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The basic
exercises are your key to long-term
success in training. They encompass
every major muscle group in your body
and many of the most common movement
patterns you perform on a daily basis.
If you want to build maximum muscle,
you MUST use these exercises or variations
of them.
So what ARE these basic exercises?
There
are different interpretations of what,
exactly, they are...but to me, the basic
exercises are squats, deadlifts, bench
press, shoulder press, rows, and pull-ups.
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If you did nothing
but these six exercise, you've worked pretty
much every single part of your body.
You'll notice
curls aren't on this list...neither are pushdowns,
tricep extensions, calf raises, flyes, leg
extensions, leg curls or lateral raises. Every
single muscle worked by these "isolation"
exercises is worked by the basic exercises.
So what makes the basic exercises so great?
Basically, they
involve the most muscle mass all at once.
When you do a squat, you're working the legs
AND the glutes, lower back, upper back, calves
and core. Much of the benefits of the squat
come from this "total-body activation."
You get the
most bang for your buck as the energy you
put into the basic exercises gives you a great
return on investment in terms of strength
and muscle mass.
A program should
consist of at least 75% basic exercises...and
the percentage should be HIGHER the worse
your recovery capability is. To maximize results,
you need to spend your energy on the exercises
that will do you the most good.
That doesn't
mean you have to do just those six exact exercises,
though! The variations of these exercises
are also extremely effective and will introduce
plenty of training variety to keep you progressing
and keep training fun and interesting.
Here are some
samples:
1. Squats
Front
squats, back
squats, goblet squats, dumbell squats,
hack
squats, dumbell
split squats, Bulgarian split squats,
one-legged squats, box squats, belt squats,
braced-leg-squats.
2. Deadlifts
Conventional,
sumo, Super
Deadlift Bar, snatch-grip, stiff-legged,
Romanian, dumbell deadlifts, suitcase-style,
one-arm straddle deadlifts, Jefferson lifts,
one-side
barbell deadlifts, one-legged
glute deadlifts.
3. Bench Press
Barbell,
dumbell, incline,
decline, flat, close-grip wide grip, 1 arm,
Swiss
ball, machine.
4. Shoulder
Press
Military press,
dumbell press, seated, standing, push-press,
clean and press, two-phase
barbell shoulder press, W press, Arnold
press, reverse alternating dumbell press,
weight
plate pizza press, javelin press, side-to-side
barbell press, behind-the-beck press (not
recommended).
5. Rows
Bent-over
barbell rows, dumbell rows, one-arm
dumbell rows, cable rows, close grip rows,
wide grip rows, underhand, overhand, neutral
grip, T-bar rows, inverted
rows (pull-up rows), chest-supported rows,
upright rows (not recommended).
6. Pull-Ups
Chin-ups, wide-grip
pull-ups, muscle-ups, neutral grip, reverse
grip, one-arm, two bar pull-ups, all variations
of pulldowns,
full-range
pulldowns, corner
rack pull-ups, behind-the-head (not recommended).
The list of
variations is LONG and covers a lot of great
exercises!
These six basic
exercises should be a staple of every routine,
no matter if your goal is muscle, strength
or fat-loss. These six movements and their
variations hold the key to truly effective
training.
Even myself,
being a "mad scientist" of exercises
and training, work primarily with the basics
and their variations...of course, MY variations
tend to be a bit more unique than many of
the classic ones, but the same rules apply.
This is the stuff that gets you the RESULTS.
