Exercises That Suck, and What to Do Instead

Do you ever wonder whether or not you should do a certain exercise? It’s a non-disputable fact that some exercises are better than others, and some should be completely avoided by most people most of the time.

There are two specific reasons why an exercise should be avoided; the danger to benefit ratio, and whether the exercise actually stimulates muscles or causes the intended adaptation. If it fits one of these categories and you still do the exercise, you’re either putting yourself in danger or completely wasting time and energy (or both, in the case of burpees).

Let me include that there are no inherently bad exercises, so long as they’re done properly and by someone who has the strength, mobility and stability to do them. But there are certainly some that almost no one has the prerequisites to execute. The exercises included in this blog post can easily be replaced by far more effective, and more importantly, safe movements. If you’re guilty of doing them, rest assured you’re not alone. In fact, I used to be a frequent burpee-doer, so even I’m not perfect. 

The intent of this post is to educate you on what exercises you shouldn’t be doing, why they’re dangerous and/or a waste of time, and what to do instead.

Let’s get started.

Kipping Pull-Ups

Who should do them? 

-High level Crossfit competitors

-Competitive Gymnasts

Who shouldn’t do them?

Everyone else

Why To Avoid

Popularized by Crossfit, the kipping-pull up involves using momentum to perform a “pull-up”. Properly executed pull ups are functional and great for developing your upper back and lats. However, pull-ups are usually not properly executed, which results in them being a poor choice for most people (if you value shoulder/elbow longevity). Adding momentum by using the rest of your body to “kip” in order to complete a pull up (or several) significantly increases the stress on the shoulder joint. Kipping also will enable most people to do several more reps than they’re able to do with strict pull-ups, so it repetitively puts the shoulders in a compromised position. Some people cannot even do a single strict bodyweight pull-up, yet still think it’s a good idea to kip. After several reps and increased fatigue, form and technique tends to go out the window. This is a recipe for a short lifting career. 

What To Do Instead

In most cases, your goal should not be to do as many pull-ups as possible, regardless of form. It should be to execute pull-ups with perfect form and develop strength and build muscle. Strict bodyweight pull-ups are great for this. When you focus on this, you’ll be able to do more and more reps by default. If you’re unable to complete bodyweight pull-ups, you can utilize a band or an assisted pull-up machine to build strength and technique. Even if you can do several bodyweight pull-ups, using a band can help you connect better to your target muscles. I can do over 15 dead hang strict pull-ups, and I frequently use a band. If you’re very strong, you can add weight to your body to make the reps more difficult.

Burpees

Who should do them?

High level Crossfit competitors

High level OCR racers

Who shouldn't do them?

Everyone else

Why To Avoid

Burpees are generally programmed by lazy trainers in order to induce fatigue in their clients. Will they make you tired? Yes. But I could bang my head against a wall repeatedly and eventually get tired. There are several better options that get the same job done, but in a much safer way. The biggest problem with burpees is that they're almost always executed with poor technique and while under fatigue. The trainee will execute a poor squat (usually going onto their tip-toes), flop onto the ground, often leading with their sternum, and using the stretch reflex, bounce off the ground to complete a “push up” and slowly stagger to their feet to “jump” about an inch or two. Essentially, it’s combining a poor squat with a poor pushup with a poorly executed plyometric. As fatigue sets in (which is inevitable), form continues to degrade and it becomes downright dangerous to the joints (especially the shoulders and hips).

What To Do Instead

If your goal is to get stronger, you can do squats and pushups. You can do them separately or even back to back if you want to incorporate some cardio. Execute each with perfect form. If your goal is explosiveness, perform plyometrics properly with appropriate rep counts and rest periods. If your goal is aerobic or anaerobic improvement, do literally any other form for cardio (bike, rower, treadmill, jump rope, Jacob's ladder, ski erg etc.). If your goal is fat loss, focus on achieving a calorie deficit by combining weight training, more movement, and appropriate nutrition. 

Bench Dips

Who should do them? 

No one

Bench dips are not only extremely stressful on the shoulder joints, but the tricep stimulus (the goal for the exercise) is also quite underwhelming. Internally rotating your shoulders and putting your arms behind you puts you in a severely compromised position as it is. By then using this position to move your body weight up and down, you’re adding gasoline to the fire. You may “feel it in the triceps”, but I can give you 50 other exercises that you’ll feel in the triceps that won’t stress your shoulders nearly as much (or at all). Skipping these will keep your shoulders and elbows healthy and increase your longevity.

What To Do Instead

Parallel bar dips with an upright torso and your elbows tucked in by your sides are a great tricep exercise and far safer than bench dips. Additionally, to further develop the triceps you can isolate them with several other safe exercises including various press downs, close grip bench press or pushups, skull crushers, JM presses, overhead cable extensions, and cable kickbacks. 

