A new report reveals just how dangerous certain workout activities can be for women. More specifically, these workouts, unsafe for women, are what you may want to avoid if you’re looking to squeeze some physical activity into your schedule. Not to mention, a bad injury will have you sitting on the sidelines for a while.

Before we dive in, I’d just like to acknowledge I fully understand that I’m a guy. A middle-aged, bearded dude who is about as far from feminine as you can get. This is not me telling you what’s safe and what’s not via some personal vendetta with exercise and sports. Instead, this is me sharing the available data from a recent report. With that out of the way, let’s dive in.

New data reveals the top 10 fitness routines that pose a greater risk to women’s health

Source: Jonathan Borba / Unsplash

The information comes from a Las Vegas-based injury law firm, Ladah Injury & Car Accident Lawyers. To collect and understand the data, they analyzed sports and recreational injury details from America’s National Safety Council. Basically, they looked at reports on people getting hurt while working out.

Some of the findings are interesting, to say the least:

• Modern exercise equipment poses the biggest danger to female athletes.
• Bicycles, bike accessories, and playground equipment are the third and fourth most dangerous.
• Between 2019 and 2023, exercise equipment caused the highest injury rates of 122.2 per 100,000 females.
• Exercise equipment was also in the top 10 most dangerous physical activities for women in 2023.

Now, we’ll focus on some of that data to better understand what’s happening. For example, what are the stats that prove exercise equipment poses such a big threat?

Looking more closely at the workouts unsafe for women

Ranked among the top 10 most dangerous activities for women, with an average injury rate of 112.7 per 100,000 females, exercise equipment overall poses some pretty big risks. In 2023 alone, 122.2 per 100,000 females were injured using equipment, the highest recorded rate for the year. Back in 2020, the lowest rate recorded was 99.6 per 100,000 females — right around the time COVID and quarantines were concerns.

But bicycles and accessories hold the second most dangerous spot. They have an average female injury rate of 62.3 per 100,000. Meanwhile, the five-year low was reported in 2023 at 56.3 per 100,000, versus the five-year high at 71.9 per 100,000 in 2020. You might note, again, that 2020 was the time when most people were at home, probably using home exercise bikes and ellipticals.

Finally, playground equipment holds the third most dangerous spot. An average of 51.1 women per 100,000 are injured every year on this equipment. Between 2019 and 2023, the high was 63.1 per 100,000 in 2019, and the low was 32.9 per 100,000 in 2020.

After that, basketball is the fourth most dangerous activity, followed by trampolines, soccer, skating (excluding in-line), baseball and softball, volleyball, and football.

What does this information tell us, exactly?

I wouldn’t necessarily say you should avoid these activities. After all, if you’re working out at the gym, you’re going to have to use some of the equipment. That’s even true if you work out at home and have some equipment available. But it does highlight how likely these injuries are to occur, which means, maybe just be a little more careful the next time you’re doing any of these activities or playing some sports.

A spokesperson from Ladah Law explains, “The study highlights that exercise equipment, bicycle, and playground equipment are more likely to give women an injury, disrupting their fitness journey in the process.”

That last part is a good point. If and when you’re injured, it slows down your total progress because you need to heal, recover, and sometimes go through proper therapy.

“Activities with higher injury rates have serious implications on a woman’s career and her fitness routines. Serious injuries often lead to longer recovery periods and several medical bills.”

Yikes. Medical bills are never any fun. Of course, neither are injuries of any kind, but I digress.

“Instead of indulging in such injury-prone activities, women may consider other alternatives like contact sports or yoga sessions. Furthermore, body-weight exercises with minimum equipment can reduce the chances of getting hurt.”

The body-weight exercises they’re talking about utilize small free weights like dumbbells or your natural body weight. They also include doing things like lunges, squats, and so on. Have you been injured doing any of these activities? How many of these workouts unsafe for women do you include in your regular routine?

This story was originally shared by Ladah Law.