If you’ve ever watched enough people train in a gym, you’ll quickly notice something strange.
One person squats with their feet pointing almost straight ahead. Another has their toes turned out. One person benches with a significant arch through their back, while another keeps their back relatively flat. One person deadlifts with a wide stance, while another stands much narrower.
So who is doing it correctly?
The answer is: potentially all of them.
One of the biggest misconceptions in strength training is that every exercise has one “perfect” technique that everyone should copy. In reality, the best way to perform an exercise depends on your anatomy, your goals, your training methodology, your experience and your current physical capacity.
As an Exercise Physiologist who has worked with everyone from general gym-goers to competitive athletes, powerlifters, CrossFit athletes and sporting teams, I’ve found that good technique isn’t about making everyone move identically.
It’s about finding the setup that allows that individual to achieve what they’re trying to achieve.
There Isn’t One Perfect Way to Lift
Think about something as simple as walking.
We don’t all walk identically.
Our stride length, foot position, hip movement and trunk movement will vary depending on our anatomy and the environment we’re moving through.
Strength exercises are no different.
Two people can perform the same exercise while having slightly different:
- Foot positions
- Grip widths
- Joint angles
- Range of motion
- Spinal positions
- Bar paths
- Stances
- Movement speeds
And both can be performing the exercise effectively.
The important question isn’t:
“Does this look exactly like the way someone else does it?”
Instead, ask:
“Is this setup appropriate for what I’m trying to achieve?”
1. Your Anatomy Can Change Your Ideal Setup
One of the biggest reasons people need different exercise setups is simply because we aren’t built the same.
We have different:
- Limb lengths
- Torso lengths
- Femur lengths
- Arm lengths
- Joint structures
- Mobility
- Proportions
This can dramatically change what feels natural during an exercise.
Take the squat.
Someone with relatively long femurs and limited ankle mobility may naturally find a slightly wider stance more comfortable.
Someone with shorter femurs and excellent ankle mobility may be able to squat comfortably with a narrower stance.
Neither person necessarily has “better” squat technique.
Their bodies simply have different requirements.
This is why I often get frustrated when people are told:
“Your feet need to be exactly here.”
Or:
“Your toes should always point straight ahead.”
There are general principles we can use to optimise movement, but your anatomy should influence how those principles are applied.
If your body naturally wants your feet to point slightly outwards when you squat, that isn’t automatically a problem that needs to be corrected.
2. Your Goal Changes How You Should Perform an Exercise
The same exercise can also look completely different depending on what you’re trying to achieve.
The bench press is a great example.
A powerlifter competing in a bench press competition has a very specific goal:
Move the maximum amount of weight according to the competition rules.
Their technique will therefore be designed around producing as much force as possible while completing the required movement.
This is one reason you see a large arch in many competitive powerlifters.
A powerlifting-style bench setup can:
- Reduce the distance the bar needs to travel
- Change the position of the shoulder and upper body
- Help the lifter produce force efficiently
- Make the movement more specific to their sport
If you’re competing in powerlifting, this makes sense.
But what if you’re simply trying to build strength and muscle?
Your priorities may be different.
A flatter bench position with a greater range of motion may be more appropriate for your training goals.
Neither setup is inherently “correct.”
They’re simply solving different problems.
3. Exercise Variations Can Change the Training Stimulus
Changing your setup doesn’t necessarily turn an exercise into a completely different exercise.
Instead, it can change where you feel the movement and how different muscles contribute.
For example, consider a squat.
Raised heels
Squatting with your heels elevated can allow greater knee movement and may make the exercise feel more quad-dominant.
Flat feet
A flat-footed squat may produce a different balance of movement between the hips, knees and ankles.
Both can still train your legs.
Similarly, changing your bench press grip can alter the experience of the movement.
A narrower grip will generally involve more contribution from the triceps, while a wider grip can change the range of motion and demands placed on the upper body.
Or consider a glute bridge.
Moving your feet closer to your body can change how the movement feels compared with positioning your feet further away, with the latter potentially increasing the contribution you feel from the hamstrings.
Importantly, this doesn’t mean:
“Feet here = glutes.”
and
“Feet there = hamstrings.”
Your body doesn’t work like an on/off switch.
Multiple muscles are still contributing.
Changing your setup simply changes the relative demands and the way the movement feels.
4. “Perfect Technique” Is Often the Wrong Goal
This is one of the biggest lessons I try to teach people.
There is a difference between good technique and perfect technique.
Perfect technique suggests that there is one position everyone should achieve.
Good technique recognises that movement is adaptable.
Think about moving house.
You might have to carry a couch down a flight of stairs.
You won’t be able to keep your spine perfectly neutral, your knees perfectly aligned, your feet perfectly positioned and your shoulders in exactly the same position throughout the entire task.
You’ll have to:
- Twist
- Rotate
- Change your foot position
- Adjust your grip
- Move around obstacles
- React to what’s happening
And that’s normal.
Your body is designed to adapt to different positions and loads.
That doesn’t mean technique doesn’t matter.
It means technique should help you perform a task rather than become a set of rules that prevents you from moving.
5. Don’t Copy the Technique of Your Favourite Influencer
This is particularly important in the age of Instagram, TikTok and YouTube.
You might see a bodybuilder performing a squat with a particular stance.
Or a powerlifter with an enormous bench arch.
Or an elite athlete performing an exercise through an impressive range of motion.
