Another Stupid Friggin’ Exercise…(video)

Another Stupid Friggin’ Exercise…

The Side Bend!  

Why this is stupid… 

This is another one that just started popping up all over the place in gyms like so many weeds on your patio.  Following the lead of last month’s article, of what a colossal waste of time “doing abs” is, this biomechanically nonsensical, zero calorie expending waste of time is a perfect example.  You’ll see people performing this with cables, dumb bells, weight plates, kettle bells whatever – it’s all the same crap. 

As usual there are plenty of reasons this is ineffectual but here are the two obvious reasons:

·         It perpetuates the myth of spot reduction 

Like I said in the abs is a waste article, working one part of your body over and over does nothing but make it bigger.  (We all agree that if we do one million curls, our arms will get bigger, but if we do one million side bends our waist will get smaller.  There’s gym logic for you…)  You need to reduce body fat through eating less and calorie expenditure to see the underlying muscle.  This exercise does NOTHING in the realm of burning calories.

·         It’s a biomechanically incorrect movement 

There is nowhere in life this movement is performed by the human body.  So what does that tell you?  Yep – you’re overloading a part of your body - that’s attached to the lumbar spine no less - to work in a manner in which it was not designed to work.  Sound idea… 

Really - what kind of jerk goes to pick something up that’s on his or her side and bends sideways at the waist?!?  No one - that’s who.  That’s because it’s stupid to do so and you’re automated neuromuscular system is smarter than that.  You will be forced to rotate the hips, flex the knees, etc.

Check the video to see a stupid exercise and a better way to do it! 

CHECK THE VIDEO - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTaEhui8r2s 

As usual, this is for informational purposes only – reader assumes all risk of adopting and applying information.

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