How's Your Form?

Just before class began on a recent Tuesday evening, as everyone was getting their benches and weight bars set up for BodyPump, I looked up and noticed the woman in front of me.  I gave her a mental nod and thought, “Wow! She’s strong!” as I observed the amount of weight she had on her bar for the warm-up.

We got through the warm-up and moved on to squats. As I dropped the bar and switched to a holding a medium plate at my chest while doing squats, I was focused on my form. Chest up, squat without leaning forward, thighs parallel to the floor, weight in your heels. Throughout the classes the instructors coach us on how important good form is so we can get the most out of the exercises without hurting ourselves. I can’t say that I love squats, but I like how I feel after we finish them! They certainly do get the heart rate up and I can feel the work in my quads and glutes. 

As we transitioned to the chest track, I caught a glimpse of the woman in front of me again. I hadn’t given her much thought during the warm-up or squat track as I focused on my own form and on following the pace the instructor was setting. For the rest of the class, the thing that caught my eye was not that she had a lot of weight on her bar, but that she obviously had too much weight on the bar to be able to have proper form. I began to notice that she was only doing about half of the reps and the reps she did were only partial range. During the chest track, which is done lying on your back on a bench, I noticed that she had her knees up and the bar resting on her knees for part of the chest track.

My first thought was, “I hope she’s okay.” My second thought was, “If she’d drop some weight, I bet she’d be able to do all of the reps.” As the class progressed, I couldn’t help but noticing the woman in front of me more and more. As I drove home from class that night, I kept thinking about her. Over the next couple of weeks, the question, “How’s your form?” kept coming to mind. I know there’s a lesson about life in this … something I can learn to help me get the most out of each day without causing injury to myself or others.

It really got me thinking. The weight on the bar is like the commitments and activities and stuff in our lives. They can be really good things, just like adding weight for exercise can be good when we’re ready. But too much added too soon can leave us unable to execute properly and consistently. We load on more and more stuff, but we don’t always take the time to stop and count the cost. This can leave us frenzied and only able to give minimal attention to each area.

You’ve seen the frazzled mom who is impatient and forgetful and always in a rush. Maybe you’ve been her.  Maybe you are her now. I have had periods of time like that and they are not fun. How can we be a blessing to anyone else when we’re barely hanging on by a thread, rushing from thing to thing, not able to be fully present in the moment to enjoy the people we’re with? It makes me wonder, “Is that the life God would have us live?”

How much better to choose wisely, have good boundaries, be able to fulfill our commitments, handle the load with peace and joy, and connect with the people in our lives in a meaningful way, too? 

Let’s face it, life will always be messy and there will be plenty of things outside of our control, but we do have the opportunity to decide how much weight we add to the bar. We can say no to some things and yes to others.

Whatever season we’re in, we should be able to work towards having “good form” … tackling the day’s responsibilities in an orderly fashion, wholeheartedly being present in the moment, going at a steady pace, periodically resting, being consistent and thorough, attentive to details, and doing it all with a cheerful attitude.  

Thinking back on the years of raising and homeschooling our daughters, I realize that some of the seasons where I was most overwhelmed and burdened were times when I had added too much to our already overflowing plates.  There were times when I piled on the enrichment activities for the girls and commitments for myself and the family to the point where I was frazzled and even grumpy about them. There were also times when our family was super busy, but it wasn’t a burden at all. I believe those were the times we added the right amount of "weight" at the right time and we had good form in the process.

It’s possible to have a busy schedule and tend to our responsibilities with grace and peace and do so with thorough care and attentiveness to detail.  However, just like neglecting to have good form at the gym can cause injury, neglecting to live life in a way that honors God and brings peace to our own homes and families as well as those we encounter will cause injury as well.

Sometimes what we need is to change our attitude and choose to be joyful and at peace, even in the midst of the whirlwind of life’s activities and challenges.  But sometimes we also need to take some weight off the bar so we can better focus on having good form and running this race well.

The challenge for me is evaluating whether I have the right amount of weight on the bar of my life and then choosing to focus on my form … how I live my life. Usually what’s needed is a small adjustment, not a big overhaul. I’ve been asking God in recent days to show me areas where I can make adjustments that will help me be more effective. He is really good at pruning us so we can bear more fruit!

What about you?  How’s your form?  

These two passages have been on my mind this past week as I've been thinking about the topic of having good form:

Hebrews 12:1-2, "Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith..." 

Colossians 3:14-17, "But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him."