I get a little bit irritated when I hear someone say they heard a particular exercise is dangerous.

Part of the reason I get frustrated is because we ALREADY have enough roadblocks to exercise.

Exercise is ALREADY scary enough for many people.

We don’t need anymore narratives that dissuade people from engaging in actively moving their body.

Particular exercises get a bad reputation for a few reasons.

1. Competency of the exerciser (or trainer) in knowing when to perform a particular exercise and how to effectively program said exercise.

2. Too advanced for a given individual, thus cannot be performed safely.

3. Contraindicated as it relates to a person’s injury history.

As you can see from this list, context is everything. While it’s true that some exercises will present challenges and potentially dangers for some people, we should avoid making sweeping generalizations about the safety of any one particular exercise.