Then you try to replicate it.
The problem?
You aren’t them.
They may have:
- Different anatomy
- Different mobility
- Years of training behind them
- Greater tissue capacity
- Different goals
- Different injury histories
- Different coaching
- Different physical characteristics
What works brilliantly for them may not work brilliantly for you.
And that’s okay.
Elite athletes don’t necessarily have the “best” technique.
They have technique that has been optimised for their body, their sport and their goals.
6. Sometimes “Changing the Exercise” Isn’t Necessary
One of the most useful skills when working with someone who has pain is learning how to modify an exercise rather than immediately removing it.
If someone experiences pain during an exercise, I first want to understand what is happening.
Was it:
- A traumatic injury?
- An overuse problem?
- A sudden increase in training load?
- A range-of-motion issue?
- A strength or capacity issue?
- Something else?
Once we understand the problem, we can start modifying the exercise.
That might mean changing:
Range of motion
Reducing how far someone moves may make an exercise tolerable while they build capacity.
Position
Changing foot, hand, grip or joint position can sometimes reduce symptoms.
Load
Reducing the weight can allow someone to continue training while managing their symptoms.
Contraction type
In some situations, an isometric exercise may be better tolerated than repeated concentric and eccentric movements.
The goal isn’t necessarily to find the exercise that produces zero sensation forever.
The goal is to find an appropriate way to train while allowing the body to progressively adapt.
A Real Example From My Clinical Practice
One of my patients was a former gymnast who had significant mobility through her shoulders and spine.
She had also spent considerable time training in powerlifting and had developed a technically strong powerlifting-style bench press.
On paper, her bench setup looked good.
But she was experiencing shoulder pain.
The problem wasn’t necessarily that the powerlifting bench press was “bad.”
The problem was that her particular anatomy and mobility allowed her to move further into positions that she didn’t necessarily control well.
She was pulling her shoulders back and down very aggressively, effectively reaching the end of her available range and losing some muscular tension.
Rather than simply telling her:
“Stop bench pressing.”
we modified how she performed the movement.
We worked on keeping her elbows closer to her body and maintaining better muscular engagement during the lowering phase of the lift.
By the end of the session, she was able to perform the bench press pain-free with the modified technique.
This is a perfect example of why context matters.
The exercise wasn’t necessarily the problem.
The way the exercise was being performed wasn’t appropriate for that particular person.
7. You Also Need to Earn Certain Positions
Another mistake I see is people attempting to immediately replicate advanced techniques.
They see someone performing a deep squat, an extreme bench arch or a large range of motion and assume:
“If that’s better, I need to do it too.”
But muscles, tendons and other tissues need time to adapt to training.
You can’t necessarily jump from your current capacity to the range or load that an experienced athlete has spent years developing.
This is particularly important when returning from injury.
Range of motion, strength and tolerance are things we can progressively develop.
You don’t need to force yourself into an unrealistic position simply because someone on social media told you that it’s “optimal.”
8. What About Common Technique Mistakes?
This doesn’t mean that every technique is equally good.
There are certainly movement strategies that I commonly see that I’d want to change.
For example:
Squats
One common issue is people using an extremely narrow stance despite their anatomy and mobility making that position unnecessarily difficult.
Sometimes simply allowing a slightly wider stance or different foot position can immediately improve the movement.
Bench press and push-ups
Another common issue is excessive elbow flaring.
Changing the position of the elbows can alter the demands on the shoulder and make the movement feel much more controlled.
Deadlifts
I also see people thinking about the deadlift purely as a “pull.”
Instead, I want people to understand that the deadlift is about coordinating the entire body to move a load efficiently.
These aren’t arguments for one universal technique.
They’re examples of why technique should be coached rather than copied.
So, What Is the “Best” Way to Perform an Exercise?
The best technique is generally the one that allows you to:
- Achieve your training goal
- Produce the desired stimulus
- Use a position appropriate for your anatomy
- Control the movement
- Manage the load appropriately
- Progress over time
- Train without unnecessary pain
Notice that “looks exactly like the person next to me” isn’t on the list.
Because it doesn’t need to be.
Stop Fighting Your Body
One of the biggest messages I’d like people to take away is this:
Stop trying to force your body into someone else’s technique.
If your feet naturally want to point slightly outwards when you squat, that may be completely appropriate for you.
If you need a slightly wider stance, use it.
If a particular grip feels stronger and more comfortable, there may be a reason for that.
If you have pain performing an exercise, don’t simply keep pushing through it because someone online told you that the exercise is “perfect.”
Instead, ask:
Why does this position work for them but not me?
Then look at your anatomy, your training history, your goal, your current capacity and the demands of the exercise.
There Is No Perfect Technique, Only Appropriate Technique
Exercise technique isn’t about finding one magical position that everyone must replicate.
It’s about optimising movement for the individual.
A powerlifter may need an arched bench press.
A recreational gym-goer may prefer a flatter position.
One person may squat narrow.
Another may need a wider stance.
One person may thrive with a particular range of motion.
Another may need to progressively build towards it.
And all of those approaches can be appropriate.
The goal isn’t to make everyone move the same.
The goal is to help each person move, train and progress in a way that is appropriate for them.
So the next time you see someone on Instagram telling you there is only one correct way to squat, bench or deadlift, remember:
They’re showing you what works for them—not necessarily what works for you.
And that’s one of the most important principles of good exercise programming.
