UNIVERSITI PERUBATAN ANTARABANGSA

INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL
UNIVERSITY MALAYSIA

Bachelor of Science
(Honours)
Chiropractic Programme

BCP2242
Physical Conditioning for
Health, Fitness and Sport

Group 11
Assignment Title:
5 Most Non-Effective Exercise of All Time

Group Members:
Koh Vic Ter 00000027542
Tan Mei Xin 00000027606
Priscilla Lim Yik Sian 00000023084
 1) Dumbbell Shadow Boxing
An exercise to make one look tough, feel tough and attract attention, but does little to
make a punch harder nor toughen up muscles used in this action. This exercise
includes largely uncontrolled movement which exposes us to injury if we are using
too heavy weight, yet it is not beneficial at all if we are using the one which is too
light. Besides that, punching forward is a horizontal movement against a vertical
resistance so the dumbbell only provides vertical resistance because of gravity which
make this exercise not effective because the resistance does not overload the action
you want to strengthen. Moreover, dumbbell shadow boxing will make you a slower
puncher which is counterintuitive to what we would like to gain from this silly
exercise. There will be a negative impact on the performance of the unloaded
movement if a movement is overloaded and the speed is decreased by 10% or
more. Slower speed exercises do bring benefits in increasing strength but doing the
same movement as the explosive exercise in slower speed will mess up your motor
pattern which causes disruption of your body mechanics and hence make you
slower. Many people falsely perceive this exercise as an effective means of
overloading their punches to gain more explosive strength in their punches.
However, overloading the same movement you are trying to make it faster will make
it slower. There are many instances where people ‘feel’ faster or ‘lighter’ after
overloading their desired action to be improved. For example, there is an experiment
conducted where people were measured of their vertical jumps before and after
overloading the jump with a weight vest that was 20% of their bodyweight. There is
no fatigue before the vertical jump test after the completion of jumping with weighted
vest. The tests subjects had positive response that they are jumping higher
according to their perception. Unfortunately, what one perceived does not align with
the results of reality. They all ended up with lower jumps after the set with the vest.
They thought they jumped higher because of the discrepancy in perceived speed
and felt much faster after the vest set. A better way of improving speed of a punch is
by doing a phase of general exercise that works the upper body like overhead press,
bench press, pullups triceps extension, rows, wrist work that increase the strength
and hypertrophy of the targeted muscles. This is then followed by a week or two of
complete rest whilst practicing the punch. What happens is systematic fatigue
dissipates during the period of rest whilst allowing transformation of twitch speed
identical to type IIx fibres. The end result is a faster and stronger punch.

2) Standing Dumbbell Rotator Cuff External Rotation

A very common warmup exercise movement before upper body pushing routines. It
does not work as intended besides working the biceps, brachioradialis and
supraspinatus isometrically. It shares the same concept of not knowing where
the line of resistance is. There is barely any resistance on the horizontal line
of action besides overcoming inertia from the dumbbells which does not
provide any significant resistance. A better way of performing this external
rotation of the shoulder is by using cables, bands or performing external
rotation lying down sideways with dumbbell, where gravity is now working on
the line of action.
 
 3) Lunge Combo Exercise
Lunge combo exercise is a combination of a lunge with upper body exercises such
as biceps curl, overhead presses or lateral raises. Pairing lower body and upper
body exercises is falsely believed to save time and kill two birds with one stone, but
logic proves otherwise. This is because it is making your lower body exercise (lunge)
worthless as the dumbbells you are holding to do a curl or a lateral raise or an
overhead press is too light to provide an overload for lunge. Besides that, you don’t
have to lift dumbbells up as much when curling and pressing at the same time as
you are lunging down which makes your biceps to work less. A better way of doing
things is just to perform them independently. It takes the same amount of time to
complete a lunge and bicep curl as compared to performing them as a whole single
exercise. Moreover, dividing them as they should be also allows you to appropriately
use weights that are capable of overloading your muscle. If you are short on time,
you can superset them instead of making them a combo exercise.

4) Side Bend with Dumbbells in Both Hands

Dumbbell side bend is popular exercise with the idea of toning or strengthening the
midsection but it is an ineffective means of achieving any of those. The side bends
are performed standing, by holding a weight in each of your hand and leaning
sideways. If you are doing a side bend with any sort of weight, you are trying to the
oblique muscle. However, if you are doing by holding a dumbbell in each hand, it
could be potentially risky for the spine as you are putting extra stress on your lower
spine. This is because the lateral spinal flexion puts your spine in a vulnerable
position, especially when you are holding a heavy weight. Besides that, holding one
dumbbell in each hand mitigates the need for the muscle to do the job. Instead of
using the obliques to lift up the weight from one side, you just rely on the weight in
the other hand to counter-lever your way up. For example, when you lean to the right
side, the weight in the left hand will help to get back up. To better visualize this
situation, think about a seesaw that has a person each at every end of it. A better
way to target the obliques is to perform side bends with only one dumbbell on a
hand, one-handed farmers walk and doing oblique crunches on a hyperextension
machine.

5) Bosu Ball Squats

Exercising on bosu balls have become a norm ever since the epidemic of ‘functional
training’ broke loose. Many people who perform bosu ball squats commonly
perceive that it is effective because the exercise is more challenging than a
regular squat and it promotes ‘core stabilisation’ whilst working the legs, and
may falsely attribute the exercise as sport specific. However, real results
proved otherwise. It is a biological impossibility to lift as much weights on a
stable ground that an unstable surface which results in subpar strength
adaptations. Trying to maintain balance on a bosu ball is distracting and you
 can lose a lot of mind-muscle connection since your attention and central
nervous system resources are split into two different motor tasks. Hence, the
capacity to overload the muscles used in a squat and improving mind-muscle
connection are lost. In regards for the exercise to be sport specific, there is
barely any sport being played on unstable surfaces unless you are part of the
circus. Moreover, the risk of falling off the bosu ball and hurting yourself
overshadows the benefit of performing this exercise, if there is any at all.

References:
1. N J, Gemma, N J, N J, Joe, Ryan, et al. Why Lifting Weights Won't Increase
Punching Power [Internet]. ExpertBoxing. 2012. Available from:
https://www.expertboxing.com/boxing-training/boxing-workouts/why-lifting-
weights-wont-increase-punching-power

2. N J, N J, Glenn, N J, Glenn, N J, et al. Why Lifting Weights Won't Increase

Punching Power – PART 2 [Internet]. ExpertBoxing. 2012. Available from:
https://www.expertboxing.com/boxing-training/boxing-workouts/why-lifting-
weights-wont-increase-punching-power-part-2

3. DeHority S. 6 Popular Exercises That Are a Waste of Time [Internet]. STACK.

2014. Available from: https://www.stack.com/a/6-popular-exercises-that-are-a-
waste-of-time

4. 10 Practically Useless Exercises [Internet]. Muscle & Fitness. Available from:

https://www.muscleandfitness.com/workouts/workout-tips/10-practically-
useless-exercises?
page=3&utm_source=zergnet.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=ze
rgnet_2624879

5. Haley A. Training Trash Bin: Dumbbell Side Bends [Internet]. STACK. 2014
[cited 2019May12]. Available from: https://www.stack.com/a/dumbbell-side-
bends