Bad Things You Learned in Gym

The couch potato gets the last laugh.

Ever wonder why phys ed teachers always picked a student to lead the calisthenics at the beginning of class? Perhaps Coach was in too much pain to lead them personally. Researchers now say that the fitness boom produced some unwanted fallout: an inordinate number of exercise injuries. Six of the most popular exercises lead the list of routines that can cause much pain and no gain.

The duck walk (a.k.a. squat thrust or burpie): The first exercise ever condemned by the President's Council on Physical Fitness. In the old days this routine was known to tear the crotch out of sweat pants. Today we know it will tear lateral knee cartilage.

Deep knee bend: Forget about this one. It is the first cousin to the now "dead" duck walk.

Hurdler's stretch: This popular routine (one leg bent back, the other straight forward, bend and touch chin to knee) is a major cause of chronic groin pull. If your knees are still intact after doing burpies, this exercise might finish them off once and for all.

Yoga plow: This could send you to Nirvana. Besides looking stupid (while prone, lift legs up and behind head), the exercise can hurt the back and the neck and even cause a stroke. Dr. Rich- ard Dominguez, author of Total BodyTraining, explains: "The plow puts an inordinate stretch and stress on the blood vessels to the brain and the upper spinal cord, effectively kinking the vertebral artery."

Toe touching: Skinny people used to speak disdainfully of fat people who couldn't bend over and touch their toes. Now who has the last laugh? The fitness value of toe touching is negligible, but the dangers aren't. This routine stretches ligaments that are already overworked, and it could cause back injury.

Sit-ups: If done properly, they aren't bad—unless you do the stiff-legged, hands-behind-the-neck variety that has been the norm for generations. This style not only puts the neck, hip and back at risk but it also fails to flat- ten the stomach. Experts now recommend the bent-knee variety with hands folded on the chest.

The old routines have been replaced with newer ones that are supposed to produce greater gain with less injury. But a gimpy ex-duck walker with a back brace would do well to ask, "How do the experts know that these new exercises won't be replaced in ten years?"

"We don't," said Whit Mitchell, director of the College's Fitness Life Improvement Program. For example, take sit-ups-please. Matson Sewell, a physical therapist who works with FLIP, reports that some bio-mechanical researchers now believe all types of sit-ups might be harmful.

Wrong, wrong, wrong: The straight-knee-hold-down-the-ankles style of sit-upwon't flatten the stomach, and it mightstrain the back, cause nerve elongation,and injure the neck. Experts now saybent-knee sit-ups are safer.