5 exercises you should stop doing now — and what to do instead

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

No pain, no proceeds, correct? But if you've spent hours slogging away at the gym or on your yoga mat at domicile and you're nevertheless not getting the results y'all desire, it might be time to re-think your workout. While there are plenty of workout apps on the market that tin can act like a personal trainer in your pocket, getting clued upwards on the exercises that but don't do much tin can help streamline your grooming.

To assist, we've rounded up five exercises that you really should ditch and suggested what to swap them out for. While we're at it, we've also got conditioning advice on how to ditch belly fat, the best resistance ring workouts you lot can practice from just about anywhere, and the best Tabata workouts to try.

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v exercises that aren't doing anything

exercises you shouldn't do — (Image credit: Shutterstock)

1. Crunches

If only getting a vi-pack was this piece of cake. Co-ordinate to a written report published in the American Council on Exercise , traditional crunches are one of the least effective abdominal exercises you lot tin can do. When you crisis, you're just targeting a very small department of the abdominal wall, plus you're putting a lot of stress on your neck and spine while doing so.

Instead, swap your crunches for expressionless bugs, bicycle crunches, or planks. That said, if you're a huge fan of the crunch, do them on an practice ball for a far more efficient workout.

How to practice a dead problems: Start with your dorsum and shoulders flat and heavy on the floor. Elevator your artillery direct above your shoulders and your legs in tabletop position, your knees straight over your hips. Accept a breath in and equally you breathe, slowly lower and straighten your left leg and your right arm until just in a higher place the floor. As yous inhale, bring them dorsum into the starting position. Repeat on the opposite side and you've completed one rep. Sentry a video of the exercise hither.

two. Using the adductor car

Thanks to trends like the "thigh gap," many gym-goers have become obsessed with toning their thigh muscles and have spent hours using the thigh machine at the gym. If you lot're nodding your caput, we've got some bad news: Unless yous're into mixed martial arts, you've probably been wasting your time.

Experts agree that the best fashion to strengthen the thigh muscles is for the inner and outer thigh muscles to work together like they exercise in bodyweight squats or lunges. Unfortunately, the adductor machine you lot've been slogging away on at the gym is isolating the inner and outer muscles, and therefore not really doing much in the process.

How to do a bodyweight squat: Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, feet turned slightly outwards. Lower your torso until your thighs are parallel to the flooring, suspension, and return to the starting position. Watch a video of a bodyweight squat hither.

3. Leg curls

Non merely is the leg curling machine at the gym tricky to maneuver into, but it's also non doing all as well much for your workout routine. The leg curl machine'southward main purpose is to work the hamstrings by requiring you to flex your knees against resistance. Nonetheless, this isolating movement forgets the hamstring's other main job — to extend at the hip. The leg curl automobile is also not working your cadre muscles and if the weight is too heavy, it can put a strain on your hips and lower back.

Instead, trainers recommend you practice leg curls using a Swiss exercise brawl, which requires both knee flexion and hip extension, while likewise engaging the hips, glutes, abs, and lower back.

How to practice a leg curl on a Swiss brawl: To perform this move correctly, get into a hip enhance with your anxiety on the Swiss ball, and roll the ball in towards your body, raising your hips as you do. Watch a video of a Swiss ball leg curl hither. Alternatively, try continuing leg curls using a resistance band.

four. Backside-the-neck lateral pull-downs

If y'all've always tried this exercise and thought "this tin't be right?" y'all're not alone. Not only are behind-the-neck lateral pull downs hard, but they're also non actually doing much for your latissimus dorsi muscles and instead, they're putting your cervix under a whole lot of strain.

Instead, go along the bar in forepart of your caput when performing pull-downs, or opt for unmarried-arm rows instead.

How to do a single-arm row: Holding a dumbbell in your correct hand, put your left hand and left articulatio genus on a bench so that you're aptitude over. Keep your core engaged and your back straight as you pull the dumbbell upwards, bending at the elbow, then lower the dumbbell down to its starting position. Watch a video of a single-arm row hither.

5. Using an ab rocker

Another crazy piece of gym equipment that looks like something from an eighty's workout video: the ab rocker. An ab rocker requires you to engage your abs as you rock the rocker's bar down towards your bent knees; in plough, the rocker will raise your caput and upper torso off the floor. However, we've already mentioned that traditional crunches aren't actually doing much when it comes to working your core and researchers take found ab rockers to be even less constructive.

But the ab rocker supports my neck, nosotros hear you lot cry! Wrong once more: past supporting your head, the ab rocker isn't working your neck muscles at all, making them weaker and over fourth dimension, probably causing you more hurting. Ditch the rocker and endeavor expressionless bugs, toe taps, or planks instead.

How to do a plank: Place your hands direct below your shoulders and ground your anxiety into the floor, like you are about to do a press-upward. Engage your cadre and squeeze your glutes to hold the position. Watch a video of a plank here.

MORE: 5 cardio exercises that burn more than calories than running

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Jane McGuire is Tom's Guide'south Fitness editor, which means she looks later everything fettle related - from running gear to yoga mats. An avid runner, Jane has tested and reviewed fitness products for the by four years, so knows what to wait for when finding a adept running watch or a pair of shorts with pockets big enough for your smartphone. When she'southward not pounding the pavements, y'all'll find Jane striding round the Surrey Hills, taking far too many photos of her puppy.

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5 exercises you should stop doing now — and what to do instead