Bob & Brad - 15 Common Exercises You Should NEVER Do.

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Howdy folks, I'm Bob Shrum, physical therapist. I'm a physical therapist, the way the most famous physical therapist on the internet, and I'll Peter, of course.

Bob, it's a big scepter.

Okay, today Brad, we're going to talk about 15 common exercises you should never do. Never ever. All right, we're going to make sure that you never do them because we're going to explain to you why you shouldn't. Sure, that helps a lot.

Let's take care of this first, Brad, in case you are new to our channel. Please take a second to subscribe to us, it only takes a minute, just go over and slap that button. We provide videos on how to stay healthy and fit, paid for you. We upload every day. Also, go over to Facebook. That only takes another minute, because Brad and I, as children, we weren't like, oh, it's sad, and we're trying to turn things around.

So let's talk about the first exercise, Brad.

All right, it's a real common exercise. I think the government used to have you do it. I mean, yeah, just really sort of questions it then. Yeah, then you always want to question it.

Windmills

So the windmills. What you're doing here is what's really hard on the back and the discs of the back, which is flexion and twisting at the same time, sir. So what are you doing with windmills? You're bending and twisting at the same time. If you want to hurt your back, this is what you should do. Do windmills without a doubt. Very bad for you, particularly as you get a little older. You're even more prone to it, right.

So I could feel that right there, Brad. By the way, I'm going to be doing all 15 of these exercises today. I ought to be in bad shape by the end of the day.

Yes, Bob, you are. That's why I'm going to watch. All right, well, he's smart, is a name. I'm going to crack the whip.

Sit ups

Next one. Most people know this, I think, but maybe they don't: you should not be doing full sit-ups like this, because it puts, again, a tremendous amount of stress on the discs of the back, particularly right in the low back, particularly ones where you reach for your toes. Right, when you're going like this, that type of thing.

And they've done studies on this. They've actually stuck a needle in the disc of the back and measured the amount of pressure, and this puts a tremendous amount of pressure, I'm sure. And probably, I don't know if it'd be worse, but it's certainly not better, than if you did supported sit-ups. So there are those devices, those benches, where you can slide your feet underneath, or you have somebody else hold them while you do these. And then some people take a weight and even make it worse. I'm not going to do that. I'll blow discs on the incline. Right, yeah.

Certainly it works the stomach muscles as well, but it's also working the leg muscles, by the way. When someone supports it, you're actually working your hip flexors, like the rectus femoris you've got.

So staying right on this theme, V-sits like this are really hard on the back, and if you want to make it even worse, throw in a twist. It's the same principle again: you're bending the back and twisting it at the same time. There's a lot of pressure in the middle, just really bad for the back.

I mean, again, I'm glad I'm done with those. I'm actually going to do some extensions, Brad, right now. This is the counter. Don't worry, if you want to get your core and stomach strengthened, there are much better options. There's a million ways, and we have videos on those, but we've got to stick to what the goal is here.

Tricep dips

Right, next one, Brad, is tricep dips off a bench. So you're going off the end of a bench like this, I'll do it off that side, two up, and you're doing dips like this. It's really a tremendous amount of stress on the shoulder, sitting at kind of end range. There are better ways to strengthen the triceps. We had a whole video on that, remember, Brad?

So when the shoulder is coming into end-range extension, which is anytime you put a joint at end range, it's more susceptible to injury, and you can get some impingement with that, even just from the way you're putting your shoulder into place like that.

For runners

Next one, I'm jumping off into a different area here. This is a simple one. Anybody who runs a lot, I want to make sure you're not running on the same side of the street all the time. Right, so there's always a little bit of a camber on the road, a little bit of tilt, so the water runs off the road and doesn't stay in the middle. It's functional. So if I run down the right side of the road and come back on the other side, I'm always on the same tilt, right? And you're putting the same stresses on your ankles, your knees and your feet. And if you're susceptible to something like plantar fasciitis, I mean, I'm sensitive enough that I can actually tell when I'm on one side of the road too much.

Sure, right. I know, legally or safety-wise, it's best to always go against traffic, but I actually go out against traffic and back in with traffic, I do. Yeah, use good judgment, you know? Use a different route or something, but I try to pick roads that have really wide, short shoulders, so that we don't have to worry about it.

So I had a patient who had tendonitis, and her plantar fascia, and she was doing a walking program on the same side of the road. I said, well, switch sides, and within a couple of days it went away. Right, and that's just saying, about a track, you don't want to go around the track the same way all the time. You want to reverse that. So it's just a little helpful hint that really makes a big difference.

Upright rows

Next one is upright rows. Red, you can do that one, right?

Oh yes. So we're talking about this, and look what has happened here: his shoulder is actually internally rotating. When we're testing a shoulder for impingement, we actually internally rotate the shoulder and bring it around, right, because that usually is what causes or enhances the impingement. So this is going to make the impingement worse.

