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
certainexercises
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 whiledoing
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 intoa 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 itwrong
, 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 Themost
common mistake with shoulder raises isbelieving 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 animportant 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 theydon’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 thosepeople
, but aren’t seeing any results in your abdominal muscles, you might just bedoing
crunches thewrong
way. Don’t tuck your chin into your chest like manypeople
do; this strains the neck. And stay closer tothe 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. Thisway 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 themost
common mistakespeople
make whiledoing
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 wristsupwards 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
dowrong
, 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
itwrong
. 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. Youcan 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 youcan
manage, then going down slowly. Were you