Overrated lifts are always a heated topic. One person’s overrated exercise could be someone else’s favorite—different strokes for different folks.
So why go here and stir the pot? Just because an exercise is popular or it gets someone jacked doesn’t mean it’s always effective — or right for you. Some lifts get their importance overblown, while others pose more risk than reward, particularly when your goal is to improve performance and build muscle and strength.
Here I am, joined by four coaches as we analyze 10 overrated lifts that might be holding you back or even hurting you. We’ll provide swaps that build muscle, protect your joints, and deliver results.
Why Some Lifts Are More Popular Than Others
With the combination of Gym Bro’s and Social Media, hype travels faster than results. Before you add an exercise to your program, consider why some lifts blow up online — and why they don’t consistently deliver the goods.
Social Media’s Obsession
If an exercise looks complicated, explosive, or extreme, it catches attention. But popularity doesn’t mean it’s more effective. Some provide less muscle-building stimulus than their simpler, proven alternatives.
Copying Without Context
Olympic lifters, pro bodybuilders, and CrossFit competitors often train in ways that don’t suit your goals, mobility, or experience. Elite athletes can get away with certain lifts because they have years of technique, coaching, and recovery strategies backing them up.
Function vs. Flex Appeal
Some lifts get overblown because they “look” impressive, not because they’re effective. Kipping Pull-ups anybody? The best exercises aren’t always Instagram-worthy. If a lift doesn’t help you get stronger, build muscle, or enhance your power and movement, you’re wasting valuable workout time.
The 10 Most Overrated Lifts
Overrated means rated or valued too highly. It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do these exercises, but consider their importance next time you include them in your workout. I encourage you to keep an open mind because the goal is to continue lifting injury-free for years.
Barbell Good Morning
The barbell good morning is a pure hip hinge movement that trains the lower back, hips, and hamstrings, known as the posterior chain. But according to Gareth Sapstead (MSc CSCS), a renowned physique training specialist, it’s a lower back tweak waiting to happen.
“Most people are not built, coached, or braced well enough to pull them off safely — especially under load, ”explains Sapstead. But Sapstead’s real problem with the Good Morning isn’t with its performance, specifically its biomechanics.
“You’re placing a long lever arm (the torso) out in front of the lower back, causing a huge increase in shear forces on your lumbar spine—that’s the sliding, grinding kind of force your discs hate,” says Sapstead.
If you’re not bracing like a world-class powerlifter and have years of experience under the bar, the risk-to-reward ratio of the barbell good morning becomes questionable. Sapstead recommends doing RDLs and Reverse Hyperextensions, which target the posterior chain, allow for better control of the load, and are more forgiving on the lower back.
Belt Squats
Belt squats are all the rage for those who build up their quads while reducing lower back stress, and it does those things, so what is my issue? While the belt squat is a solid exercise, its execution isn’t always straightforward.
First, the setup isn’t universal. Not every gym has a dedicated belt squat machine, and rigging one with a dip belt and plates is awkward and has many moving parts. Depending on your height and body type, the belt might dig into your hips and lower back, causing discomfort or chafing.
Second, many setups limit your squat depth, especially when the weight stack or plates stop you before you reach full range. Without full depth, you’re not maximizing quad recruitment—and in some cases, you’re better off with an alternative.
A few alternatives include sissy squats, which require no equipment, and the dreaded Bulgarian split squats, which both focus on the quads and are easier on the lower back.
American Kettlebell Swing
The American swing looks badass because you’re taking the kettlebell overhead instead of stopping at chest height. While extending the range of motion might look cool, the overhead finish comes with trade-offs most lifters don’t consider.
If you lack excellent shoulder mobility and a decent level of skill, forcing the bell overhead can compromise your shoulders and lower back, explains Dr. Bo Babenko, DPT.
“Most folks lack the skill and shoulder mobility to do these. I see a lot of lower back and shoulder issues from poor technique with these, “ Babenko explains.
Furthermore, the extended ROM doesn’t always lead to better results—you’re spending more time controlling the bell overhead and bringing it back down without increasing glute and hamstring engagement or power output.
Isn’t that the point of the swing? For most lifters, the obvious alternative would be the Russian kettlebell swing, which stops at chest height and maximizes hip hinge power. You can also try a kettlebell snatch, which offers a smoother, more controlled overhead path.
Build power from the hips, not the hype.
Burpees
Burpees are a go-to move for fat loss, conditioning, and “hardcore” workouts. They have you breathing hard, muscles burning, and yourself suffering. It’s got to work, right?
Wrong.
Most people rush through burpees, turning them into a sloppy mix of a push-up and uncontrolled squat jump.
According to Sapstead, “Burpees deliver very little in return for what they take from your body It’s a stitched-together mess of a half-hearted push-up, a floppy, uncontrolled plank, and a rushed squat jump with bad landing mechanics. It’s just fatigue for the sake of fatigue.”
It’s not only pointless, but Sapstead adds that burprees can at times be dangerous as well.
“You’re compressing your spine when you flop down,” he says. “You’re slamming your knees on every landing. And your shoulders take a beating from unstable, fatigued push-ups.
Sapstead suggests two safer and more effective alternative routines:
Barbell complexes or kettlebell circuits: With circuits, you’re training movements, such as squats, hinges, presses, and rows, with resistance that builds muscle.
Sled pushes or loaded carries: These build work capacity without technical breakdown. Both train the legs, the lungs, and your mental toughness.
