The 5 Worst Exercises

Not all forms of exercise are created equal. Some are better than others. Doing 'something' is not always better than doing nothing, and most of the time the 'something' that people do is bullshit.

1. First and foremost. GET THE FUCK OFF THE ELLIPTICAL.

Every single elliptical is the devil. You know that feeling you get whenever you see someone on a Segway? Well that's how I feel every time I see someone on the elliptical. Every person in the world has one leg that's longer. It is what it is. And when you walk your body finds a way to balance itself out naturally because that's what mother nature designed you to do. The elliptical is a machine with a fixed movement pattern, and not everybody's body moves in that pattern. Your body + unnatural movement pattern = injury and precious time wasted.  I've even had clients complain about joint pain after using the elliptical consistently. Contrary to popular the elliptical is not good for your joints and there's no way in hell that you're actually burning all the calories it claims you are. Fucking liar.

2. Bicep Curls

Or vanity curls as I call them. While there's really nothing wrong with doing them, they're pretty much a waste of time. The bicep is one of the smallest muscles in the body and they end up getting a good workout from all the other lifts you do. Lat pull downs, shoulder presses, push ups; whenever you're working your upper body they are being worked too. So if you don't have much time at the gym and really want to burn calories work on the major muscle groups - the bigger the muscle worked the more calories burned. You're not doing yourself any justice with the bicep curls, but if you must do them for fun save them until the end of the workout when you're done doing the things that are actually effective- vain bitch.

3. Crunches.

OMG, I can't. When I see people performing spinal flexion, aka crunches I want to punch them in the fucking face, mainly because most people don't even know how to do a proper crunch. "Oh but I want a flat stomach" you don't get a flat stomach by laying on the floor and pushing on the back of your head.  You don't get a 6- pack from doing crunches, if you want to see your abs you need to lose body fat. That's it, point blank period. Now if you want core strength, that's a different story. There are tons of different ways to get a strong tummy, but please get it out of your head that crunches are the way to a flat stomach.  I could go on and on, but I won't just stop doing them. Please.

4. Leg Press Machine

Unless you get trapped under a boulder there will never, ever be a time in your life where you need to leg press hundreds of pounds while lying on your back. It's an unnatural movement and won't benefit you much in your daily life. It will most likely just cause you joint pain and nerve damage. The best exercises are the ones that a performed in nature - squats, pull up, push up, oblique twist. The leg press machine is scary, weird, and unnecessary.

5. What other people are doing

One of the most unfortunate things I've learned about people at the gym is that they like to watch other people at the gym and copy what they're doing. Don't fucking do that. Most people don't know what they're doing and are one bad lift away from a trip to the ER. Unless they are a trainer or honest to God know their shit never take advice or copy people at the gym. I sometimes want to cry about some of the random, dangerous, made up lifts I see at the gym. I don't want to talk about it anymore, just stop being a copycat and learn how to do things right.

So that's it people. Eliminate these exercises from your routine and you'll be saving yourself a lot of physical therapy. I'll cover things you can do instead of these lame-ass exercises in a later post, but until then check out my other stuff about fitness! Later bitches.

XoXo, 

 AminaZena

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