5 Exercises You're Doing Wrong
The most common fitness mistakes and how to fix them.
- Faye Brennan, BettyConfidential.com
We all know you can’t see results instantly from working out. But if you’ve been going to the gym consistently and are still not noticing results, odds are you may be doing something wrong.
California trainer Kristin Anderson says that many people do exercises incorrectly, either because they are rushing to get through them or they aren’t checking their form. This can lead to muscle strain, injury, and worst of all, a futile workout. If you want your time spent in the gym to be as effective as possible, make sure you’re doing the following five moves correctly:
Push-ups. A push-up is a basic yet highly effective exercise in which you hold your body up parallel to the floor, and then slowly lower towards the ground, then push yourself back up. It can be done with your legs straight or with your knees on the floor.
Incorrect form: If you tuck your chin under so that your forehead is the first thing to touch the ground, you are doing a push-up wrong. “This puts intense strain on your small neck muscles, which can lead to terrible headaches, upper back and shoulder injuries,” says Kristin.Also watch out if you flop to the ground instead of slowly lowering yourself, if your back starts to sag, or if you lift your chin to try and pull yourself back up from the floor. Kristin says these moves can lead to chronic lower back pain and neck pain.
How to fix: Think of your body as one long wooden board. A board doesn’t bend, and neither should you. “Your gaze should be 12 inches in front of your hands on the floor,” says Kristin. “This keeps your neck in a straight line with the rest of your body. You should feel like you are one solid piece coming up from the floor and not like one part of your body is coming up first.”
Forearm Plank. This is one of the most effective total body exercises; you hold yourself up in a plank position parallel to the floor, with everything from your head to your feet perfectly straight. There should be no sagging, and your whole body should be pulled in tight.
Incorrect form: You can tell that you are doing the forearm plank incorrectly if you feel your hips sagging or your chest sinking to the floor. “This will hurt your lower back and shoulder joints instead of strengthening them,” says Kristin. “You also won’t be getting the entire super slimming benefits.”
How to fix: Do your forearm planks next to a mirror. “Visually adjust your position, then look away from the mirror and start to ‘feel’ what good form feels like,” says Kristin. If you don’t have a mirror, Kristin suggests “scanning” your entire body from head to toe, asking yourself where each part of your body is and if it’s straight and tight.
Squats. To do a squat, stand with your feet slightly turned out and shoulder width apart. Push your hips back and lower yourself down so that your thighs are parallel to the floor, as if you’re sitting down on a chair. Your torso should stay tall and straight. With your weight in your heels, push against the floor to return to a standing position.
Incorrect form: Your shoulders and torso should not cave forward when doing squats. Also, you should not have all of your body weight in your toes and your knees should not buckle inwards. “Squats in this poor form are a wasted effort,” says Kristin. “Long-term damage includes knee injury, low back strain and reinforced poor posture. Who wants that?”
How to fix: “Keep your shoulders set in the middle of your back and your abs tight – you will have a beautiful and effective upper body squat position,” Kristin says. Next, make sure that most of your body weight is in your heels. “This will ensure that your knees and legs are in the correct position, and then you will be getting the full benefit of squats.”
Incorrect form: Kristin says most people speed through their lunges. Rushing can cause your torso to lose its straight posture and your knee to come too far over your front toes. Feeling off balance can also cause the same poor form. “Done incorrectly, lunges can cause serious damage to your knees. You’re also missing out on the super sexy legs that lunges done correctly can give you,” says Kristin.
How to fix: As when doing a forearm plank, check your lunge posture in a mirror and adjust it accordingly. Kristin suggests doing each lunge much more slowly to ensure you keep your balance and that you are pushing yourself back to a standing position with your front heel.
Ab exercises. Whether it’s crunches or some Pilates move, ab exercises work your core muscles by constantly keeping them engaged and contracted. The most common ab workout, a crunch, is when you lie with your back on the floor, knees bent, and use your ab muscles to pull your torso up to your knees and lower yourself down again.
Incorrect form: Many people tend to believe that they are doing an effective ab workout if they do as many reps as fast as they can, but this is not true. “You wind up using momentum from flinging your body up and down,” says Kristin, “totally disengaging from your stomach muscles.” She says poorly performed ab exercises are the number one reason for lower back pain caused by exercise.
How to fix: If you feel strain in other parts of your body besides your abs when doing core work, then slow down and focus on using only your ab muscles. “Pull your belly button in and up as if it were hiding behind your ribcage,” says Kristin. “Hold it there throughout the duration of your movements and rest when you can’t maintain this position anymore.”
Kristin demonstrates how to do all of these exercises and more correctly in her fitness iPhone/iPod Touch app called the M-Train ($1.99, m-train.com).
Always check with your doctor before starting an exercise program.
Faye Brennan is assistant editor at BettyConfidential.
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