5 Exercises That Are Very Risky For You

Who has time to waste on ineffective, risky exercises? Not you. So ditch these 5 moves that won't deliver the results you want and may even cause injury.

* Lat Pull-down Behind the Head

The problem: Only people with very mobile shoulder joints can keep their spines straight enough to do this exercise properly. So the move — done wrong can lead to several complications including shoulder impingement or worse, a tear in the rotator cuff. And if the bar hits the back of the neck, it could injure cervical vertebrae.

* Military Press Behind the Head

This shoulder move, in which you lift a barbell up and down behind the head, can cause the same problems as the lat pull–down behind the head.

* Upright Row

The problem: Pulling weights, a barbell, or a weighted cabled bar up under your chin can compress the nerves in the shoulder area, impinging the shoulder and causing possible nerve damage.

* Leg Press with Cramped Knees

From a reclining position, you push the plate up and bring it down in this common exercise to work the quadriceps, hamstrings, and glutes. The problem comes when you bend your legs too far which can hurt your back and knees. If you begin experiencing pain, do not bend any further.

* Bad Form on Cardio Machines

The problem: Hunching over or using a death-grip on the handrail cheats your body and can throw off your alignment, jarring your spine, shoulders, and elbows.

* Squats on the Smith Machine

The problem: The bar on the machine doesn't give, which can force the body into risky positions. Plus, people tend to put their feet farther in front of their bodies when doing squats on the machine, which makes matters worse.