Top 5 most useless exercises in the gym

Author: Timko Ilya - master of the whole project and fitness trainer.
2015-03-06

To begin with, I want to say that there are no unnecessary exercises. All exercises are needed by certain people and to some extent. Therefore, the word "unnecessary" in the title of this article has quite a conditional meaning. Let's say that this article will present exercises that provide little benefit for most people in most cases.

I also want to mention that the selection was made only from common exercises. There’s no point in digging into little-known exercises – very few people do them anyway.

It is considered that this exercise isolates the rear deltoid. However! The rear deltoid is fundamentally impossible to train in isolation! During this exercise, no matter how hard you try, the trapezius muscles, rhomboids, infraspinatus, and supraspinatus will be engaged. In general, almost all the muscles located in the thoracic region of the back. And the dumbbells that people use in this exercise are quite small.

It is much better to train the rear deltoid during pull-ups. Yes, indeed. If someone didn’t know, this muscle works quite actively in:

These exercises are also not isolated for the rear deltoid; however, the weights here are much heavier and the back gets a great workout.

I consider it unnecessary in most cases for two reasons. First, many other muscles are also engaged: biceps, forearms, and trapezius. And secondly, this exercise is quite unnatural for the shoulder joints. For some, it may cause pain or discomfort.

So, as a general development exercise, it can be used if your shoulder joints are in good shape. But in terms of building up the front deltoids – it provides very little benefit. However, there will be some for whom this stretch will be quite effective. But such cases are in the minority.

This exercise is isolated for the middle gluteus muscle. Do not confuse it with the large gluteus muscle. In other words, the glutes hardly work, contrary to popular belief. The glutes are only engaged from the outer edge, where the middle gluteal muscle is located, which constitutes a fairly small percentage of your overall glute mass.

Perhaps for athletes competing in fitness bikini or fitness, it is sometimes necessary to "fine-tune" this part of the body, but for most women, leg abductions on a machine will provide little benefit. Unless it is used in addition to other glute exercises.

The situation is quite the same as with the previous exercise. The effect on the muscles is too narrow. Only three small muscles located on the inner thigh work. All of these muscles are engaged to some degree in all types of squats and deadlifts.

Again, as a finishing move, it can be used at the end of a workout. But you can easily do without this exercise. Doing it doesn’t bring much gain. Not doing it doesn’t result in much loss.

Do not confuse it with:

If doing this exercise with a dumbbell is quite convenient, then with a barbell – it is not. Such a position and movement are unnatural for your elbow joints and for the ligaments surrounding the joint.

Excessive enthusiasm for this exercise almost always leads to elbow injuries. It is essential to understand that all types of French presses are dangerous for the elbows. But this French press is the most dangerous. At the same time, it does not provide any advantages in the development of triceps. It’s better to do French press lying down, or standing with a dumbbell.

Conclusions

Some of my regular readers might exclaim: "How can this be! After all, you use these exercises in your plans!" Yes, SOMETIMES I use them. Due to limited equipment, the level of the person's training, or other reasons, I believe it's acceptable to include certain exercises in one’s plan. After all, as I mentioned at the beginning, there are no completely unnecessary or useless exercises.

Personally, in my coaching practice, I use about 200 exercises. But mainly, I use only 50 – 60 exercises. The others are quite rare. No matter how unnecessary an exercise may seem at first glance, there is always a case and a person for whom it will be "just what the doctor ordered."

Do you have exercises that you consider unnecessary? Share your thoughts in the comments. Good luck!