Have you ever imagined using potentially dangerous exercises in your workout? You have to be very careful with strength training equipment because it may not be the most effective or functional available.

How do you know that the exercises you are performing are safe? Found below are some potentially dangerous exercises with suggestions on how they should be done correctly or avoided completely.

Sit-up

Traditional abdominal exercises such as the sit-up, incline sit-up and hip-raises are exercises that are used to train the obliques and the upper and lower abdominals.

They are performed by first anchoring the feet on an abdominal board which prevents you from sliding back then raising your shoulders up towards your feet, tensing your abs at the top of the movement. Slowly lowering your shoulders back down and then completing the movement again.

The dangers of performing this movement are the shearing forces on the vertebrae and spinal discs when you have a flexed and rounded spine. In this position, the pressure is mostly placed on a very small area of the disc area, which can cause small ruptures.

The safest and most productive way to train the abs is to use the brace and hollow technique. This is a basic isometric exercise that helps strengthen the abs and the muscular girdle around your waist.

Pec Deck

The pec deck is an exercise that trains the chest (pectorals) and shoulder (front deltoid) muscles.

This exercise is performed by sitting at the machine with your back flat against the back pad. Placing your forearms on the padded levers and position your upper arms parallel to the ground.

Pushing the levers slowly together and squeezing your chest muscles at the end of the movement. Return slowly to the starting position.

This exercise is potentially dangerous because it places the shoulder into one of its least stable positions, the dislocation position. Because of the extreme position when performing this exercise at the starting position it can also cause tearing of the ligaments and injury to the rotar cuff tendons.

More effective and less dangerous is the bench press, keeping the arms at shoulder width and exercising in the strongest range of motion (partial reps) and the parallel bar dip with the elbows out.

Behind the neck Press

This exercise trains the neck (traps) and shoulder (deltoid) muscles and is performed by placing a loaded barbell onto your upper back just above the trap muscle.

This exercise is done by standing with your feet about shoulder width apart. Placing your hands on the bar about three inches wider than the width of your shoulders.