Dangerous exercises

[The Light Among Darkness]

Squats - improper form or bad leverages will mess up knees permanently. 

the orthopedics doctors see people all the time and they all against squats yet the industry has a lot to earn and everything to loose if it was to admit it.

No where in  earlier history we would have something heavy put on our back and had to squat with it. Carrying people or heavy objects in arms are easier than the fireman carry - that argument is out.

[TruthSeeker]

Dangerous exercises?

Every exercise done for ego purposes.

[Simple Simon]

^ Yes, any exercise done for ego purposes, i.e. with poor form, can be dangerous.

But that does not therefore mean that no exercise is dangerous unless performed with poor form.
I believe there are movements that are inherently dangerous no matter how well they are performed.

[Simple Simon]

T-bar rows. Dangerous and - as I read in 'Hardgainer' - don't offer any advantages over barbell/dumbell/low-pulley rows.

[Hans]

What about upright rows? This exercise has a pretty bad reputation.

Any exercise that puts your upper arms into internal rotation might lead to shoulder impingement eventually.
This is not just a matter of weights (swimmers are prone to it (cf. arm stroke in breast/butterfly technique)).

Besides upright rows the following exercises are also bad in this respect:

• bench press (and dips) with flared arms (esp. T-Bar bench press); alternative: close-grip bench press with arms tucked to upper body
  
• wide grip rows
  
• lateral raises; alternative: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5sNYB1Q6aM
  

As a rule of thumb: Keep your arms close to your body while pressing and pulling.

[Simple Simon]

^ What about the BB classic: Wide-grip pulldowns?
(And done with the most atrocious form imaginable.)

[Hans]

^ What about the BB classic: Wide-grip pulldowns?
(And done with the most atrocious form imaginable.)

The most atrocious form I've seen so far is when people lean back heavily doing a kind of upside-down wide-grip row. That is bad due to the reasons I mentioned above.

But even when done in upright position, the wide-grip pull-down should be considered poor form. To begin with, it shortens the range of motion compared to a shoulder-wide grip. In addition to that, there is a strain force on your shoulder joint (just look at the force you need to produce in order to move the bar: there is one component parallel to each forearm pointing to you and one perpendicular to it pointing outwards; the latter causes the strain). The shoulder joint is rather weakly stabilized with respect to its function, so it should be treated with care.

To properly conduct a lat pull-down, sit upright, use a shoulder-wide grip, and keep your arms close to your body (your arms will do this quite automatically when you use a shoulder-wide grip). Ideally, your hands and forearms are able to rotate naturally during the movement, i.e., they supinate when the bar moves downwards and pronate when the bar moves upwards. This however requires a bar with some kind of free-moving handles or rings. Your second best option in this regard would be a bar with a (shoulder-wide) neutral grip.

[Navigator]

If you have long femurs and short, stiff iliopsoas muscle (many people have this isusse without knowing it) doing squats and deadlifts is injury waiting to happen to your lowerback and knees
Stick to leg press, lunges, stepups and seated leg extension machine, RDL are also fine, and funny enough I discovered that pistols are just fine in this case unlike regular squats (probably because your lowerback is a little curved during pistols)

[Hans]

If you have long femurs and short, stiff iliopsoas muscle (many people have this isusse without knowing it) doing squats and deadlifts is injury waiting to happen to your lowerback and knees
Stick to leg press, lunges, stepups and seated leg extension machine, RDL are also fine, and funny enough I discovered that pistols are just fine in this case unlike regular squats (probably because your lowerback is a little curved during pistols)

Squatting properly with long femurs is definitely challenging but in general not impossible:

With long femurs your butt shifts more backwards on the way down, so you are forced to lean more forward to balance out. That's bad. But if you squat with a more open angle between your legs ("spread your legs"), you artificially shorten your femurs (look from the side), and your butt will shift backwards only to a lesser extent. Then you do not have to bent over that much. This requires some flexibility in your adductor muscles though.

[Simple Simon]

Stop Doing Chest Flys - I'm Begging You!!