It’s time to face the truth: You’re not giving your love handles any love by doing side bends.

Somehow side bends still remain a go-to exercise you'll see on the floor of just about any commercial gym, as guys strive to work their oblique muscles. But when it comes to strengthening your midsection or even shrinking your waist as some people hope, side bends provide little to no core value whatsoever.

So no matter how much you may think you’re feeling the burn by bending an inch or two from side to side with a dumbbell or plate in one hand (or sometimes both), it’s time to stop doing this pointlessly overrated exercise. Men's Health experts Mathew Forzaglia, N.F.P.T., C.P.T., founder of Forzag Fitness and MH fitness director Ebenezer Samuel, C.S.C.S. are both convinced you're doing more than wasting your time—you're potentially putting yourself in a bad spot.

“This is one of those exercises that you always question yourself, ‘Why are they doing that?’ Forzaglia says. “It's just one of those movements that you look at or you do and it just doesn't feel that great for your spine.”

While it’s hard to justify doing these, there’s a quite a few reasons to avoid side bends at all costs.

Why You Need to Stop Doing Side Bends

Side Bends Put Your Spine in a Bad Spot

While the objective of the side bend is to move side to side while holding a weight, eventually that weight will shift forward, pulling you out of alignment and forcing your shoulders to roll forward. After the shift, the load places an uncomfortable and possibly compromising stress on the lower back. “What happens once we wind up pulling forward, our lower back is not in that traditional deadlift position where we're nice and strong, where we're everything really nice and tight, but we're out of that position," Samuel says. “So it's hard to find that stability, and so you're inviting a lot of chance for injury and that's not something that's really worth it.”