Ten Most Useless Exercises - pt. 1
I love to exercise. I love the feel of the iron in my hands. But mostly I only use free weights. Why? Because they promote more stability and muscle activity than the machines. Here is the first half of my top ten list of the most useless exercises, as I see them.
1) StairMaster (or almost any brand of stair stepping machine). Don't get me wrong, I LOVE climbing (real) stairwells for a great cardio workout and do it often in the apartment building I live in. But those machines make me crazy. Why? Because they HELP you do the movements. Nice little railings to hang on to, wouldn't want to work that upper body in any way, right? and the stair that's coming UP while you're driving one foot down is helping you bring that other foot up. Almost useless. Hit a real stairwell for a real workout... oh, and go down it too... did you know that functionality for going down staircases easily tends to decrease with age?
2) Elliptical. Same reason. Once you get a rhythm going, the machine does almost all the work for you. All you're doing is going for a nice little ride on the damn thing. Go cross country skiing in the snow to work out all those muscles you THINK you're working out on the elliptical.
3) Leg Extension. When in real life will you ever work your quads without working your hamstrings? Darn hard on the knees too. Do a squat if you want to work your quads... better yet, do a barbell squat. See next point firs tho.
4) Smith Machine. Very limited range of motion. All it does it go straight up and straight down, forcing you into a range of motion that might not be right for your body size and shape. Get serious about working out and get over to the free weight barbell rack or bench press (better yet for chest press, use dumbbells, why let one arm compensate for another?)
5) Any exercise that you pick up 3lb dumbbells and actually think you're doing anything effective. Ladies, how heavy is your purse? I'll bet it weighs more than those pink dumbbells you're holding so how do you think this is a workout? And men, if I see anyone who's not currently in some kind of rehab program for an injury or illness holding a 3lb dumbbell be careful because I might come over there and whack you on the side of the head with it to knock some sense into you.
Check out my true story about how the ultimate fitness manual "The Truth About Abs" by Mike Geary helped me get my "Six Pack Abs".
1) StairMaster (or almost any brand of stair stepping machine). Don't get me wrong, I LOVE climbing (real) stairwells for a great cardio workout and do it often in the apartment building I live in. But those machines make me crazy. Why? Because they HELP you do the movements. Nice little railings to hang on to, wouldn't want to work that upper body in any way, right? and the stair that's coming UP while you're driving one foot down is helping you bring that other foot up. Almost useless. Hit a real stairwell for a real workout... oh, and go down it too... did you know that functionality for going down staircases easily tends to decrease with age?
2) Elliptical. Same reason. Once you get a rhythm going, the machine does almost all the work for you. All you're doing is going for a nice little ride on the damn thing. Go cross country skiing in the snow to work out all those muscles you THINK you're working out on the elliptical.
3) Leg Extension. When in real life will you ever work your quads without working your hamstrings? Darn hard on the knees too. Do a squat if you want to work your quads... better yet, do a barbell squat. See next point firs tho.
4) Smith Machine. Very limited range of motion. All it does it go straight up and straight down, forcing you into a range of motion that might not be right for your body size and shape. Get serious about working out and get over to the free weight barbell rack or bench press (better yet for chest press, use dumbbells, why let one arm compensate for another?)
5) Any exercise that you pick up 3lb dumbbells and actually think you're doing anything effective. Ladies, how heavy is your purse? I'll bet it weighs more than those pink dumbbells you're holding so how do you think this is a workout? And men, if I see anyone who's not currently in some kind of rehab program for an injury or illness holding a 3lb dumbbell be careful because I might come over there and whack you on the side of the head with it to knock some sense into you.
Check out my true story about how the ultimate fitness manual "The Truth About Abs" by Mike Geary helped me get my "Six Pack Abs".
