There are a series of exercises that we generally tend to include in our training routines, but on the contrary, they are not recommended at all due to their high risk of injury. In addition, there are exercises with which you will work the same muscles/fibers without injuring yourself, which are perfect to replace those that can give you a big headache in the long run.
It is difficult to find a person who has not been injured in training at some point in their life. Injuries can occur due to poor technique, excessive volume of work, poor hydration, poor warm-up, or performing specifically harmful exercises.
Today we are going to leave aside the rest of the reasons and focus on those movements that are somewhat dangerous for our health. When we talk about harmful exercises, we do not mean directly that by performing them you will ensure an injury, but rather that your risk of suffering one is very high. You have to take into consideration that the muscles are worked constantly week after week and therefore, executing abnormal movements will only lead to one point: Injury!
When training you should perform the exercises that most closely resemble a natural movement, this way you will avoid incorporating risks to your joint and muscle health. For this last reason, when I create a routine for my students, I especially try to avoid the use of machines. There are indeed machines that achieve this natural movement, but generally, this does not happen and therefore we tend to execute inappropriate movements and postures.
In this article, I will leave a list of the most harmful exercises that exist and some of the best alternatives to make correct replacement easier for you:
Injurious Exercises
1 – Jalon transducer
It is a movement in which the position of our shoulders is unnatural, the rotation in particular is too pronounced. So the alternative to this exercise is as simple as changing it for a chest pull, this way you will avoid the main problem.
2 – Military press behind the neck
As in the previous exercise and particularly in your lives, when lifting the weight it is normally done from behind. It is incorrect or difficult, therefore the alternative is to perform the Military Press where the bar passes in front of the head and ends just above it. Another possible variation would be with dumbbells.
3 – Incline barbell press
Scapular retraction is difficult to execute and therefore our shoulders suffer a lot. Furthermore, if we incorporate the inclination of the benches where the exercise is performed, the slope may end up being too steep, so in the end not only will the shoulders suffer but the muscle fibers that you will work will be fewer.
4 – Chin row
One of the most absurd exercises that most people perform is the row with the final position on the chin. It goes without saying how unnatural the movement is and if you also want to work the trapezius with this exercise you will not be able to do it. It’s much better to grab some dumbbells and do a shrug.
I don’t think I forgot any exercise. Of course, others are not harmful but we make them harmful by not executing the technique well. I will talk about it another time, if you want you can view the website where you have some more errors.
I hope you liked it and it was helpful. All the best!
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