10 Awful Exercises for People Over 40

Published on October 5, 2016
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Taking care of your body should become a priority in your life if it isn’t already. However, you need to be careful to adjust your workout as you age always taking into account the needs and abilities of your body. We decided to take a look into one of the most popular groups of people working out: the average 40 year old. While there are a ton of great workouts out there for you we instead decided to focus on different exercises that you should AVOID. Listed below are 10 workouts that are terrible for people over 40!

Crunches

Pretty much any online personal training programs you run across will list crunches as a key part to maintaining your core and improving your abdominal definition. However, we are here to definitively tell you to avoid them. While it is important to balance out your back day with ab exercises, you don’t want crunches to be included on the list. Crunches are notoriously bad for your lower back and they don’t tend to target your abs as specifically as you would like. Add on to the fact that most people can’t maintain proper form during their crunches and you have an exercise that is rife with potential for problem.

Crunches

Crunches

Leg Extensions

Have you always ended your heavy leg day with a set of repetitions on the leg extension machine? Well, as it turns out you might not want to do that anymore. The leg extension machine is a must avoid due to just how bad it can be for your knees. Your knees are a delicate area and you don’t want to overload them with too much weight — as the leg extension machine is designed specifically to do. People who are over 40 years of age will typically have more strain on their knees as it is. Opt instead to perform dumbbell lunges as these will strain the muscle fibers in your quads just as well.

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Leg Extensions

Leg Extensions