Upright Rows

Who should do them? 

No one

Why To Avoid

Upright rows using a barbell or even an EZ bar may not be causing you issues now. Maybe not even a few years from now. But the position your shoulders are forced into while doing this exercise is a recipe for shoulder impingement/pain/dysfunction down the road. Physical therapists will literally put your arms and shoulders in this position to TEST FOR IMPINGEMENT. And still, people think it’s a good idea to load it and do it frequently for reps. 

What To Do Instead

To develop the side delts, perform lateral raise variations. To develop the traps, perform shrugs, upper back rows, straight arm plate raises and heavy carries. These exercises are significantly less risky and still highly effective. If you absolutely love the upright row, at least do them with dumbbells so your hands are not in a fixed position.

High Rep Box Jumps

Who should do them?

High level competitive Crossfitters

Who should not do them?

Everyone else

Why To Avoid

Box jumps are a great plyometric exercise, and cardio is very healthy and beneficial. Using box jumps (or any plyometric) for cardio is a terrible idea. The whole point of jumping onto a box is to reduce the impact of landing after a jump. This allows the athlete or trainee to improve their jumping ability without having to land on the ground from a high jump (where most injuries occur). Jumping on and off a box repeatedly usually (depending on the height) results in MORE impact when you land than if you were to just jump normally. Additionally, your achilles tendon is being stressed each time you spring off the ground for another rep. This, combined with fatigue and repetitive impact, will almost always result in either minor overuse injuries, gaping wounds on your shin(s), or at worst, an achilles tendon rupture. 

What To Do Instead

To improve jumping and explosiveness, execute properly programmed plyometrics. I use the 3-5 rule for plyo’s (3-5 sets of 3-5 reps, with a 3-5 minute rest between sets). To improve cardio, do any other form of cardio (see above).

External Rotations With a Free Weight

Who should do this?

Absolutely no one ever

Why To Avoid

Go to a big box gym from 5-7 pm on a Monday (chest day, obvi) and you’ll see at least 5 different bros doing this to prepare for their bench press session. I hate to be the one to break the news, but gravity still exists, and it still pulls downward, not sideways. Holding a weight in your hand, hanging your arm by your side and flexing it, and rotating it externally and internally does absolutely nothing to strengthen/lube up/prepare your rotator cuff. All you’re doing is a bicep isometric hold with too little weight to get any stimulus from it. This needs to stop.

What To Do Instead

First, there are better ways to strengthen your rotator cuff and prepare your shoulders. But if you want to do this, use a cable at elbow height. The cable will provide sideways resistance, so your rotator cuff muscles will actually be used to perform the exercise. A band is another option in absence (which means it’s not as effective) of cables. You can also lay on your side or on an incline bench and use a dumbbell if you’re truly attached to this exercise. 

 

Agility Ladder Drills

Who should do them?

Tap dancers…?

People who want to waste energy while not improving their agility

Who shouldn’t do them?

Everyone else

Why To Avoid

Quick foot/agility ladder drills are used by athletes and also everyday people with uninformed or lazy trainers. They get wows on social media, but do almost nothing in regards to improving agility. Agility is the reactionary ability to quickly and explosively change direction. Reactionary means your need to change direction is unpredictable. Doing a repetitive pattern in a quickfoot ladder does nothing to help an athlete change direction more effectively. You’re also following a linear ladder with small 10x10 inch squares, which means you’re not “changing direction” at all throughout the drill. Another common use for them is speed development, which it’s even more useless for. Speed is the ability to get from point A to point B as fast as possible. Working on running mechanics and sprinting more will make you faster, not doing agility ladders. Worst of all, regular Joes will utilize these for cardio. Moving your lower legs quickly through a ladder is ineffective cardio training. 

What To Do Instead

For change of direction and agility improvement, there are countless cone drills that actually involve changing direction significantly. Working on the mechanics required to explosively and safely change direction will improve your sport skill, and reduce your risk of injury. For speed development, more focus on running mechanics and sprinting (shocker) is recommended. For cardio, literally anything else (besides burpees and box jumps!)

To Summarize

There are more exercises that I did not include on this list, so maybe I’ll do part 2 in the future. If you’re guilty of doing any of these exercises (hopefully not all of them), at least now you know that in order to lift for a long time and not waste your time and energy (and look like a moron), it’s time to move on to a safer and more effective way to achieve your desired outcome.

Thank you for reading! I’d love to hear what you think of this post. I’m sure some people will disagree and I’m all for an intelligent and civil debate. Leave a comment below!