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I can't count the number of times I've had people tell me I'm doing $activity wrong, and learned long ago to completely ignore them because all that matters is

I can't count the number of times I've had people tell me I'm doing $activity wrong, and learned long ago to completely ignore them because all that matters is that I enjoy doing the activity enough to not quit doing it daily as part of my routine. For me, adhering to some kind of rigid protocol or model of perfection just ruins all the fun of it. I always strive towards making whatever it is feel good and fun, so I'm inspired to do it more, not less. Doing anything physical every day is infinitely better than not doing it at all, even if done "imperfectly". My $.02.

koolba 7y ago
I think this applies to just about everything except dead lifts. You really don’t want to do those wrong.
- notus 7y ago
  Tell that to this guy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2R01rQSdsPs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2R01rQSdsPs
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
- newnewpdro 7y ago
  I'm not really referring to weight lifting at all. I've had people cricitize me for doing pullups underhand instead of overhand, telling me my ability to do 10 of them is only because I'm "cheating" by doing them underhand. Nowadays I do them overhand, but when I first started exercising decades ago, it was easier and more fun to do them underhand so that's how I did it until my fitness improved. The same thing has happened in consequence of some bro learning I do hundreds of pushups daily, but when I demonstrate it they criticize my not doing them "properly" because I don't go entirely to the ground on every rep. rolls eyes Then I went distance running with someone and they criticized my slow pace as being the only reason I was able to run so much further than them, that I'm doing it wrong because I run too slowly. It's important to ignore these folks, they're simply not helpful, and they're not saving anyone from injury. Keep your activities fun for yourself and you'll do them more often, and doing them often is far more important than meeting the expectations of others.
z3phyr 7y ago
If you do any physical activity in "wrong" way, you risk hurting your body in the long run. Like its fun to just waltz in a minefield, but sometimes learning from net personal experiance is worse than following advice from someone who already lost a leg to a mine.
- newnewpdro 7y ago
  The vast majority of activities do not have any such risks, not everything involves lifting heavy weights. For example, if you do pushups every day but don't go 100% down to the ground on every rep, you're not risking anything at all. It's just not a meaningful count for comparison to other people's pushup numbers for competitive purposes. Since it's not a competition, who cares, do it however you find is most pleasant and most likely to continue happening daily.
nprateem 7y ago
You can definitely do some yoga asanas wrong. And some are outright dangerous. * I've heard hot yoga can lead people to over stretch and injure themselves. * Doing the lotus unless you're hyperflexible will probably knacker your knees * There's lots of controversy around head stands. Who could imagine that putting 12 stone of bodyweight through your cervical vertebrae could possibly damage them?!? But otherwise I agree with you. People tend to prefer the carrot rather than the stick, so as long as you feel good and have fun you're probably doing it right for you.
rramadass 7y ago
Not quite true. It all depends upon the objective and the goal. Certain things can be achieved only by doing things correctly with "perfection"(ideal) as the goal. The more difficult and forceful the activity the greater is the importance on "correctness" else the risk of serious injury and lack of progress towards a goal. For example, merely waving your arms and legs around will not make you a Martial Artist. You need to focus on the core concepts, techniques and methods of practice. One can approach this with three different goals in mind; a) For simple Health benefits - Here you take it as easy or as difficult as you want to maintain health. Eg. Taichi chuan. b) For Competitive purposes - Here you focus on the correct execution of techniques according to some standard. "Perfection" is the goal here. Eg. Wushu competition c) For some other ideal eg. Fighting in Martial Arts - This requires a different approach where you focus on power, strength, mental toughness etc. Eg. Muay Thai, MMA etc. The point is that while you have to keep your motivation up, you still have to go through a "correct" process which may not be always "feel good and fun".

koolba 7y ago

I think this applies to just about everything except dead lifts. You really don’t want to do those wrong.

notus 7y ago
Tell that to this guy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2R01rQSdsPs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2R01rQSdsPs
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
newnewpdro 7y ago
I'm not really referring to weight lifting at all. I've had people cricitize me for doing pullups underhand instead of overhand, telling me my ability to do 10 of them is only because I'm "cheating" by doing them underhand. Nowadays I do them overhand, but when I first started exercising decades ago, it was easier and more fun to do them underhand so that's how I did it until my fitness improved. The same thing has happened in consequence of some bro learning I do hundreds of pushups daily, but when I demonstrate it they criticize my not doing them "properly" because I don't go entirely to the ground on every rep. rolls eyes Then I went distance running with someone and they criticized my slow pace as being the only reason I was able to run so much further than them, that I'm doing it wrong because I run too slowly. It's important to ignore these folks, they're simply not helpful, and they're not saving anyone from injury. Keep your activities fun for yourself and you'll do them more often, and doing them often is far more important than meeting the expectations of others.

z3phyr 7y ago

If you do any physical activity in "wrong" way, you risk hurting your body in the long run. Like its fun to just waltz in a minefield, but sometimes learning from net personal experiance is worse than following advice from someone who already lost a leg to a mine.

newnewpdro 7y ago
The vast majority of activities do not have any such risks, not everything involves lifting heavy weights. For example, if you do pushups every day but don't go 100% down to the ground on every rep, you're not risking anything at all. It's just not a meaningful count for comparison to other people's pushup numbers for competitive purposes. Since it's not a competition, who cares, do it however you find is most pleasant and most likely to continue happening daily.

nprateem 7y ago

You can definitely do some yoga asanas wrong. And some are outright dangerous. * I've heard hot yoga can lead people to over stretch and injure themselves. * Doing the lotus unless you're hyperflexible will probably knacker your knees * There's lots of controversy around head stands. Who could imagine that putting 12 stone of bodyweight through your cervical vertebrae could possibly damage them?!? But otherwise I agree with you. People tend to prefer the carrot rather than the stick, so as long as you feel good and have fun you're probably doing it right for you.

rramadass 7y ago

Not quite true. It all depends upon the objective and the goal. Certain things can be achieved only by doing things correctly with "perfection"(ideal) as the goal. The more difficult and forceful the activity the greater is the importance on "correctness" else the risk of serious injury and lack of progress towards a goal. For example, merely waving your arms and legs around will not make you a Martial Artist. You need to focus on the core concepts, techniques and methods of practice. One can approach this with three different goals in mind; a) For simple Health benefits - Here you take it as easy or as difficult as you want to maintain health. Eg. Taichi chuan. b) For Competitive purposes - Here you focus on the correct execution of techniques according to some standard. "Perfection" is the goal here. Eg. Wushu competition c) For some other ideal eg. Fighting in Martial Arts - This requires a different approach where you focus on power, strength, mental toughness etc. Eg. Muay Thai, MMA etc. The point is that while you have to keep your motivation up, you still have to go through a "correct" process which may not be always "feel good and fun".