5 Exercises People Should Forget

Side Crunches

When people do side crunches, they side bend (left and right) at the lower lumber region or commonly referred to as the lower back. The vertebrae of the lower back (L1-L5) are made to bend back and forth, not side to side. So if one is doing side bends constantly, one is forcing the lumber vertebrae to bend a way they are not made to do. By doing this, one may increase risk of injury in the lower back. Everyone wants a slim waist, but no one is going to get it by just doing side crunches. When one wants abs, they just work on abs. STOP! In order to have a slimmer waist, reduce the body fat. To reduce body fat, eat right and exercise the WHOLE body because it will lose fat as a whole and not just at one specific part.

Decline Bench

Every guy wants a big muscular chest. The common notion is that decline presses helps "recruit" more fibers at bottom portion of the chest. No, just stop. One recruits more fibers when one demands more fibers to be used. This is done by placing heavier loads on the resistance. To recruit the maximal amount of muscle fibers one must place enough resistance. With a decline position, one thinks that they are working their chest from "all angles" after they get done with the incline and flat bench. With a flat and incline position, one is at a more natural position to activate their pecs. When at a decline, the body is at a less natural position relative to the chest. While pressing in this position, one can lift more relative to the flat and incline bench because it takes more stimulation of the fibers at this angle for the chest to be actually activated. The decline bench is good for one's ego, because one can lift more relative to other pressing exercises. It's effectiveness however is still questionable.

Behind the Head Lat Pull Downs

This exercise is self explanatory and increases risk of injury. It raises chances of compressing nerves around the neck area due to muscle spasms. Well why would the muscle spasm?? When one does a behind the head lat pull down, they tend to extend their head forward. For every inch the head is extended forward in posture, it increases the weight of it on the neck by 10 lbs. If one were extending their head by 3 inches, 30 lbs is then placed on the neck; not to mention the pressure placed on the muscles, which is increased 6 fold, pertaining to the neck. By unintentionally doing this simple reaction to this exercise, it increases chances of muscle tension and pain, which in turn could lead to problems of the nerves.

Leg Extensions

Focusing on developing leg strength is a very important part in an exercise routine. Studies show, however, that leg extensions have more risk than benefit. Trainers alike should know that an open chain exercise for the knee is not really ideal. One reason is due to the focused activation of the rectus femoris. The rectus femoris is one of the four quadriceps located on the front part of the thigh. This muscle is commonly tight on most individuals. Because of the poor flexibility and tightness of this muscle, it contributes to knee & hip pain. Why would it make sense to put more work on a muscle that really needs to be relieved of tension. With studies showing more activation of the rectus femoris during leg extensions, they also display delayed stimulation of the vastus medialis muscle. The vastus medialis muscle is also one of the four quadriceps. A strong VM is essential for good knee health and doing an exercise that inhibits this muscle is not much of a benefit to the individual.

Seated Shoulder Presses

Pressing a weight over head, such as a shoulder press, gets most people cautious about their safety. Moving any object over head leaves that part of the body vulnerable which in turn causes people to find obvious ways to make it safer. One would think doing a shoulder press while seated would definitely be safer than doing a standing overhead press. That may not be true. Even though one is seated and safe from falling down, it is that very position that applies more pressure onto the lower lumber region of the body. The difference with standing overhead presses is that the weight is transferred all they way down onto the feet since, along with the legs, they are supporting the load. When sitting, load is placed more on the lower back. One also works more muscles during standing overhead presses since one has to activate their core to stabilize themselves, therefore burning more calories. Just make sure to start off light.

Body Composition vs. Body Weight

When people think of the idea "getting in shape", the thought of losing weight comes to mind. Shedding pounds seems to be the only thing that is thought of when people think exercise. With this already drilled into the average person's mind, they already set themselves up for failure if they were to begin an exercise program. In today's society, people want results fast, whether it be ordering food or signing on your myspace/facebook/twitter/blog account. If the food takes a while to be served, or the page lags to load, people get irritated. This same reaction applies to weight loss.




If one were to be exercising to lose weight & get toned, checking the scale every day can be demoralizing. This is due to the high expectations placed upon one's self when working hard for a goal. For example: If one were to be constantly exercising (and watching what they eat) 3 to 4 times a week for about 4 weeks and only see a 4 pound decrease, morale may drop for an individual who expected to lose 10 to 15. A healthy rate of weight lost is a pound or 2 a week, sometimes 3. Anything more is usually due to loss of water weight and/or lack of eating REQUIRED calories, which is not good.


Body weight in itself is the measurement of how heavy one's entire body weighs. Whatever is in the body at the time of weigh in, which can be water, digesting food, and the normal bodily organs and tissues are all combined and measured as body weight. So simply put, body weight is your body measured as a whole.


Body Composition is the measurement of what your body is comprised of. This involves two groups of tissue, body fat and lean body mass. Lean body mass are metabolically active tissues which include muscle, bone, and organs. Body fat is adipose tissue that is stored for energy but are not metabolically active.





When people think weight loss, all they really want to do is reduce their fat mass. They don't know that what they're really trying to do is improve their body composition. People just want to lose fat! SIMPLY PUT! With diet and exercise, the body WILL improve. Just because one didn't lose the extra 2 pounds they wanted after an exercise program doesn't mean they didn't lose fat.



When one does a mixture of cardio and weight training, not only will one lose fat tissue, but also gain some muscle, which explains how the body weight can drop slightly along with the body composition changing substantially. One does not need to look at a scale to see their results, instead, look at the mirror. One will see areas in their body changing, improving, looking toner, looking leaner. Instead of listening to a number on some scale, focus on what the body is showing you.