Exercises You Should Avoid.

 

There are exercises that you might have grown up doing or someone tells you are the best thing but which are no longer recommended.  When I took P.E. in school, they always told us to stretch first but now, they tell you to warm up a bit before you stretch so you don't do any damage.

Today, I'm going to talk about exercises personal trainers tell you to avoid as part of your routine.  Many of these exercises are not that effective while others cause damage.

1. The dumbbell side bends.  This exercise is often used by people to make their waists smaller while tightening love handles.  Unfortunately, the exercise does very little because it does not engage your obliques and it involves too much twisting of the spine and too much lateral bending.

2. The superman which you do on your stomach.  It has you lift your upper body and legs off the ground and is supposed to target the lower back.  The exercise actually forces your lower back to over extend again and again so you can cause more back pain.

3. The behind the neck presses.  This exercise is when you bring the weighted bar down behind your neck and then raise it up.  It is supposed to to strengthen your shoulders, upper back, and triceps but it is not very effective because it can put a strain on your neck and shoulder muscles.

4. Barbell jump squats. This is done when you want to tone your gluten and legs but when doing this exercise, you might use too much weight, thus putting too much pressure on your back and joints.  

5.  Leg extension machines. Unfortunately, the leg extension machine is not designed to correct form or target specific muscle groups.  The problem with this machine is that it applies tension to the anterior curciate ligament or ACL which could cause the knee cap to slide right or left.  In addition, it places the maximum amount of force on the back of the knee cap which is the thinnest portion of cartilage is located. 

6.  The Smith machine.  This machine is used by people to help them do a variety of exercises using barbells such as a dead lift or  back squat.  The problem is that the machine has a fixed bar path which means the user must move with the machine rather than using their own natural movement. It can over load your the joints thus possibly leading to injury.

7. Crunches.  These can be effective but not if they are done incorrectly and many people feel that quantity is better than quality. Consequently, they do a lot of low quality crunches and it does not produce the results they want. 

8. Bicep curl machine.  Although many people use this machine, the problem is that the machine does not allow people to do the full range of movement they are able to do with free weights. In addition, there can be problems with form and posture. 

If you are doing any of these, you might think about looking for alternative exercises to decrease your chance of sustaining injury.  Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear. Have a great day.