If you want to lose weight and build muscle, you go to the gym and you exercise. The more you exercise, the stronger you get and the more weight you will lose – right? Wrong! You may actually be hurting your body by doing dangerous exercises that cause lower back pain.

Here are some very common exercises that you may be doing every day but could be very dangerous and here is why:

#1 – Leg Presses

You do leg presses to make your quads strong. This is not bad. However, if you do this exercise in the wrong position, then you will incur a muscle imbalance. This will cause you back pain. The reason for the back pain is that you are strengthening your quads while you are bent at the waist. You don’t bend at the waist when you walk. You walk with your back arched. So, when you are working on your quads, you need to do so with your back straight.

#2 Leg Extensions

When you do leg extensions, you are not using your quads and glutes as a pair. When you do this exercise normally, you are not using these muscles effectively. There is a lot of torque going into your knees because you are exercising above the knee but the weight is on the ankle. That is a lot of torque. When you do this exercise and the weight is heavy, you will have a tendency to arch your back to pull the weight. You must be sure to keep your abs tight or you will injure your back.

#3 Machine Leg Curls

This exercise should be eliminated from your regular exercise program. Why? This is never a need for you to perform this movement in your daily life. This exercise can cause cramps in your hamstrings. If you arch your back to perform this exercise, you will develop lower back pain. You must keep your glutes squeezed at all times to protect your back. That is not always possible, so it is better to not do this exercise at all.

#4 Biceps Preacher Curls

In this exercise, your biceps are being shortened, which is a common muscle imbalance. You are absolutely crushing your elbow with all of the weight in your hands. You must be careful not to do this exercise with your wrist extended which, of course, is the natural position for this exercise. This is another exercise to eliminate from your workout program.

The above exercises create muscle imbalance, they have no functional benefit, they put your joints in an unsafe position and they all create pain. Much of the pain will occur in your lower back.