Many of you have had a personal trainer at one time or another. One of the many things a good personal trainer will hit on is proper movement during exercise.

The No. 1 reason people get injured during exercise is due to movement imbalances. These imbalances can lead to sore joints, pain and more serious injuries.

Once an injury occurs, the end result often leads to exercise downtime. As more and more sedentary folks get going with new fitness programs, they overlook the importance of proper movement. Once injured newbies and seasoned athletes alike get derailed, this usually stops or slows their exercise regimens and progress.

It is estimated that roughly 23 million Americans are injured during exercise each year. The vast majority of those injuries are soft-tissue related, meaning that they are very avoidable if proper movements are applied during exercise. Making sure movement patterns are being done correctly and naturally needs to be on top of your mind when doing any activity.

As you become aware of posture and movement, you can prevent many common running, weight training and high intensity workout injuries. How many times have you moved in a particular way without thinking and pulled a back muscle, with your next stop being the chiropractor to get fixed? A well-rounded workout routine done carefully can be key to learning and becoming consistent with your movements.

As you strengthen your body and incorporate corrective exercises across your weaker areas, your alignment and posture will improve significantly. A great example on how poor movement and posture can adversely effect is with muscle cramping. We all have receptors called Golgi tendon organs (GTO) that cause muscles to relax when they are contracted.

A study found that inconsistent body movement and poor posture can cause the GTO to malfunction, then muscles cannot relax and cramping begins. Your lower body is one area to pay close attention to.

When you put together a good lower body workout, it is important to master consistent movement when doing squats, lunges and gait patterns. Your body's primary central pivot point is your pelvic hip complex. Poorly executed lower body movements can throw off your hips and pelvis, placing pressure on your spinal alignment and we have all been there with our backs out.

So how is it that we have evolved to this point that regular exercise or activity can create such havoc by simply moving incorrectly? First of all, how we evolved was very similar to doing a daily routine of CrossFit. Our movements and body stresses consists of a series of different full body movements creating a very strong kinetic chain across our bodies. The second reason we struggle with injuries due to poor movement is our weight and body composition. Over the last 100 years we sit more, move less and are just not as lean, strong and fit as we once were.

Here are a few good practices to maintain proper form and develop consistent movement, as well as postural habits while being active. Always focus on your body's alignment, range of motion and tension points:

* Rule No. 1, avoid poor posture with back alignment. Back alignment is absolutely crucial for injury prevention and proper execution of exercises. Spinal posture is almost always overlooked during exercise.

* Scapular retraction is something to know and understand for proper body alignment during a number of key exercises. How Scapular retraction works is to push your chest up and out pulling your shoulder blades together. This one action is key to a large number of daily exercises and activities.

* Spend more time on abdominal core development. A solid set of complete core exercises daily is a great preventative measure to take. A strong core minimizes stress on the spinal column, reducing tension on your lower back muscles, hips and pelvis, tightening your spinal movements which in turn helps keep you straight and aligned during activity.

* Practice more resistance training as an effective way to develop your muscle groups to work together. One way to achieve this is using your body weight with dumbbells or kettlebells, offering more resistance during training. A good example of this is a tightly controlled slow set of calf risers. Doing resistance training, working both the horizontal or vertical plane, involving major joints can be very effective at stabilizing your movements and proper form.

* Joint alignment is another key aspect to pay close attention to. This applies to both endurance type exercises and weight training exercises. Properly controlled joint movement can make a big difference in workout and competition performance. For example, runners know that keeping knee, hip and ankle joint movement consistent develops an efficient running style that has less impact and better performance.

High intensity training like CrossFit requires good joint alignment and movement or injury will happen. If you're just getting started with a fitness regimen or you have been training for a number of years, I would recommend working with a Certified Fitness professional to establish that you have proper form and body alignment with your exercises. Even if you only go to a Certified Personal Trainer a few sessions, it should be enough for them to evaluate your range of motion based on your exercise goals.

Keep in mind that the better your form and consistency of movement during exercise, the more it will increase your progress of your workout and reduce the chance of injury.

Judd Jones is a director for the Hagadone Corporation.