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Mirrors - useful or waste of time?


Video is better by far, very far. No lifter should be watching in a mirror when lifting heavy, you should be focusing on the lift. So I understand that completely but beginners deadlifting get really good feedback from watching themselves in a mirror when setting up, same goes for pushups (especially elevated for beginner women) and planks. For starting positions on oly lifts it also helps.
 
Spot on, or "Gold" as you say!
After 1 year in commercial gyms, being told to "check what you are doing in the mirror", its a huge culture shock entering a world of a mirrorless gym.
My benefit now is filming my lifts and feeling the mechanics of good form.
 
I have to say, I am quite surprised at the replies in this thread.

Regardless of if you are training for strength or bodybuilding, mirrors should play a huge role.

For strength training, unless you have a coach and someone watching you all the time, a mirror is invaluable for assessing your technique. Sure, once you have perfect technique, you may not need it anymore, but every so often it would still be good to make sure you are still hitting depth on squats, or looking up, or whatever you want to be doing. Even with something simple like bicep curls or whatever, you might find you are cheating more than you thought you were, or that your elbows were flaring out or whatever. Without a mirror or a coach, how would you know?

For bodybuilding, there is no question. Mirrors are invaluable. It is not about looking in the mirror and admiring yourself, it is about looking in the mirror and critiquing, looking for ways to improve. How else can you tell if you are getting closer to your goals?

More importantly, mirrors are great for motivation. When I look in the mirror and no longer see a scrawny little kid, it makes it a lot easier to get motivated to push out that heavy set, or to get out the extra reps.

It helps to assess bodyfat changes, changes in vascularity etc etc. All things that an aspiring bodybuilder should be keeping tabs on, or just anyone interested in their appearance.

I find it hard to believe that anyone training doesn't care at least a little about their appearance. Even many people on this site who claim not to care and don't use mirrors etc, but still post up pics every so often... And if you care even the slightest about your appearance, then improvements in your appearance should be highly motivating.

On a related note, what is so bad about flexing in the gym? I don't do it often, but after a really good set, I might pull a most muscular or sometihng, see if the vascularity has changed. It is purely for my benefit and nobody elses (I usually go into a corner, or the changerooms first lol)
 

I agree, mirrors are important and it is the mirror that I use to judge the changes that I am making as well. But I disagree that they are needed for training, I much prefer to focus on the work I am doing and not my reflection. I am not saying that it wouldn't work, but rather it is just the way I like to train is all.
And I agree with you, I care about my appearance allot too, it is basically a way to measure how my health is improving. But I will say this, I am training to have a good body for sure, but I don't want to look like superman and lift like the tuck shop lady LOL, so I put emphasis on my workout when I'm in my man cave and worry about looks after. When it comes to form, I am certainly not an expert but I use 'feel' to guide me, of course I have had experienced guys help me allong the way from in here (ausbb) as well as at my old gym, but I can't see the importance of a mirror for this that much, my wife totally disagrees with me of course.

G
 
pistachio said:
Regardless of if you are training for strength or bodybuilding, mirrors should play a huge role.
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A huge role?? Seriously??

Whether you have mirrors in your gym or not is going to have a minor at best role and at worst distract you as you keep checking out you new tan and bicep vascularity and not training.
 
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Of course, but my point is that it is useful under either scenario. Personally I find that my form slips over time if I do not have a mirror, or take a video of it to check it.

Bazza20 said:
A huge role?? Seriously??

Whether you have mirrors in your gym or not is going to have a minor at best role and at worst distract you as you keep checking out you new tan and bicep vascularity and not training.
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Not a huge role as in like diet/training etc. That was probably worded poorly. Put it this way though, a gym without mirrors would be a huge downside for me. I would have to weigh up having a crappier gym but with mirrors, or having a better gym without any.

Lol, you'd have to be remarkably vain to get distracted by your own appearance. I can't honestly say I've been distracted by the mirror.

After the end of my workout though, I will sometimes check for improvements in vascularity, or see if I look like I"m holding too much water, or starting to put on fat etc. Not every workout, maybe once a week or so. After finishing my last set of my accessory exercises (weighted dips or barbell curls for example) I might flex and assess.

It is nothing to do with ego either, sometimes it makes you feel like he-man after a ridiculously hard workout and you walk out of the gym feeling on top of the world.
 
deep said:
My benefit now is filming my lifts and feeling the mechanics of good form.
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Love your work Deep lady. We did that back in the 80s at the AIS for the same reason you're doing it now. I love the way you made mention of that magic word: "MECHANICS of good form". This tells me that we've got a lady here who understands what it means to feel the INVISIBLE!

Well done Deep and all power to you.


Fadi.
 
pistachio said:
I have to say, I am quite surprised at the replies in this thread.

Regardless of if you are training for strength or bodybuilding, mirrors should play a huge role.
Click to expand...

