Exercises that could hurt you
problems, it’s wise to steer clear of swings with kettlebells. If you do want to do them, remember to engage any kettlebell motion from a leg squat upwards – not from the hip.
Snatches
With snatches, whether you do them with kettlebells or a bar, you run the risk of wrist injury.
Like swings, snatches are very advanced – hence them being part of the Olympic weightlifting contest. They require very strong forearms and aren’t exactly a layman’s exercise, especially if you’re doing heavy weights and trying to impress your gym buddies.
Selecting a weight you’re actually able to control is vital with snatches, and if you can’t do that, you’re better off without them.
The plank
Plank exercises, whereby you rest on your forearms and toes, are excellent core strengtheners if done correctly. If you can’t hold your body up with in perfect horizontal line, however, you might be doing damage.
Any plank done with sagging hips – or even if you hips start to sag with exertion – runs the risk of back injury.
Your spine is already hyperextended when you’re on all fours like this, and any extra inverse pressure may let it rotate.
Upright hamstring stretch
Stretching your hamstrings before and after any kind of vigorous leg exercise is a go-to for most people. Doing it upright (ie, trying to touch your toes) could be, once again, doing damage to your back.
It puts just as much pressure on your lower spine as it does your hamstrings, if not more so.
Instead, supported hamstring stretches do the job much more safely. You can do them simply by resting your foot at a 45-degree angle on a chair.
Dips
Placing yourself between two objects (e.g. benches) and dipping as part of a shoulder workout is called a contraindicated exercise.
When your palms are facing forward while your arms are parallel and you dip down, your movements are very unnatural and your shoulders bear too much of the load.
As you come up from the dip, shoulder pain can ensue.
Shoulder exercises that support the length of your back will enable you to accurately target that muscle with less risk.
Leg extensions
Any leg exercise you do should work your whole lower half, from your butt to your calves. Using the seated leg extension machine only works one part of it.
This exercise focuses all the pressure on your quads, and isolates them as a single joint. Quads naturally contract and when you shorten them with an exercise like this, you put a lot of tension on your knees.
Instead, any kind of squat or leg press will do a much better overall job on your legs, and those quads will still get hit.
Running
For most people, running is good for you. There’s the misconception that it can give you arthritis, but in truth it can only exacerbate the disease if you’re prone to it – not give it to you altogether.
But there are some others who shouldn’t run: those who are ‘‘excessive pronators’’. Excess pronation means your foot isn’t neutral when it hits the ground. Those whose feet drop on the inside when running are causing stress on both their feet and knees. Orthotics can help if fitted correctly, but some people must accept their feet just aren’t made for it.
If this is you, you’re better off doing a lower-impact kind of cardio that doesn’t require your joints as shock absorbers. ❚ Lee Suckling has a master’s degree specialising in personalhealth reporting. Do you have a health topic you’d like Lee to investigate? Send us an email life.style@fairfaxmedia.co.nz with Dear Lee in the subject line.