What Exercises Should I Do in the Gym?
Find out how to pick the right exercises for the best results.
No, you’re not about to read a list of magic exercises that will give you the desired results. The fitness landscape, as it is today, would have you believe that there are some exercises to perform that will immediately get you jacked. But that’s not the case.
Yes, some exercises are more effective than others in achieving particular results. In the end, however, there are other important factors that should influence what exercises you should choose when in the gym.
Once you learn these factors and how to use them properly, I can guarantee that the gains are already at your door. Get ready to learn. I’ve outlined everything you need below.
1. Effectiveness.
This is the first factor. The question is, “How well does this movement train this muscle?” To answer this question, you need to know a little about the functions of muscles. That will guide you in knowing how effective a movement is for training that muscle.
The quads, for example, help you extend the knee. Using this logic, the leg extension machine was created. When you observe, that’s what the leg extension exercise really is – extending the knee.
Another example is the chest muscles - the pecs. These are responsible for multiple functions, including bringing your arm across your torso. That’s why pec flyes are a great chest-building exercise. They mimic the motion of moving your arms across your torso.
Understanding muscle function helps you learn the logic behind exercises. After understanding the logic, you can now apply your knowledge to make great choices. Of course, you don’t have to read an anatomy book to learn how muscles work. A simple Google search in your free time will educate you a whole lot.
2. Preference.
“Do I like this exercise?” “How well do I like this exercise compared to the other one?” These are the questions you should ask yourself at this point.
What you like is important because if you don’t like your training at least a little bit, sticking to it would be harder. However, whatever exercise you choose should still be effective for training the targeted muscle group. That’s why “effectiveness” comes first.
For example, you can’t replace the barbell bench press with a cable row. A cable row is not a chest-focused exercise and can’t train the chest the way a barbell bench press would. That’s obvious, right?
But then again, there are some things that are not so obvious. For example, many people say they like deadlifts for training their back. That is reasonable, as deadlifts would incorporate some back muscles, like the erectors and the traps, to a large degree.
However, there are better exercises for training the muscles in the back – these exercises are more effective because they mimic the function of the back muscles better than deadlifts. Examples are cable rows, t-bar rows, pull-ups, and lat pulldowns. Even though deadlifts can give you big, strong traps and erectors, they can’t effectively grow your back.
The point is that to achieve your goals, you may still have to do exercises you don’t like or use training styles you don’t like. Why? These exercises and training styles are more effective than your preference. Effectiveness is a more important factor than preference in exercise selection.
3. Availability of Equipment and Time.
You can’t use equipment you don’t have. You can’t add a hack squat to your training program if your gym does not have a hack squat machine. In that case, you may need an alternative, like barbell squats or leg presses.
Also, some exercises are more time-consuming. If you have to squeeze thirty minutes out of your day to train, you want to do as much as possible within that time frame, right? In such cases, it’s best to avoid unilateral exercises. Unilateral exercises are those ones that train only one side of your body at a time. They usually involve only one leg or one arm at a time.
The problem with unilateral exercises is that after performing a set for one side, you also have to perform a set for the other side. For example, if you’re doing a unilateral exercise like dumbbell curls, after finishing a set for one arm, you have to move to the next one.
If you’re pressed for time, it may be better to just do barbell curls and get it over with in only one set. This is how the availability of equipment and time should affect your exercise choices.
4. Progressive Overload.
Progressive overload is simply the process of increasing exercise intensity in order to facilitate more muscle and strength growth. You can progressively overload by increasing the weight you’re using for an exercise or increasing the number of reps, among other options.
Progressive overload is one of the most important requirements for consistent muscle and strength gain. The reason for this is that as you train your muscles, they get bigger and stronger to adapt to the stimulus you’re giving them. So, at some point, in order to keep getting bigger and stronger, you also have to increase the stimulus.
Here’s the simplest way to implement this factor in exercise selection: As I get stronger and better at this exercise, is there an avenue for me to increase the load so that I can continue to get stronger? For most exercises, the answer would be yes. But in the rare case that progressively overloading an exercise is difficult or impossible, that exercise may not be the best option.
Progressive overload is tricky because it should be done gradually over time. If you want to learn how to implement progressive overload in your training for optimal growth, read What is Progressive Overload?
I have outlined four other important factors to consider when selecting exercises, but discussing them all in this post may make it voluminous. To make things easier to digest, I’ll publish the remaining four in the next post. You should subscribe now if you haven’t already so that you don’t miss the notification.
See you soon, and until then, enjoy the gains!