X-rated exercises
I’m going to talk about 3 exercises which are fairly common in gyms but ones which I believe are not very effective and could even lead to injury.
Behind the neck lat pull down.
This exercise is performed on a lat pulldown machine where the bar is brought down behind the head to the top of the spine. There is no benefit in bringing the bar behind the head. It forces the head forwards and the shoulders into an un-natural position. It also forces part of the chest muscle to help which in turn can pull the shoulders forwards and lead to poor posture. To correct these problems simple pull the bar down in front of your face to the top of your chest. You will still be working your back muscles without doing yourself any potential harm.
Hip adductor and hip abductor.
These two machines are usually positioned together in gyms. They work by forcing you to move your legs together (adductor), or apart (abductor) against resistance. The areas targeted are the insides and outsides of the thighs. Although they seem like simple and effective movements they only really work the legs in a very small range of movement and hit very tiny areas of the legs. They are also performed in a seated position and therefore do not require any balancing or stabilising muscles to be used, further reducing their effectiveness. Instead do lunges. These exercises use the whole of the leg, glute and hip muscles. They also force you to balance and stabilise your own weight so are far more functional. They can also be adapted to target the inner and outer thighs by changing the angle at which they are performed. Learn good lunge technique and you will never need to use machines again.
Sit-ups
These exercises are still very common even though there are far more effective ways of working your abdominal muscles. Sit-ups actually don’t even work your stomach muscles very well at all and could even cause injury to your lower back and lead to poor posture. When you perform a full sit-up you are actually working your hip flexor muscles. These are strong muscles at the top of your legs. They will take over from your stomach muscles to get you into the fully seated position. If your hip flexors become too strong and tight through over use they may pull your body forwards giving you a hunched over appearance. Better exercises for your stomach are crunches either from the floor or done on a stability ball and variations of the plank, discussed in a previous entry.