Exercise moves you’re doing wrong

Doing an exercise incorrectly can not only give you poor results from your workout, but can also leave you at risk of injury.

Yahoo Canada Shine recently met up with fitness expert Brent Bishop to find out the most common exercise moves that people are doing wrong, and how to do them correctly so you can avoid injury and get the most from your workout.

Push-ups

One common mistake people make when it comes to doing push-ups is they have their hands too far above their shoulders, which puts unnecessary strain on the joint. This can also cause the back to arch, resulting in lower back pain.

Ideally, your hands should be at shoulder ‘height’ and close to your body so that when you push up into the move, you’re hitting the muscles of the chest.

Also see: Workout moves that incinerate body fat

Lunges

The most common mistake people make when performing lunges is letting their knee extend past their toe when dropping down into the move. Bishop says people often make this mistake when they step onto the ball of their feet rather than the heel to complete the move.

Make sure when you’re pushing back up from the lunge position you’re putting the weight into your heel and keeping your knee in line with your ankle. This will prevent unnecessary stress on the knee joints and really activate the glutes.

Side Plank

Perfect for helping told your core, side planks can go wrong in a similar manner to the push up, when your arm is higher than it should be.

Keep your elbow stacked under your shoulder to prevent undue stress on your shoulder. When it comes to planking, joint alignment is key says Bishop.

Also see: Which country has the healthiest diet?

Bent-over row

Bent-over rows are great for counter-balancing the often overworked chest and pectoral muscles of today’s office-working society, but they can wreak havoc on your lower back if done incorrectly.

Make sure your back is not rounded – you want everything nice and straight. Hinge from the hips with your chest nice and tall until your torso is nearly parallel with the floor. Use those abs to keep your back nice and straight! From there, squeeze your shoulder blades together while bringing the weights up and back to really target those muscles.

Doing these moves correctly will help you get the most out of your workout and avoid unnecessary injury.

Don't forget to check out Brent's video to learn how you can get 6-pack abs without doing a single sit-up!