9 Common Exercises That You Shouldn’t Be Doing

For most of us, exercise is an activity that is firmly filed away in the same dark, damp godforsaken locker marked out for broken New Year’s Day resolutions and birthday promises. But every so often, there are some of us who manage to break our own lethargic routine and hit the gym or just get some sort of productive physical activity done, myself included. And that’s when we overdo it.

Ladies and gentlemen, this isn’t an article for the well-versed in exercise procedure. This is for the enthusiastic yuppies like myself, who despite their good intentions, manage to do more harm than good.

Overdoing squats does more harm than good

Squats are good. When they’re not overdone. The longer you’ve been training, the fewer squats you need. But people just go overboard when it comes to this exercise.

The unbalanced bench press puts too much stress on the back

The bench press isn’t a problem per se, although people with my build and frame should definitely stay away from it. The problem arises when people do the bench press with their feet in the air or not firmly planted on the ground. You’re just asking for a hernia.

Machine leg extensions are harmful for the knees

First of all, the effectiveness of these exercises has seen much debate. Forget the fact that human knees were never meant to take this kind of weight at this angle.

Inner-Outer thigh machine exercises are moving muscles in a way they weren’t meant to

The muscles we’re working in this exercise were never meant to be prime movers, but merely facilitators or supporters of movement. Basically, you’re telling a muscle to do certain things it was never meant to do. At all.

Behind the neck presses, jerks or push-presses can be dangerous for your neck

Any sort of exercise that puts your neck and/or spine out of position is a dangerous one, especially when there are weights involved. And if you do insist on doing them, please make sure you’re doing it around someone who’s experienced.

Jogging on hard surfaces, especially roads, can injure your knees

We’ve all heard this before. In fact, there’s a school of thought that advocates barefoot running over running with shoes. There’s a whole science involved and everything, filled with stuff I don’t understand, but I presume you guys would.

Too many wrist curls can lead to carpal tunnel syndrome

Unless you’re looking for the fastest way to get carpal tunnel syndrome, you might want to cut down on the wrist curls. Grabbing the biggest dumbbells you can find and loading your wrists with them isn’t the best idea around.

Back extensions (especially with weights) put too much weight on your lower back

As with squats, the problem with this exercise is that people tend to go overboard and get into hyper-extension territory. And when you get there, you’re doing your body more harm than good.

Just generally exercising through pain is a bad idea

No pain, no gain is probably the most overused phrase in the gym. It’s also probably the last line that’s heard before a gut wrenching scream of anguish as you realise you’ve herniated yourself. It’s not manly to exercise through pain. Yes, you are supposed to push your body to the limits, but there’s a reason it’s to the limits and not beyond. Pain is your body’s way of saying, “STOP!”.