If you walked into your gym right now chances are you'll find a lifter, regardless of gender, weight training with an unrealistic weight; throwing the weights around instead of focusing on form and maximum muscle contraction. Unfortunately many lifters, who are trying to achieve an aesthetic physique, are so consumed with hoisting the weight that they have lost perspective of the original purpose of lifting the weight; to stimulate the muscle into growth. Unfortunately, hoisting heavy weights does not automatically improve your physique. In fact, it can be very detrimental, not only to your muscular gains, but also to the body.
Whenever you step into the gym, forget about competing with the other lifters. The purpose of going to the gym may vary, either to improve your physique or release some stress, regardless, you are there to take care of the most important person: YOU. So forget about the ego and just concentrate on yourself & your needs.
One of the biggest pitfalls that contribute to bad form is executing the exercises too fast. In many respects, not only is this very dangerous for your sternum, but also for the ligaments and tendons.
Another factor that contributes to excessive momentum and bad form is using excessive weight. Exercises executed with heavy weight and good form will definitely improve your musculature, but excessive weight done incorrectly can have adverse consequences. Not only could the lifter experience some joint pain, but eventually suffer a muscle/ligament/tendon tear. When given the option of using lighter weight with strict form or using heavier weight with a loose form, by all means, use the lighter weight with strict form. At first you may think that you are losing strength because of the difficulty of using the lighter weight with the strict form. However, the performance of the exercise with strict form doesn't allow the lifter to use momentum to lift the weight, thus unable to use momentum to compensate for hoisting the heavier weight.
Perhaps also one of the biggest problems with bodybuilding, especially with novice lifters is using workouts that are too advanced, especially for the novice lifter. For example, the young, aspiring bodybuilder reads an article, written by their favorite professional bodybuilder on how he/she trains to achieve their success, the novice lifter then assumes that if they also follow the same regimen, they too will achieve the same results. If that were true, then this entire world would be filled with bodybuilders with 20 inch arms and six packs.
There is no ONE way to work out. We are are built differently and strive to hit different goals. If your seeing results then your obviously doing something right just remember to change it up and keep your body guessing.