The 4 Most Mind-Boggling Exercises I’ve Witnessed

Over the years I’ve spent quite a few hours in gyms, both good and bad. And during this time I’ve watched people do some things that belong on a Funniest Videos show. I’m going to share with you the 4 most mind-boggling exercises I’ve ever seen trainers give their clients…along with some lessons we can learn from each of these mistakes.



Just to make myself clear, I am not recommending that you should ever perform the following exercises – they are clear examples of what NOT to do.



Bad Idea #4 – Plyometrics on Concrete



Anyone that has read a few fitness articles knows that you should always try and run on soft surfaces rather than concrete and asphalt. Over time, running on concrete increases the risk of injury to your muscles and joints, says Dr. Edward R. Laskowski of the Mayo Clinic Sports Medicine Center.



So it’s mind-boggling that trainers would have clients do plyometrics (jump training) on concrete. Even more surprising are the trainers that have 40-year old women doing plyometrics on concrete when the client is not qualified to be doing plyometrics of any kind in the first place (see Martin’s quote at the start of the newsletter).



As I wrote in CB Athletics Issue #133, I use only a limited amount of plyometric exercises even when I’m training athletes. I have found that simple strength exercises get you the most return on your training time investment. In addition, I focus on teaching athletes how to properly land and decelerate in these explosive exercises, rather than simply having the athletes perform a high-volume of plyometrics.



Lesson:

If you want results, look at how the best in the industry do it. That’s why I go to guys like Martin Rooney and Larry Jusdanis. Don’t put clients (or yourself) at risk just for the sake of variety in your training program. Coach Rooney has found that relative strength is one of the key determinants of sports performance. You can develop this quality safely and effectively with basic strength training exercises.





Bad Idea #3 – The Backhand Boxer Slap on a BOSU Ball



Since this exercise might be a little difficult to picture or imagine, I’ll do my best to describe it. First, the client put on a pair of boxing gloves and then stood on the flat side of the BOSU ball.



For those that are confused already, a BOSU ball looks like the top of a muffin. It is a half-ball with a flat plastic surface on one side and an inflated ball surface on the other. If you put the inflated ball surface against the ground and stand on the flat side, you’ll find that you have to concentrate and tense your lower body to stay upright without tilting or falling off. Now despite having practically no scientific validation for its role in training, the BOSU ball is quite a popular tool in some gyms.



Okay, so with the client standing on the BOSU (wobbling around with little control, I might add), the trainer stood behind him and held up punching pads to the left and right of the client’s head.



To perform the exercise, the client faces forward while standing on the BOSU ball and then proceeds to give rapid backhand slaps to the punching pads (again, all while wobbling around on the BOSU with no body control).



I can’t figure out the point of this exercise. It wasn’t strength, power, or conditioning. It was probably just variety for the sake of variety – One of the main reasons that most training programs are ineffective.



Lesson:

Just because another trainer in the gym is doing pushups or some other basic, yet effective exercise doesn’t mean that you can’t use them as well. You don’t always have to be different.



And if you still choose to use BOSU exercises in your program, at least do them with a high level of body control. There’s no point to doing any exercise if you can’t control your body.





Bad Idea #2 – The Barefoot Butt Bounce



This one got the whole gym’s attention. And it was a tough decision not to put this as #1 on the list.



The exercise itself is quite simple and was performed shoeless (for unknown reasons) and required a large Stability Ball. The exercise started with the client sitting on the ball and then bouncing up and down as high as she could, landing her butt on the ball each time before bouncing up as high as she could again.



Now that sounds weird enough, but the bare feet really added to scene, as did the rolling of the ball. Each time this poor woman landed she came about 6 inches from missing the ball completely and landing smack on her tailbone from 3 feet in the air.



Lesson:

Train people with respect. This is particularly applicable to female clients. Just because they are women doesn’t mean that they can’t or shouldn’t train to get strong. In fact, women need a properly developed strength training program just as much or even more than men, in order to help combat bone loss, muscle loss, fat gain, and losses in strength. If you are looking for female specific training information, visit www.grrlAthlete.com.





Bad Idea #1 – The DB Split Squat



And the winner is the dumbbell split squat. “But CB,” you must be saying, “you use the DB split squat in your programs”. Well, yes I do – I use ordinary dumbbell split squats in my programs.



But what I don’t do is have people do split squats while they stand ON the dumbbell.



In this exercise, the trainer had the client stand with their back foot elevated on the round part of a BOSU ball and their front foot stood on the top of an upended dumbbell. So the client was performing a split squat completely off the ground and supported only by a wobbly dumbbell.



Lesson:

Do not ever stand on dumbbells. That is not what they are for.



There is no shame in designing a program for someone based on basic, effective exercises, common sense, and established scientific principles.



Strength is probably the #1 limiting factor in activities that you do every day. Picking up your kids, carrying groceries, twisting the lids off jars, and pushing cars out of a snow bank require strength. Few, if any, of your daily activities are limited by your endurance or your ability to balance on a half-ball.



And the loss of strength probably causes more physical disability in seniors than the loss of any other physical attribute. Dr. Michael Yessis states that the #1 reason for falls in the elderly is the inability of older people to pick their foot up while they walk. So they trip over their own feet. Get older people stronger and they will have fewer falls.



But for some reason, despite all of the benefits of being strong, most people avoid serious strength training. But in my programs, you’ll find real strength exercises that get you results applicable to everyday life. Real exercises (that women should use as well) include squats, split squats, lunges, chin-ups, dumbbell presses, rows, etc. And a good trainer will be able to come up with a large number of safe and effective variations of the above exercises. So you can have variety and a safe and effective program at the same time.



Don’t choose the path of least resistance. Challenge yourself (and your clients) to choose the path of most resistance. That will get you the most results.

Sincerely wishing you real results with real training,



Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, M.Sc.

Author, Turbulence Training