5 exercises you can stop doing (and do these instead!)

Most of us head to the gym with a lot of motivation and a planned workout schedule that would be efficient as well as effective. However, certain exercises might not work as well as we might think they would. Here are some of these exercises that can be easily ditched and others that should be done in their place. Read on to know all about them.

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It has been found that sitting in a place and kicking your legs has no discernible benefits as such and should thus be eliminated from one’s workout regime. No functional benefits of leg extensions have been observed so far and the angle at which the knees carry this weight isn’t the best for the body because it poses risks of injury. Instead of machine leg extensions, you can try squats, lunges or step ups, all of which work on the lower body and strengthen glutes, hamstrings and others small muscles of the body.

Also read: Kettle bell circuit workout to strengthen your muscles

The target region of these machines is a singular region and like several other machines in the gym, this one hinders the exercise of multiple muscles at a given time which becomes possible in the case of other machines or exercises. Instead of the abductor, try squats. They include many more muscles and will actually strengthen your muscles up for day to day activities.

Even though the pain that follows this exercise might make you believe that the muscles have been worked very efficiently, but it actually strains the little muscles that make up your rotator cuff in the shoulder. It can cause damage to these small muscles and should be replaced by exercises like cable pushdowns, close grip bench press or tricep push-ups.

While performing this exercise that supposedly helps build the chest muscles, the bar should always be in front of your body otherwise the chances of a shoulder injury happening are too great. Doing behind-the-head pull downs puts a lot of train on the shoulder joint. Instead of this, you can try out the wide-grip lat pull-down in which the bar has to be pulled towards the collar bone.

The machine might appear to be a better alternative as compared to the squat rack but the probability of straining the vertebrae is much more in this exercise as compared to any other form for the back is straight and perpendicular to the ground. It can also pose a risk to the knees because of the stance that is required. Weighted squats are a much better alternative when compared to this one because they train the entire lower body without any excessive stress on your joints. The core is additionally worked in this exercise.