With countless studies and research, it’s undeniable: Staying active is essential to optimise your overall health and longevity. However, what you do matters. 

Many individuals begin their fitness journey motivated and excited to step into their future selves. Yet, the online health and fitness world has a tendency to lead us astray when it comes to what exercises we should be doing to look good and feel great. In fact, many of these popular gym exercises lead to spinal misalignments and injury. 

So, which ones should you watch out for? Below, we outline the top three exercises we don’t recommend our clients perform in the gym (and why!).

1. Deadlifts

Deadlifts have quickly become popular for targeting the glutes and hamstrings. However, no matter how good your form is, the load always goes through your lower back. This can place unnecessary stress on the spine, leading to issues down the road and postural deficits.

Plus, there are many other ways to strengthen the glutes and hamstrings that don’t involve this pressure on the low back. For instance, squats and lunges also target these muscles, along with other major leg muscle groups.

If you feel you can’t go without deadlifts, at the very least, use a hex bar. This takes some stress off the spine—but, again, not all.

2. Back Squats

Heavy bars on the back, generally, don’t bode well with maintaining good posture. Doing so frequently leads to bending forward, even when using “proper form.” This pushes the spine forward and may eventually lead to pain. Instead, we recommend performing a front bar squat. This prevents any forward posture while loading the correct muscles.

3. Squat Thrusters

Squat thrusters, like deadlifts, have become popular go-to’s. The problem is that many individuals often overextend their backs when performing this exercise. Again, this isn’t good for supporting a natural spinal alignment. We recommend simply sticking to normal squats and lunges with free weights and leaving this one curbside.

The Basic Rule of Thumb

At the end of the day, you don’t want to perform any exercise that reinforces bending forward or overextending the spine, as this will often cause misalignments. 

A few other tips…

• Cycle on an upright bike
• Choose free weights over the machines (This also helps you avoid sitting all the time!)
• Instead of sit-ups, do planks, tabletop positions, or leg raises
• Place your weights on something high so you don’t have to bend down or forward too much and can pick up the weights easily and correctly

Like all exercises, form is key. For instance, when using overhead weights, ensuring you don’t overextend is crucial to avoid pain, injury, or misalignments.

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