Exercises

Exercises to avoid in gym

written by Dr. Basudev Tewari | May 21, 2018

Here we shall discuss about the exercises to avoid despite their popularity in the gyms.

Have you joined a gym? That is amazing news. But are you trying to do all the gym exercises that those gym Bros are doing all over?

Gyms are all about heavy clunking irons and weights with all sorts of attitudes and grimaces. But you are a thinker guy. We always promote idea where there is less chance of injury with optimal gain.

Don’t be that guy who does which the big guys do. You see them lifting tonnes day after day. But you never know how many of them have been suffering from a lousy shoulder, a weak back or a tender knee with some nagging pain.

Those 3 joints I mentioned are the most vulnerable joints for a weightlifter. For best fitness results, lifting weights is the best way of exercise besides correct diet. There are many myths associated with it. But if you lift them correctly with proper form, nothing can be safer than weight training. Read my post on weight training myths.

But yes, there are some exercises to avoid because they are inherently dangerous. The danger may be imminent or after a long period. Few exercises may be so that, if done with slightest form deviation, it can lead to serious injuries. Let us discuss them one by one…

Exercises you need to avoid completely:

Barbell upright rows:

Here the barbell is grasped in close grip. It is moved up till throat or chin level. This was considered to be a good exercise for middle delts and shrugs. Here your arms move such a way that your shoulders are forced into an abduction along with internal rotation. Now this is a bad position for your shoulder and is a sure recipe for future shoulder pain, later on. The internally rotated head of humerus causes impingement of the structures in that region like the bursa and even the infraspinatus tendon (a component of rotator cuff)

The pain will not start all of a sudden like a ‘pop’ tendon tear. But, by the recurrent grinding motion by the head of the humerus on the tendon (against the acromion process of the bony part of shoulder) you can feel a discomfort developing into a nagging ache inside the shoulder. This starts with inflammation of the bursa there and then spread to the tendons. This can increase to such an extent that raising hand to sides may become painful. It may eventually lead to rupture of rotator cuff.

So, by all means, stop the upright barbell row. There are many other exercises for similar or even better results, but with minimum risk. Do dumbbell lateral raises and shrugs for the middle deltoid and traps. You may even replace it by wider grip high pull. There you may add higher load and pull up till an externally rotated arms, a much shoulder friendly position.

Behind the neck lat pulldown:

This is a common show off exercise, for back strength and neck / shoulder flexibility. All the guys try to do it and reveal their back contour during the peak contraction. Even in movies, this is a favourite one. But this is another dangerous exercise. It puts a lot of stress on the shoulders too.

Imagine your scapular plane and comfortable arm movements by you side. The abduction movement or raising arms to the side, is a little forward because scapula orientation makes it a natural plane. But as you bring the lat pulldown bar towards neck you are stretching the arms to a more posterior part and the shoulder goes to a strained external rotation. Very few persons have enough shoulder mobility to adapt to this repeated straining. It gives way to shoulder pain.

Also people have to bend their neck to forward to bring the bar to ear level. This can lead to neck pain. This can even worsen in any case of cervical spondylosis. The bar pulling arms up in a forced external rotation of the shoulder can predispose to shoulder impingement symptoms too. More on it in next exercise.

Thus it is always preferable to lean back a little back and pull the bar to chin or even sternum. Front lat pulldown and close grip pulldown are much better options for you. They moves the arms alongside your body up and down in scapular plane and there is normally no pain. Also you need not bend you vulnerable neck much forward. Thus lat pulldown to front, or even pull up or chin up, is a safer exercise choice.

Behind the neck barbell shoulder press:

This is another favourite on of the old school bodybuilders and dedicated gym guys. The barbell is brought down to neck (at ear levels) and pushed up with the arms forced to be stretched outward to an outer rotated position, towards the back. This movement is also behind the physiological ‘scapular plane of movement’. Thus it externally rotates the head of the humerus and impinges the supraspinatus tendon (another component of the rotator cuff muscles) against the acromion process of the shoulder.

This impingement as well as extreme forward flexion of cervical vertebrae by forward bending of neck (to accommodate the bar coming down) causes gradually developing shoulder and neck pain. This also progresses and the pain increases with time.

The classical front barbell overhead press and dumbbell shoulder press are much better alternatives. Front barbell shoulder press activates front delts more but lateral raises may be added to stimulate the middle delts more. Dumbbells are even better as their position can be kept as per comfortable shoulder positions. Keep the dumbells a little bit rotated inside, facing each other. This can ease off the stress on your shoulder joints

Straight leg sit up:

Do you believe in crushing belly fat by sit ups. There can be nothing more ridiculous. Spot reduction of fat is impossible and everyone must know that before entering gym.

