Stop Wasting Your Time With These 5 Exercises in the Gym
My younger self dedicated hours to meticulous gym workouts, targeting specific muscle groups with thorough warm-ups and comprehensive routines. The gym remains my sanctuary, but evolving priorities and responsibilities limit my time.
Now, I prioritize efficiency, focusing on "training smarter, not harder." This approach—maximizing results with minimal effort—guides my personal training and my clients' programs.
Below, I'll identify five exercises you can safely skip to save time and prevent injuries, along with effective alternatives.
1. Behind the neck Lat-pulldowns
Due to lack of flexibility most people have in their shoulders, this exercise can be dangerous because of the risk of shoulder impingement. It can also lead to other cervical spine injuries.
The Alternative: do the same exercise, a lat pulldown, only pull the bar down to the top of your clavicle in the front. Keep your wrist aligned with the elbows as you pull down to ensure you are hitting your lats.
2. Full sit-ups
Full sit-ups put a lot of strain on the spine. Period. Your back is not meant to go into flexion and extension to that degree-which is exactly what full sit-ups do. The truth of the matter is core stabilization exercises are proven to be much more effective and safer for us.
The Alternative: planks, side planks, ab-wheel, cable chops, farmers walks, v-ups, hanging leg raises.
Try these ab workouts instead!
3. Squats on a smith machine
A fixed bar your body needs to conform to… sounds like trouble because it is! When you’re attempting to squat on a smith machine and your hip flexors or lower back are tight, since the bar on the machine isn’t moving, something in your body will have to. If your form is off, your body will wind up compensating for your lack of. The squat is an in-depth, intricate movement that’s beneficial for everyone. There’s no reason to waste time doing it on a smith machine AND risk injury.
The Alternative: squatting in a squat rack, with kettlebells/dumbbells, or hex bar. Here are five of my personal favorite safe and effective squat variations.
4. The seated torso rotation machine
This might be the one exercise that’s worse for your back than crunches. Any machine at the gym you see people hunched over while doing with lots of rounding in the spine is one you should skip over and save time NOT doing. This machine puts your body at a full disadvantage- rounding your upper back, asking it to rotate and then loading it with weight. Check, please!
The Alternative: Try side planks, farmers walk (suitcase carry), cable chops, windmills, and hanging leg raises.
5. The seated abdominal crunch
This exercise has a similar look to the torso rotation machine. In fact, you can most likely spot them right next to each other in your gym. My advice? Save your time and energy and skip it. Any machine that forces a person to sit into and then repeatedly flex and extend the spine is a recipe for disaster.