Pointless exercises

Having arrived slightly early for a meeting with a University, I thought that I'd use the 20 minutes to put together a blog.

Whilst down in Bath this weekend, Jen and I visited a gym on Saturday. It's rare that I visit a gym but it was actually really interesting. A hotel gym with old equipment, machinery and decor on the walls that belonged to a good few decades ago. What was also interesting was, as it was like going back in time, the diagrams of exercises on show were way out of date yet for many still form part of their work outs.

Inspired by this retro experience, here are 4 pointless but still very used exercises:

Sit Ups - probably the worst exercise for postural dysfunction and muscle imbalance. The fact is that the hip flexors which sit infront of the hips between stomach and thighs are very facilitated in pretty much all of us. This means that they are working even when they shouldn't be, lunges, squats and many lifts are all swarmed by dominant hip flexors. Doing a sit up is just saying 'come on Mr Hip Flexor, work some more!'. Sit ups also encourage poor balance within the abdominals, rarely work full range, are uni-planar and often leave people with back or neck pain. If you want to work your stomach, change your mindset. Rather than isolating the trunk, think larger movements and learn how to breathe abdominally.

Side Bends - just to clarify, I'm discussing standing up, holding a weight in pne or both hands and then bending sideways. Firstly, is this movement natural or functional? Many people do this thinking that it will eliminate love handles or the comically described muffin top. It's important to know that you can't spot reduce when it comes to weight loss in a specific area. Apart from the movement forcing supportive muscles to become prime movers which isn't great, it's just a really awkward movement. If you're looking to reduce bellyfat then the biggest single thing that will reduce this is nutrition. Combined with a healthy exercise programme with sufficient recovery and you'll be well on your way.

The third is quite controversial as many people still use these which are front or side raises. To avoid confusion I'm referring to holding a weight in one or both hands and lifting the arms out to the front or side from standing position whilst keeping arms extended. Biomechanically, you ate either abducting the arms or flexing the shoulders. Both of these movements are natural functions of the body, however, in isolation, they don't encourage balanced function. Whilst the main part and top of the shoulder (deltoid) gets a great work out, this exercise doesn't require much effort from the most crucial aspect of shoulder stabilising known as the rotator cuff. The shoulder, as a joint, has the greatest range and mobility of all joints in the body and should be treated as such. Furthermore, isolating weighted raises tends to target the upper neck muscles which are often extremely over active through using computers and sitting at desks for long periods. This exercise can contribute to soreness and stiffness in the neck. To work the shoulders more functionally, why not try kettlebells.

Finally, looking at what I've already included, I'm going to break the mould as I've focussed heavily on isolated exercises and you've most probably identified that I'm not the greatest fan of these. The final exercise I'm going to mention is doing cardio without doing any strength/conditioning work. The fact is that running, cycling, rowing and many other forms of cardiovascular exercise are heavily repetitious. For joints to move, you need muscle and for joints to move through the same paths over and over again without being injured or overwhelmed with exposure, you need strong and well supported joints that are able to absorb impact and the exposure that you're asking of them. The problem being that cardiovascular exercise is catabolic in it's nature meaning that the body is in flight mode and more likely to break down muscle tissue. To understand this further, let's think back to the hunter gatherer instinctive existence of humans. It makes complete sense. The times when we'd be working cardiovascularly would be either hunting for food or fleeing from danger. The body is a magnificant machine and thinking about both situations, there is no gaurantee of getting food at the end. To this, the body goes into a survival state of breaking down muscle for energy as opposed to fat stores. This is a slower process meaning the body can work for longer and it also means that the body will benefit from the insulation of retaining bodyfat helping it keep hold of essential energy stores and maintain body temperature. You could argue that certain types of cardio work through resistance like swimming, hill running, rowing etc. However, irrespective of this, when the heart rate is above a certain level for a consistent duration, the body will work in a catabolic state.

If you'd like ideas on types of strengthening exercises then why not enjoy a free month on our online fitness membership www.creatingchaos.co.uk. You don't need equipment or even a gym membership. These types of exercises should be combined with cardiovascular exercise giving you a healthy heart and lungs.

- Posted whilst adventurising using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Wilton St,Middlesbrough,United Kingdom