Chiropractor in Irvine tells you what exercise machines to avoid
Hi Dr. Vas here,
Today I wanted to talk to you about what exact machines that you need to avoid. If you are currently working out with machines my best advice to you would be to stop, and the reason being is because you are creating some muscular imbalances that could lead to some injuries. Let me explain to you the top 5 machines that are hurting your lower back, and why they aren’t helping you get optimal health.
Chiropractor in Irvine tells you what exercise machines to avoid
The machine is in a lot of conventional gyms, and if you are in the using it. It is creating a shearing force on your quad muscles. No creating an equal balance in your quad muscles, and hamstring muscles as far as from a rehabilitation stand point. When you don’t have an equal balance it leads to more injuries, more problems, and more issues that you don’t want to occur.
Machine #2 Leg Press machine
From a rehab, and functional training stand point you want to make sure that you stay way from the leg press machines. The reason being that it takes away the pressure from your lower back, hips, and leaves your more susceptible to injury. Their a people that can’t do a single squat with free weights, but they can do leg press with a bunch of weight. This isn’t functional, and from a rehab stand point it doesn’t help you at all. The leg press machine is also going to create a lot of pressure on your lower back, and most likely create some problems down the road.
Machine #3 The Smith Machine
You see there is a lot of people who use this machine on a daily basis, and it will lead to problems down the road. Unnatural Movements. On a free weight Squat your body goes down in an arched path. Smith Machines force your body into fixed, unnatural movements patterns. This can cause injuries, especially with heavier weights. New generation Smith Machines — like the Jones Smith Machine — try to solve the problem by allowing 3D movements, including front & backward movement. But they’re still machines with drawbacks. These machines also causes Knee Injuries. Knee pain from the Smith Machine is common. It forces your body into fixed movements patterns and places shearing loads on your knees. And it’s hard to position yourself correctly under the bar.
Machine #4 Abdominal Crunch Machine
For starters, crunches are an extremely ineffective movement for flattening your stomach, but that’s not the real reason why this machine is worthless. The crunch movement you perform on this machine against weighted resistance is done once again while sitting down.
This is a very, very, BAD idea. The main muscle that gets worked in this exercise is the rectus abdominus. Because the movement is done while sitting down it doesn’t integrate the deeper core muscles.
Believe it or not, this exercise can actually hurt your lower back because you are utilizing your hip flexors muscles which pulls on your back. Read ON.
Machine #5 Hip Abductor Machine
This machine is another bad one because it doesn’t allow for your hips to rotate. Your hips are a joint, and if they aren’t moving in all directions then it is a problem. You need to make sure that you are moving in all directions so your body is a functional, and less injury prone.
That’s all for today. These are some machines to avoid for a rehab stand point. Please let me know if you have any questions.
Creating wellness for life,
Dr. Vasili Gatsinaris D.C.