10 exercises men should avoid. They can be harmful to your health

There are times when you feel pain in your joints or tendons right after completing another approach. What is it? Incorrect technique? Improper weight selection? Maybe. But for some exercises, there is simply no correct technique. They will lead to pain and injury anyway. That’s why you need to eliminate them from your workout.

Fitness trainer

These exercises are usually done incorrectly by men specifically. Although women should avoid them as well.

Curls in the exercise machine

This exercise is very dangerous for the lower back because it blocks the range of motion. That is, the joints and disks in our body can not move along the trajectory peculiar to them. After all, their mobility is limited by the backrest, seat, retainers and anything else. It is almost impossible to perfectly adjust the simulator to your body. At the same time, the spinal column receives a heavy load. Therefore, it is easy to injure your back in the process of performing this exercise.

Alternatives: simple twists, leg lifts in a hanging position, body lifts on an inclined bench. If you want to complicate the exercise, you can add weights.

Squats in the Smith machine

This machine fixes the position of the back during squats, which may seem to be a good insurance against injuries. But in fact, it increases their risk, and precisely because of the fixation. After all, as mentioned earlier, any fixation of the body causes the spinal joints and discs to move in the wrong trajectory. This reduces the mobility of the spine and the cortex as a whole. From this position, pulling or snapping your back is much more likely. Squatting in Smith is performed as unnaturally as possible. The back is pulled back, the hips remain immobile.

Alternative: it is better to replace it with regular squats with dumbbells or barbells, but be sure to follow the correct technique.

Pulling the bar to the chin

In the process of performing the exercise, it is necessary to pull the hands with a barbell clamped in them to the chin, and elbows apart. This is the main danger. The shoulder performs a movement that is completely unnatural for it. In combination with a significant weight, this position is very risky and will sooner or later lead to pinching.

Alternative: ordinary dumbbell swings are more beneficial for the anterior and middle delts.

Leg curls and leg curls in a machine

Exercise machines of this type are dangerous for the lower back, because physiologically we are not adapted to loads in this position. The body is not designed to push heavy weights in this way.

Alternatively, you can do standing espandex exercises to load the withdrawing and driving muscles. For example, leg swings.

Upper block pull behind the head

Pulling the bar behind the head increases the risk of rotator cuff injury, as the arms must be extended to the maximum possible position. Again, as with the head press, this exercise poses risks not only to the shoulders but also to the neck.

Alternative: the same pull, but with the handle lowered in front of you.

Leg press

This press is very harmful, because it does not allow the vertebrae and joints to function in their usual form. Due to the fact that the back is constantly pressed against the banquette, the spine is in an unnatural position. This puts tremendous strain on the lower back and knees, increasing the risk of injury.

Alternatives: regular squats, weighted lunges, walking lunges, standing pull ups.

Seated torso rotation in the trainer

As the spine rotates around its axis, the hips should rotate with it. However, the trainer fixes the hips, which puts excessive pressure on the spinal column, which will inevitably lead to complications. This exercise is designed to work the oblique abdominal muscles, but the risks outweigh the benefits.

Alternatively, side twists in a block or side plank will do just as good a job on your oblique muscles.

Leg flexion and extension in an exercise machine

These exercise machines do nothing but put unnecessary strain on your knee joints. Isolating the knee joint from the hip joint makes the exercise unnatural and increases pressure in the knees. The low functionality combined with the high injury risk makes these exercises completely unnecessary in a workout.

Alternatives: lunges or squats.

Hyperextension in a trainer

This exercise is quite useful and effective, however, the vast majority of exercisers perform it incorrectly. Namely, they excessively arch their backs backwards. Our spine is not designed to flex in this way. Therefore, performing the exercise in the wrong technique, a person is very likely to get a pinch or rub the vertebral discs.

Exercise without risking your health!