5 Exercises That Get In The Way Of Your Fitness Goals

There are so many ways to obtain information about fitness these days. From fitness Instagram accounts to in-depth YouTube videos, there is no shortage of fitness-related content. You can read entire books about how to exercise to achieve your ideal body. The problem is that not every popular training style may bring you closer to your goals. 

Various exercise physiologists concur that certain exercises do not yield desired outcomes for certain clients. That is especially true if people do not do the exercises with the proper form. Although certain exercises may work multiple muscle groups, doing them improperly can increase the risk of injury, or work the wrong muscles groups. To learn about exercises that get in the way of your fitness goals, continue reading.

Bench Dips

If you cannot do full dips, you may consider bench dips as the stepping stone. In theory bench dips tone your triceps, but there is a drawback to this exercise. Many people who do them allow their shoulders to round forward during the exercise. Not only does that increase the risk of shoulder injury, but it also diminishes the effectiveness of the exercise. Get more bang for your buck by mastering push-ups first. Push-ups target your triceps and engage other upper-body muscles. 

Lunges With Bicep Curls

What this exercise entails is stepping into a lunge, doing a bicep curl, and then returning back to a standing position. This is a compound move that would be more effective if you simply separated the exercises. Adding bicep curls to your lunges can get your upper body involved, but they can limit your gains. Biceps are smaller muscles, so you can only curl a light weight while lunging. A better approach is to separate the exercises, performing lunges with heavier dumbbells and then curling with a heavier barbell or dumbbells.

Burpees

This is the exercise that everyone loves to hate. Burpees engage multiple muscle groups, but people do not usually execute them properly. Very few people actually do burpees with proper form, and doing them incorrectly can lead to injuries or general muscle pain. If you want to boost your cardiovascular and strength training, consider doing sets of well-executed squats and push-ups with no breaks in between. Or, you can engage in fully separate cardio sessions on days when you don’t weight train.

Weighted Side Bends

Trying to sculpt those obliques? Your obliques are primarily used to either aid or resist rotation. That makes the lateral movement of side bends less effective for strengthening them. If you want a more effective core workout that targets your oblique, consider a Pallof press, which can promote a stronger core. You can also engage in hip dips, side planks, Russian twists, and bicycles. 

High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)

How did HIIT make this list? This type of training is popular because it saves you time, effectively elevates your heart rate, and combines cardiovascular and strength training. If you cram everything into a single, short workout, though, you may limit the benefits of building total muscular strength. HIIT is not always suitable for beginners because it can lead to overuse injuries, or even cellular damage. 

When you combine strength and cardio exercises into one workout, there is a trade-off between the two. Cardio moves have different energy requirements that strength training moves. Strength training is anaerobic and demands short bursts of high-intensity effort, while cardio is aerobic and requires sustained, lower-intensity effort. Combining these two types of exercises can compromise their quality and effectiveness. That’s why it is better to focus solely on strength in a single session if you want to improve muscle growth.