for the concentric part, the rest is strict!
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If you use a power rack you can do some real havy S... without worrying about safety as it is taken care of :D , then you happily reduce your ROM by a maximum of 10 - 20% and give it all you got, now that is bound to work
butbut.gif
 
I agree with all of you.  Mostly I was curious if anyone had trained this way and actually felt like it helped.
I've tried the shrugs using a lot more weight and getting my body into it, but felt like my legs back were just picking up the extra load (like Totentanz said), so there didn't seem to be much difference.  
Probably only useful with negatives.
 
You're probaby right Fausto, I'd be better off just sticking to techniques like drop sets, negatives, etc. (maybe I'll try the reduced range of motion too, just for something different, since I work out on a power rack at home).
 
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