5 time wasting gym work outs

culled from:pulse.ng

Nobody walks into the gym hoping to waste their time on so-so-results.

Get more out of every rep and workout by trading these ineffective and unfortunately common exercises for these superior time-saving alternatives.

1. The stationary bike warm up- You need to warm up, but the typical five-minute tour on the stationary bike probably isn't going to do much, says Dean Maddalone, CSCS, director of the Professional Athletic Performance Center in New York. Your warm-up should get your heart rate to at least 60 to 65 percent of your max heart rate (aim for 120 or up). This will increase your core body temperature and get blood and nutrients to your muscles so you're primed for your workout, he says. "If you don't increase your heart rate or break a sweat, you're wasting your time," he says. Better Moves: Warm up (and in less time!) by hammering out some quick bodyweight exercises. Try 30 jumping jacks, 30 bodyweight squats, 15 mountain climbers, or 10 to 15 burpees, Maddalone recommends. Our hearts are pounding just thinking about it.
2. Machine Leg Presses- The leg-press machine turns a multi-plane exercise (squats) into a single-plane exercise, says Maddalone. Translation: Your legs can only move in one direction, not up and down, side to side, and forward and backward, like nature intended. Your stabilizer muscles are taken out of the equation, and you get only a fraction of the muscle-building, calorie-torching benefits. Better Moves: "Squats are probably one of the best multi-joint exercises," says Maddalone. "They not only develop your legs, they also help develop overall trunk stability." Start with bodyweight squats and then progress to goblet squats, holding a dumbbell or kettlebell at your chest for added resistance, he says. To get the most out of the exercise, make sure to lower your torso until your thighbone is parallel to the ground and keep your weight in your heels.
3. Kettlebell Swings- It's one of the most common kettlebell exercises out there, but kettlebell swings—in which you swing a kettlebell between your legs and then up in front of you or even over your head—use a lot of momentum, says certified personal trainer John Rowley, director of wellness at the International Sports Sciences Association. The more momentum you use, the less muscle you use—and sculpt. Better Moves: Most people do kettlebell swings in an effort to tone their legs and the frontal deltoids, Rowley says. If that's you, opt for working your legs with squats or lunges and working your front deltoids with slow and controlled dumbbell front raises.
4. Weighted Side Bends- When it comes to working your obliques, many women perform these: They stand tall, holding a dumbbell at one side, and they crunch toward it over and over again. And while they will work your external obliques, crunching like this, especially with heavy weights, will make those muscles more pronounced and dare we say it, bigger, according to certified group fitness instructor Angeles Burke. If you're vying for a chiseled athletic look, that's great, but if you want to make your middle look smaller, this could be counterproductive. Plus, these side bends don't do much for your internal obliques or the rest of your core, which is critical to sports performance, she says. Better Moves: Try side planks with a twist, bicycles, and Russian twists, she says. They'll all work your external obliques, while also working your deeper abdominal muscles—including your internal obliques and transverse abdominis, your true powerhouse.
5. Hip Adduction/Abduction Machine- You know that machine that makes you feel like you're sitting in stirrups at the gyno's office? Yeah, you don't need it. "By sitting when performing this exercise, you're actually hurting your ability to deliver maximum results," Rowley says. "The glute muscles have a harder time activating while you are in the seated position, and you're not working a variety of muscles here, when you could be using a different exercise." Better Moves: Try squats, lunges, and, if you really want to work your inner and outer thighs, side lunges, Rowley says. By working those muscles while standing, you'll be able to better work your adductors and abductors, while you'll also get an awesome calorie burn by also recruiting your quads, hamstrings, glutes, and calves.