Real Men do Yoga

Six bad gym exercises and their Yoga alternatives.

1-The Seated Leg Extension

The myth: It's the safest way to work your quadriceps, or thigh muscles.

The truth: Physiologists at the Mayo Clinic determined that leg extensions place significantly more stress on your knees than squats. Why? Because the resistance is placed near your ankles, which leads to high amounts of torque being applied to your knee joint every time you lower the weight. What's more, Auburn University scientists found that people who squat long-term have tighter, stronger knee ligaments than those who don't squat at all.

Yoga alternative: Yoga squat and Yoga Monkey pose both work your quads and protect your knees.

2-Behind-the-Neck Lat Pull-Down

The myth: The best way to perform the lat pull-down is to pull the bar behind your head, down to your upper back

The truth: Unless you have very flexible shoulders, this exercise is difficult to do correctly, and can increase your risk for shoulder impingement syndrome -- a painful condition in which the muscles or tendons of your rotator cuff become entrapped in your shoulder joint.

Yoga alternative: Shoulderstand and Headstand create more overall strength with no risk for injury.

3-The Pec Deck

The myth: It's a super safe and very effective way to work your chest muscles.

The truth: This apparatus, also called the chest fly machine, can overstretch the front of your shoulder and cause the muscles around the rear of your shoulder to stiffen. The result: Doing this movement frequently can lead to shoulder impingement syndrome.

Yoga alternative: Bow pose, Camel, Cobra pose, Warrior and Triangle poses are some of the best ways to build your chest overall.

4-The Seated Hip Abductor Machine

The myth: This machine is the best way to work your out thighs, including your glutes.

The truth: Because you're seated, it trains a movement that has no functional use. And if done with excessive weight and jerky technique, it can put undue pressure on your spine.

Yoga alternative: Pigeon pose, Wide-Angle Standing Forward Bend, Triangle and Downward Facing Dog, all target the abductors and are great for warm-up stretches for sports.

5-The Seated Rotation Machine

The myth: Twisting on this machine helps melt your love handles.

The truth: It works the muscles under your love handles, but will do little to reduce the fat that covers them. What's more, because your pelvis doesn't move as you rotate your upper body, this exercise can put excessive twisting forces on the spine.

Yoga alternative: Spinal Twist, Twisting Squat, Revolving Triangle, Star pose, all brace your abs - protecting the spine - while toning the sides of the abs (love handles).

6-The Smith Machine

The myth: This machine -- which looks like a squat rack with a built-in bar that runs on guides-gives you all the benefits of squats, but none of the risk that comes from holding a heavy barbell across your back. That's because the bar can easily be secured at any point during the movement.

The truth: Because the bar runs on guides, you can only move straight up and down as you squat-instead of down and back, as you would in a free-weight squat. The result: An unnatural movement that puts extra stress on your knees and lower back. Need another reason to skip the Smith? Canadian researchers found that traditional squats produced almost 50 percent more muscle activity in the quadriceps than squats done on a Smith machine.

Yoga alternative: Yoga Squat, Lightening Bolt, Eagle and Horse can all be done without a spotter, further allowing the free range of motion and strength of the squat.