The problem with sit up is that you tend to engage your hip flexor (the iliopsoas) more than the abs. The pelvis is in anterior tilt (think of the pelvis position when the butts are stuck up during standing) when the legs are extended. As you start you sit up movement the pelvis is thrown in opposite position, known as posterior pelvic tilt (think of the pelvis position as you slouch in a floppy way, in your soft couch).

Now the problem is that the pelvis is thrown into repeated anterior and posterior tilt which causes a grinding motion of the lumbar vertebrae and the lumbosacral joint. Simply do not hook your toes (keep them on floor) and keep knee folded to maintain constant posterior pelvic tilt throughout the movements. Recurrent conversion of arched and rounded lower back (caused by ant and post pelvic tilt respectively) is the main culprit.

Also people tend to her their way up. Avoid it at all cost, as this may add to you woes. So, ditch the straight legged setup or any damned variation of sit up. There are better options. Prefer slow ab crunches with holding peak contraction for a second and two. Even use hanging or arm supported leg raise for better abs and hip flexor stimulation. They are safer and more useful for the long run.

Stiff leg deadlift:

This is considered to be a great exercise for the hamstrings as it gives great stretch of hamstrings during the lowering or eccentric part. But let me tell you, I am not talking about Romanian deadlift or straight leg deadlift. It is an amazing hamstring builder. These two terms are used interchangeably. Stiff legged deadlift is where you can’t break your knees at all and keep them fully extended throughout the movement.

The problem with stiff leg deadlift is that as you come down with the bar, the bar moves forward. Thus it goes away from the center of gravity of your body. This pulls the torso forward heavily and lead to imbalance. If the load is heavy, you have to round your back to take the bar below knee level. As you cannot bend your knees to compensate, you tend to fall forward. This forced rounding of back is dangerous and a low back injury or pain is just a matter of time.

There are much safer alternatives to stiff legged deadlift. Romanian Deadlift or kettlebell deadlift with bent knees are great choices. Even you can do Good mornings or hamstring curls. And above all, nothing can beat heavy classical deadlift with good form.

Exercises you need to be extremely careful about:

This following exercises are great if done with proper form. But slight lack of concentration or break in form can give you disastrous results. Do them after learning the movements correctly with proper form. I shall mention the most vital points which can make them vulnerable.

For form check, just looking at the mirrors will not do. Video record yourself and check it or let a good trainer observe your form. Remember, these exercises have the potential to make you or break you…

Bench press – Don’t flare your elbows, keep slight arch in back, always use spotter or power rack and keep the scapulas retracted with tight upper body. Never force the bar to touch the chest like that in a powerlifter competition. Many of us lack the shoulder mobility to touch the bar on chest with heavy load for repetitions without screwing our shoulders.

Squat – Always engage your core, use belt for heavy lift, keep chest up and neutral spine, try to thrust butts behind while going down and use a squat rack/spotter. For details, read my post on how to do squats.

Classical deadlift – Engage your core, keep spine neutral throughout, don’t let bar slide forward, keep lats engaged and whole body tight. Do not attempt heavy deadlift before you master proper hip hinging movement. For details, read my post on how to deadlift.

Explosive movements – like clean and press / snatch, box jumps, jump squats, keeping pull ups etc. These are extremely injury prone and absolutely no no for beginners. After you master the basic gym movements, you can try these under special coaching. For amateur bodybuilders or general fitness, simply avoid them.

Dips – These are both chest and triceps builders and shoulder killers in many. Do not do the bench dips. They support your body in an unnatural shoulder position where your arms are behind your body. They can impinge your shoulders as in behind the neck presses.

If you are strong enough, do the normal parallel bar dips (even these can irritate shoulders in some cases – better to avoid them, in those cases). Besides there are lots and lots of chest and triceps workout (think of those dumbbell presses and cable push downs) which are much more effective and less injury prone.

Any Smith machine workout – It is commonly used in many exercises by the beginners like squat, overhead press, bench press etc. Even some well advanced gym rats tend to use it. Smith machine locks your body in an unnatural bar path and takes away stress from many stabilizing muscle fibers. Both are bad for you and will make you weaker in the actual lift and can start nagging injuries. Avoid Smith machine from day 1 Use free barbell movements instead ( maybe with spotter, power rack or even lower weights to master the form).

Last but not the least, let me stress me on the fact that other gym exercises, not mentioned in the above list, are not inherently safe. It is a fact that maximum injury potential of the above exercises have to be kept in mind. But even seemingly harmless dumbbell presses (chest and shoulders), machine movements, different rowing movements, pull ups/chin ups, curls etc. have history of causing several gym injuries.

Any damn exercise you do with lousy form and lapse of concentration, can be potentially dangerous. So learn proper form, always stay focussed and try early corrections of whatever mistakes you make…