You don't go to the gym wanting to waste your time or throw out your back. But if you're cranking out these ab exercises, that could be exactly what you're risking. Here, three ab exercises to stop—stat.
Sit-Ups
As far as ab exercises go, this used to be the one and only. Thing is, after you raise your back off of the floor a few inches, you aren't doing much for your core. "The abdominals' optimal range of motion is relatively short," says Cedric X. Bryant, PhD, chief science officer for the American Council on Exercise. "Sit-ups take you past this range, and that extra motion doesn't do much for your abdominal muscles."
Worse, that extra motion can wreck your back. A traditional sit-up exceeds the National Institute for Occupational Health and Safety's recommended limits for lower-back compression. Translation: Over time, sit-ups increase the risk and prevalence of lower-back disorders. When you flex your spine—bending it forward over and over again—and compress it under your torso's weight, you risk bulging discs, says Stuart M. McGill, PhD, director of the spine biomechanics laboratory at the University of Waterloo.
Leg Throws
You know the exercise in which you lie on your back with your legs in the air, and a partner pushes your legs down and to both sides? "Eliminate it from your exercise vocabulary," Bryant says. While most people perform the movement to tone their lower abs (which Bryant notes work together, not separately, from the upper abs), the exercise puts a lot of stress on the lumbar spine. If you have lower-back problems, or have had them in the past, they can cause immediate pain. Even if lower-back pain isn't an issue now, the movement can cause chronic pain and injury over time, he says. With four out of five people complaining of lower-back pain at some point in their lives, according to the American Chiropractic Association, do you really want to increase your odds?
Ab Circle Pro
While you never need a piece of equipment to effectively work your core, some as-seen-on-TV products are worth giving a go. The Ab Circle Pro? Not so much, at least according to a recent study from the American Council on Exercise. It may be that the equipment's design helps you complete the exercise's movements by taking the brunt of the work off of your abs, says Bryant. Did we mention that the Federal Trade Commission recently fined the manufacturer of the Ab Circle Pro $9.3 million for false advertising? (It claimed to help people lose up to 10 pounds in just two weeks.) We can't fault the equipment for not spurring weight loss—there's no such thing as spot-reducing fat, after all—but claiming it does? Not cool. You're better off saving your money and sticking with classic crunches, says the study.
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