New Rule for Bodybuilding #7

7. Learning the exercise correctly comes before "doing" the exercise.

Exercises are always defined in at least two parts. These two parts answer two questions:

1. Muscle and its exercises
Part 1 is so well-known that it's practically fact.

2. Execution of the exercise
You are on your own to learn it

1. If you want to make a particular muscle bigger, part #1 is correct regarding your favorite muscle (YFM). Part #1 is done well on this website. They even have clips of mount and dismount procedure for exercises, which are so-so.

2. BUT if you want to know how to do the exercise:

YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN, even if you have a personal trainer, even if you have explicit written descriptions of how to do it in front of you.

There is no universal standard for part #2 because every source describes every exercise differently. Trusting one and only one source may not be in your best interest. Some sources leave out things. Part #1 is done well at the link above, but part #2 is not so great for detail. Therefore, find good descriptions of exercise execution with relevant detail.

This page at Men's Health has great verbal descriptions within entire workouts.
Body for Life has two good pages of mostly visual information (and they're fun to click through).
Here are the links:

good #1 muscles and exercises
good #2 at Men's Health
good visual #2 exercise animations at Body For Life
good visual #2 videos at BFL with real people demonstrating

Learn the exercises with low weight. A useful habit is to learn the exercise with low or no weight or with just the bar by doing this was a warm-up before each exercise. This is your insurance that your mind-to-muscle connection is developing and that you'll have correct form when you add more weight or resistance.

Learn the exercises correctly because it is necessary for you discover what correct form feels like to you. We all tend to focus on the muscle itself, but the muscular system is a slave to the nervous system.

The nervous system comes first in bodybuilding. Every movement begins in the brain. We see the results in the muscular system. A neuromuscular connection is one between mind and muscle. These connections can be made stronger by just using the muscles.

We all had to learn to tie our shoes. It was slow-going at first but we got better as we did it again and again. They're called "repetitions" for a reason. Do them right for yourself from the start. Print out your exercise descriptions and take them with you to the gym as you learn. Most people bypass this step altogether but what we want is results.