11 Gym Exercises Most People Are Doing Wrong

You pay for a gym membership and walk in with as much confidence as possible. And when the receptionist asks you if you know how to operate the machines, you proudly answer “of course.” Seconds later, uh-oh, you realize you could use some help, but you're too shy to ask for it. Sounds familiar? In that case, pay attention:

doing

certain

exercises

wrong

is not only useless, but can even injure you! 1. Squats If done correctly, squats are a perfect exercise that works your entire lower body, strengthens your legs, and helps with posture. The

most

common mistakes when

doing

squats are: bending your back, going down only halfway, standing on your toes, and bending your knees.

To avoid all of this, try to practice proper form. Keep your back in a neutral position, with your shoulders back, chest up, and feet shoulder-width apart, turned at 45°. As you lower, work your core and glutes, and keep your weight on your heels as if you were sitting in a chair. Keep your arms straight and in front of your stomach. When you do it right, your knees will push outward and your back will remain straight. If you want to add weights, use lighter ones first and increase them as you gain strength. 2. Leg Press The leg press seems like a fairly simple machine that

exercises

your glutes and thighs, but if you use it incorrectly it won't do you any good.

Avoid deepening your knees too much from the start, as this can damage your lower back. It is important to keep your legs bent at 90 degrees and not lock your knees while you straighten them. Many

people

ignore the position of their heels and let them slide over the edge of the platform; Don't make this mistake and keep them on the sled to maintain balance and avoid unnecessary pressure on your knees. Also, only carry a weight that you can work with; you will not benefit from superficial repetitions. 3. Front and Side 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 it. Instead, raise the dumbbells to shoulder height, keeping your arms slightly forward. This way you will not contract your shoulder blades back. Your little finger should be a little higher than the others during the exercise. As for your feet, they should be shoulder-width apart with your knees slightly bent. 4. Treadmill cardio is an important part of any fitness routine and treadmill training is a perfect way to do it. When you're on the treadmill, avoid the temptation to hold on to the handrails (I've done it, I've done it) - it makes running easier and therefore less effective, and can disrupt your posture by hunching over machine.

If you can't run without holding on, try reducing your speed or incline level. Speaking of which, don't set it above 8% to save your back, hips, and ankles from strain they don't deserve. And never jump off a machine that is still moving! This may seem fun and obvious, but it is one of the most common causes of injuries in the gym. 5. Sit-ups Anyone who wants to get a toned stomach practices crunches. If you are one of those

people

, but you are not seeing any results in your abdominal muscles, you may simply be doing crunches incorrectly. Don't bury your chin in your chest like many people do;

This strains the neck. And stay closer to the floor, about 3 inches from the mat should be fine. Take your time: going slower will help you perform the exercise correctly and work your core to the maximum. Ten real crunches are better for your body than 100 not-so-good attempts. 6. Tricep Dips (Mmmm. Does this look anything like French onion dip? Unfortunately not.) Tricep 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 are exercising on. This way you won't extend your shoulders too much.

It's okay to bend your knees a little if you can't do it with your legs straight, but don't try to make things easier by moving further away from the base. Go down, bend your elbow, and come back up, contracting your triceps to make them work hard. 7. Rower Both open water rowing and rowing on a rowing machine are great calorie burners, affecting all the muscles in your body. Correct technique is the key to success with this exercise. When you row with just your arms, you expose your upper body to too much pressure and can injure your back and shoulders.

Try to divide your efforts in a proportion of 60 percent coming from your legs, and the remaining 40 percent coming from your core and arms. This mental breakdown of the pressure on your body parts should help you stay engaged. Sit upright on the oar; avoid slouching. Don't prefer speed over power: do long, controlled paddles. Don't forget to synchronize your rhythm with your breathing; It is important for any rhythmic activity. Exhale through your mouth as you step back and inhale through your nose as you restart. Don't ignore the shock absorber lever on the side of the machine; Experiment with it until you find the most comfortable level for you. 8.

Push-ups Stretching your elbows too much, moving your hips instead of your entire body, bending your back and neck, and going down only halfway are the most common mistakes people make when doing push-ups. Are you guilty of any of those? 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 movements should be slow and controlled. When your chest reaches the surface, push up until your arms lock. 9.

Biceps, dumbbell and barbell curls What is the best way to tone your arms? Most people would say bicep curls. However, they won't do you much good if you bend your wrists up while exercising, drop the weights too quickly, or swing them up, involving your shoulders and back. To properly exercise your biceps, imagine there is a rope running from your shoulder to the weight you are lifting. That rope should help you move the weight from your hand to your shoulder, and your biceps will contract at the top of that movement. It's okay to keep your wrists straight or somewhat loose;

It is only important that you do not work and injure the wrist joint. 10. Cable Triceps Extensions As you extend your arms behind your neck, you are giving your triceps a great workout. You can do this with an EZ bar attachment or a rope, but either way, make sure to lock your elbows into your ribs. They shouldn't be going back and forth with the weights. Try not to stand too straight during this exercise; Instead, lean forward slightly to give your body full range of motion and full extension. 11. Pull-ups/Pull-ups Probably the biggest surprise on this list (pull-ups and chin-ups) are the exercises that most people do wrong, just because they think there's no way to screw them up.

In fact, if you're rocking your body as you move up and down, don't brace your core or legs and let yourself fall; In fact, you are doing it wrong. Your range of motion matters too, so you want to make sure you're going high and low enough. A good starting position is to hang with your arms fully extended. You can keep them shoulder-width apart for pull-ups, and pull-ups require a narrower grip. You start by retracting your shoulder blades. Then, pull hard, engaging your biceps, back muscles, and elbows. If you're doing pull-ups, keep your chin on the bar.

For pull-ups, try to do them as high as you can. To become a pro, you can start practicing on a lat machine. At first, when it's too much to handle, try jumping into a pull-up or push-up and hold the position for as long as you can, then slowly lower yourself down. Were you doing any of these exercises wrong? Let me know in the comments! If you learned something new today, like this video and share it with a friend. But hey! – Don't go to lunch with a dumbbell yet! We have more than 2000 interesting videos for you to watch.

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