10 Fitness Machines You Should Replace With A Different Exercise

There are A LOT of machines at the gym which claim to work wonders for your body, but according to Women's Health, it turns out some of them may be doing damage in the process.

Check out ten exercise machines below that you should actually be avoiding during your workout and what you can replace them with to work the same muscles!

1. Seated Leg Extension Machine:

It strengthens a motion your legs aren't actually designed to do, and can put undue strain on the ligaments and tendons surrounding the kneecaps.

Replace with: One-Legged Body-Weight Squats

2. Seated Shoulder Press Machine:

Overhead pressing can put shoulder joints in vulnerable biomechanical positions. It puts undue stress on the shoulders, and the movement doesn't let you use your hips to assist your shoulders, which is the natural way to push something overhead.

Replace with: Medicine-Ball Throws

3. Seated Behind-the-Neck Lat Pull-Down Machine

Unless you have very flexible shoulders, it's difficult to do correctly, so it can cause pinching in the shoulder joint and damage the rotator cuff.

Replace with: Incline Pull-ups

4. Seated Chest Fly Machine

It can put the shoulder in an unstable position and place excessive stress on the shoulder joint and its connective tissue.

Replace with: Incline Push-Ups

5. Seated Hip Abductor Machine

Because you are seated, it trains a movement that has no functional use. If done with excessive weight and jerky technique, it can put undue pressure on the spine.

Replace with: Lateral Band Walks

6. Seated Rotation Machine

Because the pelvis doesn't move with the chest, this exercise can put excessive twisting forces on the spine.

Replace with: Cable Wood Chop

7. Seated Leg Press Machine

It often forces the spine to flex without engaging any of the necessary stabilization muscles of the hips, glutes, shoulders, and lower back.

Replace with: Body-Weight Squats

8. Smith Machine Squats

The alignment of the machine—the bar is attached to a vertical sliding track—makes for linear, not natural, arched movements. This puts stress on the knees, shoulders, and lower back.

Replace with: Body-Weight Squats

9. Roman Chair Back Extension Machine

Repeatedly flexing the back while it's supporting weight places pressure on the spine and increases the risk of damaging your disks.

Replace with: The Bird-Dog

10. Roman Chair Sit-Up

The crunching motion can put undue stress on the lower back when it is in a vulnerable rounded position.

Replace with: The Plank

Tags: avoid, damage, exercise, fitness, gym, incorrect, machines, movement, natural, weights