Well, the past few weeks have been an absolute whirlwind.  Besides this past weekend being the 4th of July, I've been jam packed at the gym during a normally slow-ish time.  Oh, AND Lindsay and I moved from Brighton to Somerville on July 1st.  

Suffice to say, it's all been a bit nuts. 

It may come as no surprise that during this hectic time, I've heeded the advice of legendary strength coach Dan John:  When it comes to diet and workouts, is it time to be tough?  Or, just reasonable?

I spend a lot of time on this blog preaching about my favorite exercises.  They're usually the exercises I love because they're safe, but also because they tend to give you the most bang for your buck.

Today, I'm flipping the script.

Instead of telling you which exercises you should do, I'm going to tell you which exercises you need to avoid at all costs.  Why?  Because it's all about keeping you on the path to getting stronger, and the five exercises below can actually be quite dangerous to your health.

So what are they?  Well, let's start with a favorite of elementary gym teachers of the 1990's:

There are few things in this world I fear more than bats.  You can blame my irrational fear on their connection to rabies, their nocturnal nature, or the fact that they are essentially glorified mice with wings.  But, if I have ever to build an arc, you can take a pretty good guess at which animal I'd be leaving behind.

That said, there is one exercise that has a loose connection with bats that I just can't get enough of called, you guessed it, "batwings."  What's with the name?  Well, it's because when you're doing them correctly, you look like (*gulp*) a bat. 

In my elementary school, secrets were against the law.  Well, maybe not of the misdemeanor kind, but more of the "sit in the hallway until the teacher forgets about you, while you try to see how many times your can tie your shoelaces in a minute" variety.  (Not that I would know....after all, I like to believe I was an angel.)

Fast forward to real life, and secrets STILL are for losers.  As such, I wanted to share the secret so many people ignore that could instantly improve their overall health: learning how to cook.

I'm going to let you in on a secret: I hate squatting. 

Yes, you read that correctly.  

Blame it on the fact that I'm on the taller side (long levers and squatting don't always get along), but the "king of lower body lifts" just doesn't have a special place in my heart anymore.

However, I realize that squatting still has an important place in any program as it's a fundamental human movement.  And even though I may not love to squat, you need to train your weaknesses, along with your strengths.