Okay, so you think you’re an experienced pro. You’ve got this lifting thing nailed down to a tee. You know what you’re doing and you’re in control. After all, you’ve been lifting for years and you’re so good at it, that you’re now teaching others how to do it.
The thing is, it doesn’t matter how long you’ve been lifting or even how much you can lift when it comes to making the kind of simple mistakes that you can leave you disabled. Did you know, for example, that some of the most popular exercises are actually some of the most dangerous?
For years, you could have been doing things wrong. Worse still, you could now be teaching others how to do things wrong too. See, there exist what we call “body breakers” – exercises that basically break your body with one wrong move, and exercises that we are all guilty of continuing to do. Let’s take a look.
The Kipping Pull-up
If you like to go extreme with your exercises, the chances are you’ve attempted the kipping pull-up a few times. It’s the kind of move that goes a bit further than the standard pull-up, adding hip thrusts that gather momentum. It seems like a simple way to add more reps to your arsenal, doesn’t it?
The problem is that the kipping pull-up puts a lot of strain on your shoulder joints, pulling the violently this way and that. If you keep going, it won’t be too until your tear ‘em. And that will hurt.
Dip
Everyone loves a good dip because they help to build muscles. But how do you perform the perfect dip?
You don’t know, do you?
Well, perhaps you do. But knowing what the perfect dip is and actually executing it are two different things. And very few get the dip right.
Instead, many of us perform shoddy dips, which basically strain our rotator cuffs, eventually leading to tear. Not cool.
45-Degree Leg Press
The 45-degree leg press is usually attempted by the more fanatical guys in the gym who want to “push boundaries” and “go further” than everyone else.
But this exercise is really damaging. Basically, as you perform this exercise, your spine compresses, which can result in a herniated disc. Ouch.
Moreover, the 45-degree leg press is completely pointless because it doesn’t actually engage our core muscles. Rubbish.
Bodybuilder Bench Press
The bodybuilder bench press is quite popular, despite it also coming with a few problems. The point of the bodybuilder bench press is to improve the weight around our pecs. But the tradeoff is that we also put undue stress on our rotator cuffs, potentially leading to damage.
