Sometimes regular strength training not only does not give the desired result, but can also harm the figure and health. Often the reason lies in ineffective and even dangerous exercises.
These complexes are better to include in their program under the supervision of a professional trainer and in case of good physical preparation: with developed muscles and moving joints, and also with well-equipped equipment, the exercises are much safer.
Well, if you lead a sedentary lifestyle and you do not have the opportunity to deal with a coach, it is generally worth deleting them from your training, by replacing safer exercises for the development of the same muscle groups.
Exercises on the abdominal press
According to Dr. Stuart McGill, a professor at the University of Waterloo, a world-renowned expert and expert in back biomechanics, performing twists on the press provides a high load on the back and leads to injuries and problems with the lower back, in particular to protrusion of the vertebral discs.
Based on the research, Dr. McGill concludes that the waist has a certain limit of flexion and extension, after exceeding which the tissues wear out and the risk of injury greatly increases.
Torso lifts
Torso elevations on an incline bench or on the floor are considered dangerous for the waist exercises. During the ascent of the hull, not only the straight muscles of the abdomen, but also the ilio-lumbar muscles, which are part of the group of internal muscles of the pelvis, are strained.
The iliopsoas muscles compress the lumbar vertebrae during ascent, and with excessive and constant strain during twisting (at home, many like to set personal records: 3 sets of 30-40 times, to the refusal of the press muscles), the pressure on the vertebra increases, that threatens injuries of the lumbar region.
In addition, the torso elevations are contraindicated in people with sedentary work. During the day, due to the sitting position and the inclination of the body forward, the front part of the vertebral discs of the lumbar region experiences serious loads.
During the ascent, you load them even more: the front of the discs is compressed, and the rear – is stretched and injured. Therefore, after repeated repetitions, people often feel pain in the lumbar region.
Excellent replacement of dynamic exercises – the bar with isometric tension of the muscles of the press. This exercise excludes compression of the spine and numerous excesses and at the same time perfectly trains straight muscles of the abdomen.
Twisting
Twisting on the press does not include a full body lift, so this exercise can be considered more sparing for the waist. However, there is another problem – excessive neck and shoulder strain.
In addition, due to twisting, you shorten the rectus abdominis muscle, which performs not only the function of flexing-unbending the body, but also its stabilization. The shortened muscle of the press pulls the breast down, the shoulders go down, and the head goes forward.
Leg Rises
Do not perform this exercise if you have weak rectus abdominal muscles. When you perform lifts of the legs, part of the load is in the ilio-lumbar muscle.
With undeveloped abdominal muscles, the ilio-lumbar muscle strains too much and pulls the backbone behind it. As a result, you can get a displacement of the lumbar spine.
Therefore, before performing this exercise, it is necessary to strengthen the rectus abdominal muscles.
Twisting with a turn sideways
This exercise is considered especially effective for pumping the oblique muscles of the abdomen, but it is quite dangerous for the spine. Just like during the lifting of the case, the front part of the vertebral discs is squeezed, and the rotation of the body intensifies the load.
At the time of twisting sideways, the distance between the vertebrae becomes even greater, which, especially with abrupt movements, can trigger damage to the spine.
Especially this exercise is contraindicated for people with scoliosis in the lumbar spine. At the point of curvature, the spine becomes less flexible, and the deflection does not greatly increase the spacing between the vertebrae. To compensate for this, the distance between the closest to the curved vertebrae becomes much larger. Thus, if you twist the body sideways with scoliosis, you further increase the risk of spinal injury.
Lifting the body in the side bar does not include dangerous twisting of the spine and provides a load on the oblique abdominal muscles and the middle gluteus muscles.
Tilts to sides with weighting agents
Exercising such an exercise can strengthen the existing osteochondrosis. When making inclines with burdening there is an unnecessary strain of the spine and soft tissues of the back, which creates the risk of rupture of intervertebral discs.
At the same time, this exercise will not provide a thin waist, on the contrary: the external oblique muscles of the abdomen, increasing, expand the waist.
Twisting on the rings involves the outer and inner oblique muscles of the abdomen. At the same time, due to the unstable position of the legs, the spine does not experience serious loads, and the abdominal muscles tense more than during normal twisting.
Exercises on hip muscles
Leg mixing and breeding
One of the common mistakes of girls in the gym is the frequent use of the exercises for mixing and breeding the legs in order to reduce the fat layer in the problem areas.
To begin with, it is generally impossible to remove fat in a specific part of the body, shaking this part. You can remove fat throughout the body, and by shaking a certain group of muscles, you only increase them in size.
As for the simulator for pumping adductors, it is practically useless (for weight loss – for sure) and even dangerous.
During this exercise, a large load is applied to the pear-shaped muscles. The overexpressed muscle begins to press on the sciatic nerve, causing pear-shaped muscle syndrome – pain in the buttock or the back of the thigh.
