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We all want to be out best, be match fit and ensure we are keeping the pounds off. However as we get over the 40 mark, there are a range of workouts that maybe doing you more damage than good. As we age, if we haven’t been taking care of ourselves in our younger years, we maybe taking a risk by trying to all of a sudden get fit. Here are 10 of the exercises that should be avoided, or at best you should speak to your doctor before you get started, just to make sure the engine is running as it should be.
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1. Extended Cardio

If you push yourself too hard for too long, it makes sense that you are going to put your body under a lot of stress. From overworking your heart, through to increasing inflammation of old injuries not to mention developing chronic type injuries, extended cardio is a real day in the sun. However, that is not saying you couldn’t work up to achieving that marathon you always dreamed of running, just doing with the help of a PT and regular visits to the doctor.

2. Leg Press

If you love the feeling of lower back pain in the morning, then this is the exercise you should be getting involved in. Putting pressure on your lower back, weakening your knees, potential for giving you a hernia…this is the gift that keeps on giving. Again, speak to your PT or physio about squats, kettle bell work or some other type of functional fitness.
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3.Behind The Back Lat Pulldown

Torn rotator cuff anyone? The behind the neck lat pull down is not only an unnatural position for as all, but anything less than absolute ‘Arny like’ form will result in potential tears, strains putting you on the sidelines for months.

4.Crunches

Again, as we age, chronic pain is a real thing. Chronic back pain, is one of the worst. Keeping your spine straight, working on your posture is paramount. So crunching, essentially puts extraordinary amounts of pressure on the nerves and the lumber which can be very painful & long term.
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5. Dumbbell Flyes

You may look the part, but if you down lock your elbows correctly you can tear ligaments, develop tennis elbow and do long term, potentially non repairable damage. Unless you had the form before you were 40, stay away from this one.

6. Deadlift

The Cross-fitter’s favourite. You look and feel like a beast after smashing out a few good sets, but the truth is, if you can’t get the correct posture in this position, you are doing more harm than good to your body. If you are being guided by your PT – not just your mate who says he knows what he is doing – then you can get these happening, otherwise, stay away.

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7. Smith Machine Squats

The smith machine is designed to make things easier, to allow you to lift more without having a training partner, but it can also injury you for the very same reason. With the ‘lockout’ mechanisms, we often lift a little more than we really can, thanks to the ‘safety net’. But when it comes to assisted squats, the machine is essentially putting too much weight on your back and not on the muscles you are trying to build. Better way is to simply to barbell squats with free weights and less weight – don’t be a hero, work within yourself. [/nextpage]

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8. Behind The Neck Military Press

 

With a reliance on high levels of core strength and true form, this exercise again exposes your back, spine and shoulders to all sorts of hurt. Pushing your tendons into allsorts of unnatural and hyperextended positions, you can potentially permanently damage yourself here, so stay away from as much as possible behind your neck.

9. Machine Assisted Leg Extensions

You may have seen this machine around just about everywhere, but remember at 40, your knees are not like they were when you were 20. Nor is your ACL, which you can really tear if you overexert yourself on this one. Why not leave this one to the meat heads and focus on your core strength, push ups, chin ups and planking for as long as you can?
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10. Yoga

As we age ‘we aint what we used to be’ so why is it that more and more people think, “now I am not as limber as I used to be, I think overstretching it into unnatural positions is a great idea”. Put it simply, its not. Unless you have been a Yogi from way back and are in peak physical conditioning, yoga is filled with physically difficult, hyperextension of our bodies and should be avoided.

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