Improper Workout Routines: The Harmful Effects of Exercise

Improper Workout Routines:
The Harmful Effects of Exercise
By Elliott Quiñones

Exercise is commonly thought of as a beneficial aspect of a person’s lifestyle. As college students, we are more exposed to society’s constant reminders that overall physical health attributes to a better lifestyle. Who would be so bold as to contest this claim? Research studies prove over and over again the benefits of being in shape and all of the positive long-term effects that come alongside it. However, what if the very goal people try to attain resulted in negative consequences? There are ways, believe it or not that exercise can actually contribute to harmful effects on a person’s body, disrupting the very purpose of exercising.

One component of exercise that some people tend to overlook is the warm-up routine. I notice upon entering a gym that most people opt to stretch before performing any other task. This is a very faulty practice that people should not ignore. Stretching before doing other kinds of exercise will not make you stronger or run more effectively. Rather, the best way to stretch is after a 10-15 minute warm-up routine. I prefer to utilize an elliptical to warm up, because it effectively conditions your whole body in a short amount of time. You also burn more calories in a shorter time frame on an elliptical than you would on a treadmill. The best time to stretch is while your joints are active and your blood pressure elevated. The reason is logical: once your body has started to prepare for work by sweating and increasing its blood pressure, it can more readily adapt to any other task set before it. Also, initiating a workout with a warm-up routine actually makes stretching an integrative part of strength training or cardiovascular exercise.
For relatively quick calisthenics (dynamic stretches), you can simply complete 30 seconds each of jumping jacks, arm circles, pushups, lunges, and body-weight squats. A few benefits of stretching include enhanced physical fitness, increased mental relaxation, reduced muscular tension, and reduced severity of painful menstruation (dysmenorrhea) in females.

Strength training could also be a very dangerous aspect of exercise if done improperly. The main aspect that people should focus on throughout a lifting movement of any kind is posture and balance. Incorrect posture, or balance, can result in three injuries no one wishes to experience: strained muscles, sprains, and lower back injuries. Strains occur when a tendon (a tough band of fibrous connective tissue between muscle and bone) or muscle is stretched or torn as the result of an improper warm-up, insufficient stretching, or bad posture or balance when performing a lift. Sprains occur when a ligament (connective tissue between bones) is stretched or torn. Even though this can happen to any ligament in your body, the most common places where sprains happen are in the ankle, wrist, and knee. Lower back injuries are caused by performing weight-bearing exercises improperly. The up side is that once posture and balance are corrected, the exertion exhibited by one’s back is gone.

Speed in movement when working with weights could result in long-term injuries if executed without proper knowledge. Concentric movement refers to the process by which a weight or weights are lifted, while eccentric movement is the manner that a weight or weights are lowered. There should be complete control throughout a movement because in a lift, a person is utilizing every component of the targeted muscle. Imagine if you will a leg extension, (which involves lifting pads with a person’s feet until their legs are extended) this exercise involves concentric movement in lifting one’s legs, but eccentric movement is nothing more than releasing the force that was used to extend the leg. This exercise can also be compared to an upright row, where a barbell is held with an overhand grip and pulled straight up towards a person’s chin. What is done immediately after this movement? The barbell is released without a proper eccentric movement. The barbell falls to the starting position, and the concentric movement is repeated once again. Examples of exercises that utilize both concentric and eccentric movements are the bicep curls, bench press, squats, triceps pull downs, and traveling lunges. You should attempt to incorporate movements in which you have full control from the moment you lift or pull the weight until you release it, doing so in a very calm and collected manner. You may end up harming yourself if you try to complete an exercise too quickly.

Finishing your workout should involve a cool-down and a period to stretch. Cooling down returns your body to a pre-exercise state, providing an easy transition from extensive training to going about your day with a normal heartbeat. Make sure to always stretch out the muscles that you worked out for the day, especially your back, because 80% of individuals who work out experience back problems at some point, if they do not train properly.

Working out may be commonly viewed as a seemingly self-explanatory endeavor that requires little to no attention. As it turns out, exercise is a feat unlike no other, as it yearns for adequate attention and care. Think of your body as an integrative construct that operates to serve all of the wishes your mind intends for it. If you wish to have it working properly for the best years of your life, you should exercise the best possible way you can to reap the benefits of a body you can be proud of.