Smith Machine Squat
The Smith machine squat’s biggest draw is also its biggest drawback: the fixed vertical bar path. It offers stability and certainty to the squat pattern, allowing you to move more weight, but it forces your joints to move in ways they don’t naturally move, which is why many lifters feel it in their knees or lower back.
You can lift more on a Smith machine, but that doesn’t mean you’re training the squat better—just that stability demands are lower. So, is lifting heavier on the Smith machine really that great? Here’s the answer.
Beyond comfort, it’s also less stimulating: a study found 43% higher average muscle activation in key lower-body muscles during the free-weight back squat versus the Smith machine version. The Smith machine squat is excellent for beginners, rehab phases, or workout finishers, but if you’re serious about building lower-body strength, the free-weight squat reigns.
Alternatives are abundant for the Smith machine squat, but the kettlebell front squat or Goblet Squat stands out, offering a more upright torso and a strong quad stimulus with less lumbar stress.
Kipping Pull-up
The kipping pull-up is often marketed as a way to crank out more reps and boost conditioning. While it has a purpose in some training scenarios, it’s not the best choice for building strength or muscle.
The issue isn’t that kipping is “bad”—some perform this before mastering strict pull-ups. Without good shoulder stability, scapular control, and pulling strength, the aggressive swinging motion can place unnecessary stress on the shoulders and elbows, explains Lee Boyce, an 18-year certified strength and conditioning coach.
“If you want your shoulders to give you the middle finger, then use kipping pull-ups. The ability to use drastic momentum to get your chin over the bar more times than strict sets of pull-ups or chins is outweighed by the disadvantages of the body’s weight cranking on the shoulder and elbow joint,” says Boyce.
When it’s your goal to improve your pulling strength, Boyce recommends the good old-fashioned pull-up and chin-ups, focusing on full ranges of motion, and the TRX Inverted Row as a shoulder-friendly alternative.
Machine Leg Extensions
Leg extensions look simple, burn like crazy, and seem like a no-brainer for adding size to your quads. However, when examining biomechanics and research, leg extensions have a high risk-to-reward ratio.
The main issue here is knee joint stress. Unlike squats, lunges, or step-ups—closed-chain movements where you keep your feet fixed to the ground—leg extensions are an open-chain exercise where the resistance peaks at full knee extension, a vulnerable position for your patellar tendon. Studies have shown that this increases anterior shear forces on the knee, which can aggravate conditions like patellar tendinopathy or existing knee pain. Leg extensions isolate the quads but don’t mimic real-life movement patterns, making them less effective for strength, size, and enhanced performance than compound lifts.
If you still wish to train your quads in a closed-chain environment, the leg press is a good option as it hits your quads hard but spreads the load throughout your lower body. And step-ups train the quads with less knee shear, while also engaging the glutes and hamstrings.
Barbell Upright Row
Many exercises incorporate the vertical pulling movement of the barbell upright row, such as Olympic lifts and their offshoots, like the high pull or clean. But the problem with the barbell upright row is that the mechanics don’t always love your joints, explains Dr. Mike T Nelson.
“They force the shoulder into internal rotation with abduction, which can jam the subacromial space and irritate the rotator cuff—especially when people pull too high or use a narrow grip,” says Nelson.
Many exercises put the shoulder in a vulnerable position, like the barbell bench press, so why single out the barbell upright row?
“The risk-to-benefit ratio is poor since you’re limited by how much weight you can handle in that compromised position, so the actual muscle stimulus isn’t that great,” explains Nelson.
Nelson suggests performing dumbbell lateral raises, which hit the same muscles, or cable upright row with a wider grip, if you need to train the vertical pull movement without aggravating your shoulder.
Behind-The-Back Lat Pulldown
The behind-the-neck lat pulldown is one of those exercises for “better lat isolation” because pulling from behind creates a different angle of tension. But research says otherwise.
Pulling the bar behind your head forces the shoulders into external rotation and abduction under load, which can increase the risk of rotator cuff irritation and shoulder impingement. According to EMG studies, standard front pulldowns activate the lats just as well, and often more so than behind-the-neck variations without the added joint stress.
Many lifters also compensate by pushing their neck forward, which can cause unnecessary strain on the cervical spine. Unless you have excellent shoulder mobility, there’s no clear benefit to pulling behind your head. You’re better off sticking with the neutral-grip lat pulldown or the regular variation—it keeps the shoulders in a safer position while still maximizing your lats.
Chest Machine Flyes
Machine flyes isolate the pecs and are a go-to move for many lifters looking to finish off the chest after bench pressing. While it can create an intense stretch and pump, the fixed path of motion and locked shoulder position make it less joint-friendly and effective compared to other chest exercises.
With machine flyes, you position your shoulders at 90 degrees of abduction and limit shoulder blade movement. This position puts the shoulder joint, especially the front part,
at increased risk. Over time, this raises the chance of anterior shoulder strain or impingement, especially if you lack sufficient thoracic extension and scapular control. A 2017 EMG study comparing common chest exercises found that machine flyes trained the pectoralis major less than both dumbbell flies and barbell bench presses, while increasing stress on the anterior shoulder.
Instead of doing the machine chest flyes, try adding dumbbell flyes, which provide a more natural range of motion and more shoulder freedom, lowering the risk of impingement. Alternatively, cable flyes maintain constant tension and let you adjust the angle to fit your shoulder mobility better.
