Best At Home Workout, 7 Exercises To Avoid

When you have finally got the best at home workout and set aside the precious time to do it, why waste time with exercises that have been proven to be least effective?  Don’t waste your time on the following types of exercises and concentrate on those that work to truly create the “best at home workout” for you. 

What are these least effective exercises for the best at home workout?

1.  Lateral Pulldown behind the head for muscles in the upper back

You need to have very mobile shoulders in order to keep the spine straight. If you don’t and you do the lateral pulldown incorrectly, you can damage your shoulder or rotator cuff.  Also, if you bring the bar down too close to your neck, your spine could take an unexpected blow.

The better option for working the muscles in the upper back is a lat pulldown infront of you.

2.  Behind Your Head Military Press

This exercise has the same problem as the lat pulldown above – definitely not good for the shoulders.

Try instead doing the press with the bar (or dumbbells) infront of you.

3.  Upright Row

Pulling weighted gear up from below to under your chin can compress the nerves in the shoulder region making for your very unlucky “best at home workout”.

Instead try a front and/or lateral shoulder raise with weights.

4.  Squats Using A Machine (like the Smith Machine)

While many people planning their best at home workout will not have a Smith Machine, some will.  So for those people the guidance is this – the bar on the machine does not give and could force the body into positions that it does not want to go!  Many people have their feet too far forward, relying more on the machine to hold them up, making potential damage even more likely.

Try instead squatting without weights or machines.  The trick is to move the hips back rather than bending at the waist.  Imagine you are going to sit down on a chair and bend the knees till you have a 90-degree angle between calf and thigh.  You may need to do this exercise quite slowly as it is difficult to do properly.  This free form style should be a core exercise for the best at home workout.

5.  Poor Technique on Cardio Equipment 

How many people read, watch the screen, or just ‘do stuff’ to pass the time while on the cardio machines.  This creates poor form, which can do all sorts of damage to your body.  Do not do it.  When on cardio equipment, keep focused and stay in alignment.  (And do not use the incline or resistance buttons to a point where it becomes uncomfortable – that will also encourage poor form.)

6.  Exercising certain areas in an effort to shape specific parts of the body

Targeting an area for fat reduction or weight reduction or weight increase may help firm muscles, but is very unlikely to have a big effect.  Isolating certain parts of the body for fat loss for example just does not work.  You will need to look at the body as a whole and undertake a fat loss program, or a weight increase program or whatever.  Spot reductions do not work and have no part in the best at home workout.

Cardio will burn calories, but increasing the muscle mass effectively boosts the metabolism so more calories get burnt all the time, even when not working at the best at home workout.  If you want to lose weight in your tummy, you need to look at losing weight everywhere.

7.  Use The Right Shoes For The Best At Home Workout

Having the wrong sort of shoes can result in some potential serious (and annoying), longterm injuries. 

Ideally, you need to have specific shoes for specific purposes.  Running shoes are not good for tennis for example.   For the best at home workout get some good advice from a professional sports shoe shop.  Don’t buy the cheapest pair of sports shoe you see because you may just end up paying a fortune to get your injuries fixed.

And do make sure to replace your shoes regularly.  They do wear out.  A tip for knowing how long you’ve had your shoes – take out the inners of the shoe and write the month and year on the inside base of the shoes.  Pop the inner back and that little piece of information will stay visible for a very long time. 

There are some exercises that it just does not pay to do, especially in when you put in precious time for the best at home workout.  Make sure your technique is the best it can be at all times, even if you have to compromise number of reps or the heaviness of the weight.  Maintaining a great technique throughout the best at home workout is important to ensure you stay injury free.  To see how to do these exercises the right way, check out the video link at WebMD on home workouts.