Yeah, actually, like you said, it's a test to provoke it, and why would you do an exercise that provokes it, right? So obviously you're not going to do this. Usually you might do it with a bar, but people put weights on a barbell, which makes it even worse. So we want to save the joints. There are other ways to work those muscles.

Weights

All right, this one is just kind of a stupid one. I see people doing this sometimes. I've seen an occupational therapist do this one time, by doing chest strengthening. We're working these muscles. Which way does gravity go, Brad?

Gravity goes down. So I'm working the shoulder right now, I'm not working the chest. To work the chest, you have to go against gravity, which means you have to be in this direction. So unless you've got the infamous always-working-the-chest resistance coming from behind, it's a big thing with weights: they only give one direction of resistance, and that's down.

Well, that's why it's really hard to do lats, the latissimus dorsi, because you've got to pull down. Sure. And you can't take a weight and pull down, because it's going with gravity.

Yeah, well, we digress, don't we? Brad, carry on.

Loaded side bends

All right, standing, oh no. Next one, loaded side bends. I've got to keep these... So they're basically bending like this, right, Brad, but they all have weight on one side.

Oh, they only have one. I don't do these, but this is, again, really hard on the back. It's just putting a unilateral stress on the back. So the ones I don't do either, but I'll see people do it like this, with the weight, and they're thinking they're working their obliques, which is true, definitely. They work some core muscles, but you put a lot of stress on the spine, and there are better ways.

Yeah, unilateral stress. I've seen fitness gurus on YouTube do this one, and I'm like, really? Yeah, I would think they would know better, but I guess not.

Behind neck press ups

Next one is behind-the-neck press-ups. Do press-ups? You wanted to do that one, Brad?

Oh, military press. Yeah, well, I think military press is in front. Yeah, I guess today I kind of, I don't... I promote, I'm sorry. We're talking about the ones behind the neck.

Yeah, this is particularly bad because not only does it stress your shoulder joints, but you have to get your head forward to get out of the way, because if you have a barbell there, it kind of hurts with it, you know? Neck. If you're in a bad position for your spine, we're not big fans of these anyway. Okay, because you've got a small shoulder muscle pushing up a large lever arm, a long lever arm. I've just seen so many injuries with this. Not only that, but if you've got an impingement, it's going to be huge, and if you don't have an impingement, it puts you at risk for one.

So you may have problems. And we're going to have comments on this, because a lot of people like doing these. They love to do the military press, and they don't have any problems. But there's going to be a certain percentage of people who will get hurt. We have to go with the odds, and the odds are against you if you do those. You're going to get hurt eventually, in our opinion.

Wide based push ups

All right, next one, Brad, is actually wide-based push-ups. I think I can do those on here. So we're tomboys, you get way out here, out to the side, and then I'm going like this, and your shoulder is internally rotating, and again we can get that impingement going. I like to put them back here, more like this, which works the lower part of the chest. But especially with wide-based push-ups, even a little further up, even with the shoulders, I can just feel that. Even read, it just doesn't feel good. If your arms are all the way out like this, I'll keep them in, not out wide, particularly when this motion happens. We're always talking about the internal rotation of the humerus, so we're not going to get into details, but you'll just have to believe us on that.

If you're doing some type of jumping exercises, certainly avoid concrete. But the other thing is, we want to make sure you're jumping right. One thing a lot of times people do, especially women, is land like this with their knees a little bit in. You definitely want to make sure your knees are lined up with your feet when you land, so you can see, this would be the plumb line. We want to keep the knee in there, as opposed to letting it cave in, which puts a lot of stress on the ACL and the knee joint. Maybe even when you're doing squats and stuff like that, you want to make sure these are all lined up, guys. So, good mechanics. Yeah, I'm putting stress through those joints.

Quad extension machine

Other thing, Brad and I are not big fans of the quad extension machine, the one where you get your heels or ankles hooked in, and you're going up like this. Yeah. So you're putting a real heavy, high amount of stress under the patella, and even on the joint itself. And it's not functional. I mean, when in life do you do that? Maybe if you're a kicker, but I prefer full-chain functional activities for strengthening. So it's just a good one to avoid. It's not a good... I think people like it because it really does make those quads look, wow, I can see it, yeah. I know, because I used to do them, and then you start getting imbalance, I think, sometimes where the quads are maybe a little stronger than the hamstrings, although you can do the hamstring on a machine like that too.

Right, yeah. Let's get into another segue, but we'll stay...

Ball strengthen

All right, the final one, Brad, is we're going back to those beasts. Some people take a medicine ball, or they'll take a kettlebell like this, and they're doing these, right? It's the same thing again: you're flexing the back and twisting the back at the same time. I know it feels like you're really working hard, and you are, but it really is causing a lot of pain, a lot of possible stress on your back, and possible injuries.

So, all right, we welcome the comments. I know a lot of people may not agree with some of these, but this is based on our 700 years of experience working with patients. So, yeah, we like to keep you safe for the long run. Matches when you're young and healthy, but when you get older, like us, and the joints are still ready to become old men like us.

So all right, thanks for watching.

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