Five Gym Exercises You Should Stop Doing

Here are some exercises you have probably been doing for some time at the gym that you should stop doing.

A story on Yahoo Health claims these five exercises may cause injury:

1. Don't use the leg curl machine.  It puts too much pressure on your knees, and can also hurt your lower back.  You're better off just doing squats.
2. Stop doing box jumps.  That's the one where you hop on top of a wooden box, and back down.  Most people get hurt jumping off the box, because landing puts a lot of stress on your knees, feet, ankles, and lower back.
3. Don't run on a flat treadmill.  It's not a great workout, because the momentum pulls your feet forward.  But you can also end up running faster than your body's used to, which is hard on your knees.  So set the incline at 2% to simulate flat ground.
4. Don’t wear a weightlifting belt.  You don't need one unless you're doing major, Olympic-style powerlifting.  Plus your back and core don't get as good of a workout.  Instead, just flex your abs to activate your core during things like squats and deadlifts.
5. Don't do overhead kettlebell swings.  You can still use kettlebells, just don't swing them any higher than chest level, or you can hurt your neck and lower back.