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Substitute Motions: Why Avoid Them?

Hi there! With the tips I gave you before I hope these new tips will help you keep your body fit, muscles firm and healthy.

Today I will tell you something about substitute motions and why you guys should avoid some of them.

Substitute motions are actions that are done, deliberately or otherwise, to replace or to help carry out a particular movement. These motions can very well be part of your everyday activities, helping you out in strenuous tasks such as lifting objects.

For fitness enthusiasts, substitute motions are most likely done on purpose, primarily to ease their weight lifting and other such exercises. What you must know, however, is that these motions should be avoided during workouts.

But if we can do them in our regular activities, why get rid of them when working out, you might ask. When we exercise, our goal is to increase our strength, flexibility and endurance; but if we carry out these motions, in a way we are already cheating. It is not really a “no-no” but if you can avoid them, the better and the more effective your exercises will be, and the faster you’ll hit your targets.

Here are some of the common usual substitute motions that we do when we are working out, and what actually happens to our bodies when we do them:

Lifting one of the shoulders when doing the Bench Press. This puts an extra load on one side of the shoulders instead of loading both sides equally.

Bringing the bar to line up with your neck instead of your chest. You would be loading the front shoulders instead of isolating the chest.

Standing on tiptoes while doing the Shoulder Press. Momentum will be used instead of pushing the weights with your shoulder muscles.  This lessens the efficiency of the workout as the target shoulder muscles are not being used maximally.

Raising your shoulders while doing Lateral Raises. In Lat Raises you should be focusing on your middle deltoids and be forming the roundness of your shoulders. When you raise your shoulders, however,  you end up using your upper traps, or the muscles in your upper back area.

Pulling on your neck during Crunches. Crunches are meant to isolate your abdominals. When you pull or tug on your neck during the exercise, you are most likely to injure your neck and upper back, not to mention lessen the force you should be exerting to contract the ab muscles.

Rotating the shoulders when doing Biceps Curl. With this substitute motion you are decreasing the amount of contraction in the biceps because you are using the shoulders to create momentum.

Rocking your body too much during Triceps Pushdown. This will transfer some of the muscular effort to the body and therefore decrease the efficiency of the work out for the triceps.

Rocking the body while doing the T-bar Row. T-bar Row is for the upper and middle back but if you rock your body too much you could be using your hip flexors and extensors as well.

You might say that these substitute motions are better because you are targeting more muscle groups, but this is not the case, you will just be doing your exercises without isolating the proper group. Proper form is more important than the amount of weight that you lift. With proper form you can target and isolate the muscle you want to develop, thereby yielding the results you really want.


Keep in mind that it takes focus and determination to achieve your target figure; cheating your way around with substitute motions will only slow down your progress. So keep that form and execute properly, and you’re well on your way to the fit and toned figure of your dreams!