Five Exercises Not To Do

Recently I received another email  asking:

“What are five exercises that trainers hate, and what are

smart replacements are for each?”

My answers on the Five Exercises Not to Do:

1) Situps or crunches

Why: These are terrible for the low back/spine, as shown by
research from Dr. Stuart McGill. These exercises compress
the discs in your spine and can cause serious low back injuries.

Alternatives: Stability Ball or Power Wheel Rollout, TRX
Mountain Climbers, Plank or Bodysaw/Rocking Plank, or Stability
Ball Plank (30% harder on your abs than a regular plank)

2) Broomstick Twists

Why? Useless. Just useless.

Alternative: Cross body mountain climbers, spiderman climbs,
side plank (with TRX)

3) Leg Press

Why? Possibly dangerous for low back due to the rounding of the
spine in the bottom position.

Alternatives: Split Squats, Forward lunges, Narrow-Stance
Barbell Squat, Goblet Squat

4) Behind the Neck Pulldown or Presses

 Why? Likely dangerous for rotator cuff and also leads to terrible
form where people strain neck forward and contort themselves
just to do the movement. Just NOT worth it.

Alternative: Pullup, TRX row, V-grip pulldown to chest, db row

5) “Bodybuilder bench press” – with elbows out and bringing
bar down close to neck

Why? Terrible for the shoulder joint and rotator cuff

Alternatives: Barbell bench brought to bottom of pecs with
elbows tucked into sides, DB chest presses (all varieties),
TRX or Ring Pushups

BONUS: Long slow cardio – Why? Ineffective and a waste of time

Alternative: Intervals, metabolic conditioning, bodyweight
circuits, burpees

You just don’t have to exercise for a long time. You can get
amazing results with short – burst workouts.

—————————————————————————————-