It is a known fact that doing daily physical exercises can ensure a healthy life. Common diseases often get curbed if you practice physical exercises. As long as you want to stay fit, you must know how some exercises can harm your body, and it’s best to avoid them.
Crunches And Sit-Ups
Crunches and sit-ups are the most common workouts for a strong core. Although a strong core can uplift overall fitness, it can harm day-to-day mobility. Sit-Ups can increase the risk of injuries on the lower back and neck, whereas doing crunches can cause back pain. The problem with sit-ups is that the lower back gets rounded while performing. This results in adding unnecessary stress on the lumbar spine. In crunches, the hips and the legs are always unmoving, and neither does it activate the lower abdominal nor the oblique muscles leading to neck and back muscles straining.
Squats
Squats are the most effective exercise to improve core strength and toughen the leg and back muscles. It benefits the lower body, but too deep squats can bring unnecessary pressure on the lower back, knees, and joints. While performing, one must know the proper form to lower the chance of getting injured.
Deadlifts
Deadlifts can be a good exercise for the back and hips if done correctly. They are very technical, and one inaccurate move may hurt immensely. Apart from offering a lot of benefits, deadlifts can lead to lower back problems, arm and shoulder injuries, slipped discs, muscle imbalance, and straining of the central nervous system. It’s best to avoid this exercise without supervision and proper training.
Leg Press Exercises
Leg Press Exercises pose risks of injury to your lower body if the back is too arched or one lifts too heavy. Repeating the exercise too many times can tire your muscles and joints and give you hip and back pain. Be careful of foot placement as this can mess up the form and hurt you badly. Ensure that your knee does not go beyond your toe to avoid any mishap.
Toe Touch
Toe Touching is the simplest way to stretch muscles of the body. It is also beneficial in stretching the hamstrings, the lower back, and the glutes. However, this simple exercise can be harmful as it involves overstretching and bending down, harming the vertebrae, discs, lower back muscles, and hamstrings. Overdoing the exercise could result in permanently stretched back ligaments with a loosely held lumbar spine vulnerable to more injuries. Avoid doing the rounded-back posture as it is a preliminary cause of lower back issues in toe touching.
Leg Extensions
Leg Extension or Knee Extension is a strength training exercise and an excellent way to strengthen the quadriceps placed in front of the upper legs. Leg Extensions are done with the help of a machine and involve repetitive extension of the knees and lifting of the lower legs. Even though it is a good workout for the quads, it is not a practical movement as the risk of injury is high as it puts extreme pressure on the knees and the joints and tension on the cruciform ligaments. The exercise also increases the chance of an unnatural slide of the kneecap.
Upright Rowing
More than the pros, the cons of doing Upright Rowing are higher. Upright Rowing can be good for your chest and shoulder, but the chance of getting injured is inevitable. Doing barbell Upright Rows for long can lead to soreness in the shoulders and wrist joints. This eventually might aggravate the harm, and one can suffer from shoulder impingement or other grave injuries.
Jump Squat
Jump Squats strengthen the bones and muscles of the body with an improved balance. Despite the benefits, JumpSquats can be harmful. The exercise increases the risk of bone fracture due to the increased compression force required while landing. Since this exercise requires more power, every joint in the body and lower body muscles can get affected due to overstraining, and it can also hurt the knees.
Behind Neck Shoulder Press
Behind Neck Shoulder Press can be a good workout for the shoulders and upper body strength, but that can stress the rotator cuff muscles and the neck. The difficulty of maintaining the position while raising the barbell also increases the chance of neck and head injuries during the downward phase. Since the exercise requires a lot of flexibility and strength, any mishap can become a grave injury.
Lat Pulldowns
Behind Neck Lat Pulldowns are excellent for building muscular strength and size, but if done incorrectly, can result in a shoulder impingement or rotator cuff tear due to the stress on the anterior joint capsule of the shoulder.
Preacher Curl
Preacher Curls are a great way to activate biceps, but there are risks associated with it. If one does not use proper form, then unnecessary strain comes on the elbows, wrists, and other body parts. Also one has to be cautious while doing heavy preacher curls as it increases the chance of biceps tendon tears.
Long-Distance Running
Running is the best form of exercise as it offers innumerable physical and mental benefits but can be harmful over a long period. Long-distance puts the entire body weight on the legs, knees, and foot joints, leading to injuries that make it uneasy to move around in daily life.
Medicine Ball Rotation
Backward Medicine Ball Rotation (against a wall) might be tempting as it looks like a fun activity. However, ensure you do not rotate your spine with force. Your back has many small, delicate discs that can get displaced by a tiny wrong move.
Bent Over Rows
Bent Over Row, a weight training exercise that helps to strengthen and balance the upper body muscles can turn fatal if you do it by bending too much over at your waist. Staying in that position can displace your disc and do potential damage to a nerve. It can also cause injury to your shoulders by making them roll forward, leading to a bad posture.
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The Kettlebell Swing can be harmful if it’s done improperly. This exercise depends on the power of your lower body, which includes the posterior chain. Due to the speed of the exercise and the force of swinging, your shoulder is at risk of significant injury. If you do the exercise wrong for long, you may suffer a rotator cuff injury or shoulder inflammation.
