The Most Dangerous Weight Training Exercises

Take Care With These Exercises

Here is a list of weight training exercises often noted as potentially dangerous. However, you need to consider this list in the context of your experience level and known capabilities or inadequacies, as discussed earlier in this article. While most exercises can be dangerous –- weights are heavy –- this list includes exercises that have been suggested as more likely to cause injury even if appropriate technique for this exercise is followed (the site affected is also listed). The reason is usually that the exercise movement places some part of your joint in a compromised position in which injury is more likely to occur.

1. Full squat (knee)
2. Leg extension machine (knee)
3. Upright row, narrow grip (shoulder)
4. Lat Pulldown behind the head (shoulder)
5. Military, overhead, press behind the head (shoulder)
6. Cable row, rounded back (back)
7. Barbell good mornings, rounded back (back)
8. Stiff-legged deadlift with rounded back (back)
9. Seated leg press with excessive weight (lower back)
10. Sit-up with straight legs rather than knees bent (lower back)
11. Decline situp [lower back]
12. Touch toes, straight legs (lower back)

General Points on Good Form

• Keep the back straight when bending at the hips for exercises such as squats, deadlifts, good mornings, bent rows and cable rows. The main point is that even if your back is at an angle to the ground and leaning forward, it is straight and not curved at the spine.
• Don’t explosively lock the joints. This recommendation is often overdone. Powerlifting bench pressers are required to lock out the elbows in competition. No harm will be done by straightening the elbow or knee joints as long as you don’t smash them hard under load.
• Don’t allow the knees to bow excessively inward or outward, or the elbows to fall to the rear or front when executing a lift or push. You want maximum support and to prevent the joint from being compromised under pressure.
• Keep the head still as much as possible and the neck under control when weight training. Be very sure you know what you’re doing if you lower a weight behind the head onto the cervical spine area.
• Be careful with exercises that place the shoulder joint beyond a range of motion or under a load that you do not feel comfortable with. The shoulder has the most complex range of motion of any joint. You don’t want to feel pain in the shoulder joint on extension, flexion, abduction or rotation. In push exercises, such as bench presses and shoulder presses, keep the elbows and upper arms from moving much lower than parallel to the floor as you lower the weight. This is good security for beginners. (In bench press competition, the bar must be lowered to the chest.)
• Use a buddy or "spotter" assistant when lifting heavy free weights. When in doubt, lift light weights.

Sources

_{Calhoon G, Fry AC. Injury Rates and Profiles of Elite Competitive Weightlifters. J Athl Train. Jul;34(3):232-238, 1999.}

Hamill BP. Relative safety of weightlifting and weight training. J Strength and Conditioning Research, 8,1: 53-57, 1994.

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