Extension of the legs sitting
This popular trainer is designed to train the four-headed thigh muscles. This movement is extremely unphysiological and does not occur in everyday life (unless if you are playing with a small child, shaking it on your feet), so that the knee joint is not designed for a load at which a lot of weight is on the ankles.
Doing such a simulator, you risk getting an injury to the knee joint. And those who already had knee injuries, you should not even approach this simulator.
It is more physiological and safe for the knees exercises.
Foot Press
This trainer is as dangerous to the knees as the previous one. Here you have to push away from yourself a heavy platform.
Our body is not meant for such a movement: it does not occur in real life, therefore it does not help to develop a functional force.
In addition, this exercise is dangerous for the back. When you lower the weight, the pelvis twists and there is pressure on the lower back, which creates the danger of protrusion of the vertebral disc.
Exercises on the hands
Press bar from behind the head
The shoulder joint is poorly adapted to such a load due to its anatomical features.
When the arm is raised, the acromion – the end of the scapula – rubs against the rotator cuff of the shoulder, causing irritation or damage to its tendons (impingment syndrome).
Raising hands with dumbbells up
Exercise is aimed at the development of trapezius and rhomboid muscles, as well as triceps and deltoid muscles of the shoulder.
The main load goes to the muscles of the shoulder, so there is a danger of overworking them and getting jammed nerves. In addition, the above-described problem arises with the effect on the rotator cuff of the shoulder and the risk of impingement syndrome.
Dumbbells rise on an outstretched hand to shoulder level. It is important to avoid rotation in the shoulder joint and lift the dumbbells in turn with the left and right hand, rather than the two at the same time. This relieves stress on the back.
During this exercise, the arm does not rise so high as to overload the muscles of the shoulder. In addition, the acromion does not reach the rotator cuff of the shoulder, which excludes damage to the tendons. At the same time, the exercise uses the same muscle groups as lifting dumbbells up: deltoid, trapezoidal, anterior dentate, rhomboid.
French Press
This is another kind of non-physiological load, which practically does not occur in everyday life. During this exercise, a large load goes to the elbow joints, which are not ready for this. As a result, the risk of injury to the elbow joint increases. Personal experience suggests that this is the case: clicks and pain in elbows always accompanied this exercise.
Exercises on the back
One of the most traumatic for the spine exercises in the gym is hyperextension. Basically, problems arise because of incorrect technique.
Hyperextension
Hyperextension helps to increase the strength of the extensors of the back and in parallel involves trapezius muscles and belt muscles of the head.
Often encountered performance of hyperextension includes full lowering of the body down, followed by an ascent, often with weight in the hands or on the back. In this version, this exercise is aimed at working out (more often – warming up) the hamstrings and gluteus muscles.
Abuse of such a variant of hyperextension – frequent execution with numerous repetitions and large weights – can badly affect the health of the spine. Full tilt forward creates unnecessary compression in the lower part of the spine and provokes trauma to the waist.
If you are going to strengthen the backbone muscles, for example, before performing a deadlift, it is necessary to perform hyperextension in a different way.
You start the movement from a position with a straight hull and do not go down, but go up, spreading your shoulders and pulling your head back. At the extreme point, you need to stay for 6-7 seconds.
Attention! Absolute contraindication for all types of hyperextension is the intervertebral hernia on a thin stalk.
Thrust of the upper block by the head
This exercise is aimed at the development of the muscles of the back: with proper performance, the main load goes to the trapezius muscles, the large round muscle and the widest muscle of the back.
Like any exercise that violates the direct position of the spine under the load, the pull of the upper block behind the head is potentially dangerous, besides, the neck, the most fragile part of the spine, participates in its execution.
The pull of the top block behind the head requires that the man arched his neck and moved his head forward, thereby violating the straight line of the back. This can cause deformation or stretching of the cervical and spinal muscles or, worse, the hernia of the vertebral discs.
The traction of the upper block to the chest allows to keep the head straight, without breaking the straight line of the back. You can also carry out the thrust of the lower block. During this exercise, too, trapezoidal muscles are loaded, the widest back muscles, rhomboid muscles, large round muscles.
Legs on a Swedish wall supported by forearms
In this exercise, as well as when lifting the hull, ileal-lumbar muscles are involved. Due to the fixation of the back (you lean on the bar of the simulator), as well as with weak rectus abdominal muscles, the ilio-lumbar muscles overextend and pull the vertebrae behind them, provoking their displacement.
In this exercise, during lifting of the legs, the pelvis is naturally retracted, due to which the load is redistributed and the ileum-lumbar muscles are not overloaded.
However, if you have excess weight or weak muscles of the press, you first have to strengthen them with a strap, and then go on to this exercise.
On this list of dangerous exercises is over. If you have your own variants of dangerous complexes that led you to a trauma, share your experience in the comments.