Why are you surprised pistachio? After all, everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Now it may further surprise you that I see this issue in a different light from you. I will give my reasons based on my experience.

1. There's an extremely dangerous element which I've learnt when I was lifting at the elite level, and that is DEPENDENCY! Dependency on something that is NOT allowed at the competition level/competition platform if you will. A mirror is first and foremost tops the list here Sir. This was actually told to me back in 1982 by our (AIS's) sport psychologist.

2. As I have pointed out to Deep above and congratulated her on; it's being in touch with the INVISIBLES that makes one's form rock. So what is this invisible element I keep on bringing up? It's the GROOVE pistachio, being in that feel good groove... as soon as initiate the lift off the platform, you are very much aware of the path the bar is travelling. How is that? It's because you have mustered the sensory connections between the internal and the external (the bar). Hitting that perfect low position in the snatch never occurs simply by accident, no Sir.

3. Look at the Bulgarians, the Russians, and all the countries that were leading the world in Olympic weightlifting... you will not find a mirror in sight. A mirror is a distraction, a hindrance to an Olympic weightlifter.

4. As always, you're at liberty to disagree with what I have shared here with you Sir, but please understand that my words are based on experience and not a study of some sort. So yes, I could very well be wrong.

I thank you for reading.

PS: My words above strictly relate to Olympic weightlifting and not powerlifting or any other strength type of a sport. I do not speak about powerlifting because I don't know powerlifting, hence I leave that sport to its expert to elaborate upon.


Fadi.
 
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well said fadi

i find a mirror is also a major put off for powerlifting, when i train at my coaches place, he used to have his racks facing a mirror, as i proceeded to squat i almost face planted because the movement in the mirror broke my focus. i eventually got used to it and learned to put up with it, but we decided to turn the racks side on to the mirror. now the only thing the mirror is used for is watching the form of who is lifting from both sides at once.
 
Fadi said:
Why are you surprised pistachio?
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Because this is Australian Bodybuilding, ausbb.com

And for a bodybuilder, training in front of a mirror is pretty crucial. While you won't see them on the olympic lifting circuit, or in powerlifting garages / dungeons, for a bodybuilder it is a very important tool.

A mirror IS a dependency for a bodybuilder if you ask me. How many bodybuilders do you think step on stage without looking in front of a mirror at all? If I'd have to hazard a guess, I'd say none. In fact I'd say they would spend the vast majority of their time studying their physiques in the mirror, critiquing, looking for flaws, practising posing etc. So there is definitely a dependency, it is a very important tool for a bodybuilder.

Perhaps my surprise is more geared at the large number of people on this website who do not actually train with any bodybuilding interest at all, as anyone with ANY bodybuilding interest would surely use a mirror, at the very least to assess progress.

I don't look at myself during the mirror for every set, not even close. But I certainly use the mirrors in the gym and would definitely prefer that they were there for when I am doing.

On top of the above, they help me build the mind-muscle connection. By seeing the muscles work or contract when I lift in a certain manner, it helps me understand how the muscles work.

Each to their own I guess, but mirrors are invaluable to me.
 
pistachio said:
Each to their own I guess, but mirrors are invaluable to me.
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That's exactly it mate, for someone like me who has to learn the lifts without a coach, the mirror has to do.
And looking at your progress Pistachio, People would be silly to say you're doing something wrong...
 
D1cko said:
That's exactly it mate, for someone like me who has to learn the lifts without a coach, the mirror has to do.
And looking at your progress Pistachio, People would be silly to say you're doing something wrong...
Click to expand...
best way to check your form is to film form the side and analyze after each set, trying to watch your form as you lift will just lead you to have bad form as your distracted.
 
pistachio said:
Each to their own I guess, but mirrors are invaluable to me.
Click to expand...
I've said what I had to say here:
PS: My words above strictly relate to Olympic weightlifting and not powerlifting or any other strength type of a sport. I do not speak about powerlifting because I don't know powerlifting, hence I leave that sport to its expert to elaborate upon.
Click to expand...
It's very clear that we're talking about two different sports in which case you're right, each (sport) to their own. As a bodybuilder now, I do have a mirror in my garage.


Fadi.
 
Is it worthwhile making the comment that the mirror feeds the ego of a body builder? I can understand that bodybuilding is about prime image...
 
deep said:
Is it worthwhile making the comment that the mirror feeds the ego of a body builder? I can understand that bodybuilding is about prime image...
Click to expand...

I think that may be more of a personality trait though. Some look in the mirror to see what they like, therefore feeding their ego. Some examine to see what they dont like and primarily use the mirror as a tool to improve.

I agree with Pistachio in regards to bodybuilding and Fadi in regards to weightlifting for strength competitions. They both make pretty good points.
 
I've used mirror to notice if bar was flat during DL and SQ.
my back and one shoulder are rooted, so I can't always feel when it is not straight.

I'm sure it would not be of much use if i was equally farked on both sides
 
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