Welcome to the Get Fit Guys quick and dirty tips to slim down and shape up.

My name is Ben Greenfield and I'm the Get Fit Guy.

Listener Josh recently asked, I've been told that performing lat pull downs or pull ups behind your head can hurt your back,

but many of my friends continue to do the exercises this way.

Are they in danger, or am I missing out on some good muscle training?

Well, although I have done an episode on proper gym etiquette, which I'll link to in the show

notes, Josh's question brings up an important concern about exercise movement. So at the end

of this episode, I'll answer

whether lat pull downs or pull-up should be performed behind or in front of your head.

Here are the top seven gym mistakes that I see, and I'll also give you a few tips to stay

safe and avoid the most common workout errors.

Top gym mistake number one. Dropping dumbbells to the side after you've done

a dumbbell bench press. When you're lying on your back after having completed a set of chest

presses, it can be tempting to simply allow those dumbbells to drop down to the floor at your side.

But when you do this, it requires you to hyper-extend your shoulders, and it significantly

increases your risk of a shoulder injury. So instead, you should put the dumbbells on your upper

thighs, then sit up, and then lower the dumbbells to the floor. Number two, leaning on treadmill

or elliptical rails while going up an incline. Have you ever walked into a gym and seen someone

walking up the steepest possible incline on a treadmill while frantically clutching the rails for dear life?

Although that may look like a difficult exercise, it really shuts down your ability to burn calories

when you have a death grip on the railing. On both the elliptical trainer and the treadmill,

the rails are only there for

...