{"id":149,"date":"2020-11-12T09:20:36","date_gmt":"2020-11-12T09:20:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/the-health-web.com\/?p=149"},"modified":"2020-11-12T09:20:36","modified_gmt":"2020-11-12T09:20:36","slug":"6-exercises-that-you-think-are-good-for-you-hint-theyre-not","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/the-health-web.com\/?p=149","title":{"rendered":"6 Exercises That You Think Are Good For You (Hint: They’re not!)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You know the saying \u201cthere is no such thing as a stupid question\u201d? Well, that ain\u2019t the truth in the gym. There are plenty of exercises that are just plain stupid and bad. Bad because they cause more injuries than they do benefit and stupid because we keep doing them (remember the definition of insanity? Doing the same thing, over and over again and expecting different results).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sadly, these are exercises that a lot of people are still doing in the gym, and at times on machines that the industry is still manufacturing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To help you avoid stupidity (and train to fullest) we have listed the 6\u00a0exercises that most people think are good for them, when really aren\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Abdominal Crunch<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"Fitness
Fitness woman doing abs crunches<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Stuart McGill, professor of spinal bio-mechanics at the University of Waterloo, Ontario, is one of the world\u2019s leading experts on lumbar research and he says stay away from an abdominal crunch if you want a healthy spine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to his\u00a0studies, an abdominal crunch puts a high level of stress and compression on the lumbar spine. In fact, a crunch or traditional sit-up generates at least 3,350 newtons (the equivalent of 340 kg) of compressive force on the spine. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health<\/a> states that anything above 3,300 newtons is unsafe (1).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What to do instead:\u00a0a McGill Crunch (of course), or a plank, side plank, or try a\u00a0stir the pot on a stability ball).<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Push-up<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"Doing<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We know you are saying \u201cwhat?!?!\u201d right now. Here we have just a listed an exercise that is in most of our plans, on our YouTube videos, and a main exercise that we teach personally to our clients. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, here\u2019s the thing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most people do not perform a push-up properly. They let their low back to sag, their head to drop, their thoracic spine to round.\u00a0The exercise becomes a big ol\u2019 mess in a short period of time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What to do instead:\u00a0a push-up \u2013 the correct way. If you are unable to maintain your form, then start with your hands elevated (like on a bench or chair) and then nail the form from there.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

FYI:\u00a0when on performing a \u201cmodified\u201d push-up on the knees\u00a0(which\u00a0is a great alternative in a class setting \u2013 where benches and elevating\u00a0your hands is not option), please understand that you use less core than when you are on your toes. So, get the form perfect, and quick, so that you can perform one from the toes and train the core just as hard as you are training the upper body.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Pec Deck\/Pec Fly Machine<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

If you want to spend some quality time with your physiotherapist, load up one of these machines and then go for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both of these machines\u00a0can overstretch the front of your shoulder and cause the muscles around the rear of your shoulder to stiffen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The result: shoulder impingement syndrome and you sponsoring your physio\u2019s next Hawaiian vacation.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What to do instead: bench press,\u00a0dumbbell chest press or flyes off a stability ball, or in a bridge, or on a bench. As well, a properly executed push-up is also\u00a0a FAR better alternative.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Behind the Head Lat Pulldown<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Pulling the bar on a lat pulldown machine behind the head and neck is another fantastic way to create a shoulder impingement problems. In addition to creating yourself a double whammy shoulder injury, you are also setting yourself up for neck problems too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You see, to pull do something\u00a0behind your head you have to poke you chin forward,\u00a0feeding into a posture that we are trying to avoid\u00a0for neck health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What to do instead:\u00a0same machine, but lean back about 30 degrees, stiffen the core to stabilize\u00a0the spine and pull the bar down to the front of the chest.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. The Smith Machine<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

This machine looks and smells a lot like a squat rack, but instead of a free bar the bar is fixed on gliders and \u201cguides\u201d the exerciser to squat and lunge in a straight up and down pattern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our bodies were not meant to squat straight up and down. We were meant to squat down while hinging at the hips and it is due to these gliders that this machine gets a big ol\u2019 thumbs down. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

FYI:\u00a0The Smith Machine is awesome for learning a good push-up though! Because you can adjust\u00a0the bar to any height you can start it up high, perfect your form when it\u2019s easy and work your way down to the ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What to do instead: \u00a0squats or lunges with dumbbells<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

6. Upright Rows<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In this exercise you are holding onto a bar, or dumbbells right in front of the body and lifting\u00a0the hands up until they are under the chin and your elbows are flared out and higher than your hands. Seems innocent enough, but similar to the behind the pulldown and the pec deck machine you are just asking for a shoulder injury.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because upright rows cause the upper arm bone (humerus) to bang up against the AC (acromion process) joint, this can compress the nerves in the shoulder area and damage the cartilage in the AC joint. Not fun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What to do instead:\u00a0one-arm rows, side lateral raises, front lateral raises, shoulder shrugs\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You know the saying \u201cthere is no such thing as a stupid question\u201d? Well, that ain\u2019t the truth in the gym. There are plenty of exercises that are just plain stupid and bad. Bad because they cause more injuries than they do benefit and stupid because we keep doing them (remember the definition of insanity? Doing the same […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":150,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exercise"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/the-health-web.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/the-health-web.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/the-health-web.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/the-health-web.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/the-health-web.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=149"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/the-health-web.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":153,"href":"https:\/\/the-health-web.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149\/revisions\/153"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/the-health-web.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/the-health-web.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/the-health-web.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/the-health-web.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}