Daily Fit 5/20/19: Trainers Say To Skip This Machine

Workout Tip Of The Day: Looking To Tone Your Legs? Skip The Hip Abduction Machine And Do Lunges Or Bodyweight Hip Abduction Exercises Instead.

What Trainers Say: Using the hip abduction machine (where you’re seated and moving your legs away from the centerline of your body) might feel amazing, after all it allows you to use a lot of weight and you probably feel a serious burn in your butt after doing it, but this seemingly harmless exercise can actually be quite dangerous if you overdo it. That’s because the muscles that this machine targets are stabilizers, which means that their primary function is to stabilize your body when you’re standing or moving around. These muscles are not meant to bear a lot of weight on their own, so you could end up straining them if you’re frequently using the abductor machine with a lot of weight. Straining these muscles could lead to future lower back pain and/or hip injuries.

A Better Alternative: If you’re looking to tone your legs and get a perky behind, lunges are always a good option. Instead of only targeting a few muscles at a time (like you do when using the hip abductor machine), lunges work most of your lower body muscles simultaneously. This exercise will target your quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes and calves, as well as engaging your core and elevating your heart rate. If you’re set on working your hip abductor muscles in isolation, try a side-lying hip abduction where you lie on your side and move your top leg up, away and slightly behind the centerline of your body. Read on for other popular exercises that trainers want you to skip and what you should do instead. [Shape]

Our Favorite Buys Of The Day

Quip: Looking for a way to improve your dental hygiene without draining your wallet? Allow us to introduce you to Quip. Unlike most other electric toothbrush options on the market, Quip is slim and waterproof, and it wirelessly suctions to any surface in your bathroom, making it the perfectly hygienic travel companion. Get refills every three months straight to your door and make those pearly whites shine. Check out Quip here.

5 Keys To The Best Home Gym: When curating a home gym, we keep it simple by choosing hand weights, resistance bands, a stability ball, a workout bench and a yoga mat. Each of these items take up very little space in your home and all of them come in handy for efficient, total-body workouts. So what are you waiting for? Stock up and get to sweating!

23andMe Health + Ancestry Service: Learn all about your ancestry, traits, health and more from 125+ reports!

Swirled may be compensated when users click on the affiliate links in this newsletter. Products are in stock at the time of publication.​

Hot Topics In Health Today

It’s Not Just Soda: Drinking Too Much Fruit Juice (Or Any Sugary Drink) Is Linked To Premature Death Risk — CNN

Can Frizz Ever Really Be Defeated? Here’s What Experts Say — The Atlantic

You CAN Get Pregnant On Birth Control, And 9 Other Myths You Need To Stop Believing — Science Alert

Colorectal Cancer Is Killing More 20- To 30-Year-Olds. Experts Have Some Clues About Why — Vox

Don’t Miss

This Mini Band Workout Fits Perfectly Into Your Lunch Break

These Yoga Poses Will Keep Your Legs Long And Lean All Summer Long

“If you want something you’ve never had, you must be willing to do something you’ve never done.”

— Thomas Jefferson

Sign up for Daily Fit by Swirled, our newsletter featuring a wellness tip of the day and must-read health news from around the web! You’ll be one step closer to living a healthy, balanced life.