11 Gym Exercises Most People Are Doing Wrong

You pay for a gym membership and walk in, confident as can be. And when the front desk person asks you if you know how to work the machines, you proudly say “of course”. Seconds later, uh-oh, you realize you could’ve used some help, but you’re too shy to ask for it. Sound familiar? In that case, listen up –

doing

certain

exercises

wrong

isn’t just useless, it can even injure you! 1. Squats If you do them properly, squats are a perfect exercise that works out your entire lower body,

puts muscle on your legs, and helps with posture. The

most

common mistakes while

doing

squats are: rounding your back, going only half way down, rising onto your toes, and caving in your knees. To avoid all of these, try to practice the proper form. Keep your back in a neutral position, with your shoulders back, your chest up, and your feet shoulder-width apart, turned out at 45°. As you go down, work your core and bum muscles, and keep the weight on your heels as if you were sitting back into

a chair. Keep your arms straight and in front of your stomach. When you’re

doing

it right, your knees will push outward and your back will stay straight. If you want to add weights to it, use lighter ones first and increase them as you gain strength. 2. Leg press The leg press seems like a rather simple machine that works out glutes and thighs, but if you’re using it

wrong

, it won’t do you any good. Avoid going too deep with your knees from the start, since this can injure your lower back.

It’s important to keep your legs bent at 90 degrees, and don’t lock your knees as you straighten them. A lot of

people

ignore their heel position and let them slide off the edge of the platform – don’t make this mistake, and keep them on the sled to keep your balance and avoid unnecessary pressure on your knees. Also, only load a weight you can work with – you won’t benefit from shallow reps. 3. Front and lateral shoulder raises The

most

common mistake with shoulder raises is

believing that the higher you go with the weights, the more effective the exercise will be. It’s

wrong

, and you risk straining your muscles if you do that. Instead, lift the weights to the height of your shoulders, keeping your arms slightly forward. This way you won’t contract the shoulder blades back. Your pinky finger should be a little higher than the others during the exercise. As for your feet, they should be at shoulder width with knees slightly bent. 4. Treadmill Cardio is an

important part of any workout routine, and treadmill training is a perfect way of

doing

it. When you’re on the treadmill, avoid the temptation of holding onto the handrails (been there, done that) – it makes running easier, and thus less effective, and can mess up your posture as you hunch over the machine. If you can’t run without holding on, try lowering the speed or incline level. Speaking of that, don’t set it higher than 8% to save your back, hips, and ankles from a strain they

don’t deserve. And, never, ever jump off a machine that’s still in motion! This might sound funny and obvious, but it’s one of the

most

wide spread causes of gym injuries. 5. Stomach crunches Anyone who wants to get a toned belly practices crunches. If you’re one of those

people

, but aren’t seeing any results in your abdominal muscles, you might just be

doing

crunches the

wrong

way. Don’t tuck your chin into your chest like many

people

do; this strains the neck. And stay closer to

the floor, about 3 inches off the mat should be fine. Take your time – going slower will help you do the exercise properly, and engage your core to the max. Ten real crunches are better for your body then 100 not so good attempts. 6. Triceps dips (Mmmm. Is that anything like French onion dip? Sadly no.) Triceps dips won’t give you the shoulder injury that many

people

fear, if you do them the right way. Keep your torso and butt close to the bench, step, or chair you’re working out on. This

way you won’t overextend your shoulders. It’s okay to bend your knees a bit if you can’t do it with straight legs, but don’t try to make things easier by moving further from the base. Go down, bending at the elbow, and move back up, contracting the triceps to make them work hard. 7. Rower Both rowing in the open water and on a rowing machine are great calorie burners, affecting all the muscles in your body. The right technique is the key to success with this exercise. When you row just

with your arms, you’re exposing your upper body to too much pressure and can injure your back and shoulders. Try to split your efforts in a proportion of 60% going from your legs, and the remaining 40 percent from your core and arms. This mental splitting of the pressure on your body parts should help keep you engaged. Sit tall on the rower – avoid slouching. Don’t go for speed over power - make long and controlled rows. Don’t forget about syncing up your rhythm with your breath –

it’s important for any rhythmic activity. Exhale through the mouth as you go back, and inhale through the nose on reset. Don’t ignore the damper lever at the side of the machine – experiment with it to find the

most

comfortable level just for you. 8. Pushups Stretching the elbows too far out, moving with your hips instead of your whole body, bending your back and neck, and going only halfway down are the

most

common mistakes

people

make while

doing

pushups. Are you guilty of any of those?

I am. To avoid them in the future, try to keep your back straight, and let your arms do all the moving work. Keep your hands parallel to your chest on the floor. Your head should be in a neutral position, and your moves should be slow and controlled. When your chest reaches the surface, push up until your arms lock out. 9. Bicep curls, dumbbell and barbell What’s the best way to get toned arms?

Most

people

would say bicep curls. However, they won’t do you much good if you curl your wrists

upwards while exercising, drop the weights down too quickly, or swing them up, engaging your shoulders and back instead. To give your biceps a proper workout, imagine there’s a string running from your shoulder to the weight you’re lifting. That string should help you move the weight from your hand to your shoulder, and your biceps will squeeze at the top of that movement. It’s okay to either keep your wrists straight or somewhat loose – it’s just important that you don’t work and

injure the wrist joint. 10. Cable triceps extensions As you extend your arms behind your neck, you’re giving your triceps a great workout. You can do it either with an EZ bar attachment, or a rope, but in any case, make sure you lock your elbows tight to your ribs. They shouldn’t be going back and forth with the weights. Try not to stand too straight during this exercise either – instead, slightly bend forward to give your body a full range of motion, and a full extension. 11.

Chin-ups/pull-ups Probably the biggest surprise on the list – pull-ups and chin-ups - are the

exercises

most

people

do

wrong

, just because they believe there’s no way to mess them up. In fact, if you’re swinging your body as you move up and down, don’t brace your core and legs, and flop around - you are, indeed,

doing

it

wrong

. Your range of motion also matters, so you gotta make sure you go both low and high enough. A good starting position is a dead hang with fully extended arms. You

can keep them at shoulder width for pull-ups, and chin-ups need a narrower grip. You start with retracting the shoulder blades. Then, you pull hard, engaging your biceps, back muscles, and elbows. If you’re

doing

chin-ups, keep your chin over the bar. For pull-ups, just try to make it as high as you can. To become a pro at it, you can start practicing on a lat machine. At first, when it’s too hard to handle, try jumping into a chin-up or push-up, and holding the position for as long as you

can manage, then going down slowly. Were you

doing

any of these

exercises

wrong

? Let me know down in the comments! If you learned something new today, then give this video a like and share it with a friend. But – hey! – don’t go have lunch with a dumbbell just yet! We have over 2,000 cool videos for you to check out. All you have to do is pick the left or right video, click on it, and enjoy! Stay on the Bright Side of life!