London, Oct 25 (IANS): It's important to take precautions while exercising as it can lead to significant damage to the muscles and the joints. Let's find out what moves exactly are doing this.

Just because the body can perform certain exercises does not mean that they are good for it. Expert Greg Brookes takes a look at some popular exercises and explains why they're bad for us and offers an alternative.

"There seems to be an epidemic, at the moment, of people in gyms and parks on a mission to totally destroy their body," femalefirst.co.uk quoted Brookes as saying.

"First up, sit ups or crunches; posture is something that we all need to be aware of and for those who sit hunched in front of a computer all day at work, the worst thing that can be done is crunching your body forward even more for a abs workout.

"Crunches and sit ups only perform 50 per cent of the natural movement of the spine if you are performing them lying on the floor. If you are going to perform this exercise then at least crunch over a stability ball to get the full range of movement," he added.

Brookes also says that deadlifts or single deadlifts are the safer alternative.

Unprepared running is harmful, says the expert.

"Over 3 times the bodyweight goes through each leg during every stride. In order to absorb this kind of shock the body must have good alignment and core strength"

"The core stabilises the pelvis to provide a solid platform for the legs to operate under. Sadly most people have very weak core muscles due to inactivity and due to excess sitting most people also have bad joint alignment and stabilisation from head to toe," said Brooke.

Hence, it's important that if you want to start running, losing excess weight through diet and bodyweight exercises to improve core strength and joint stability would be a safer starting point.