My Least Favorite Exercises For Each Body Part



     We all have our favorite exercises (mine is the deadlift). We may even have a favorite exercise per body part (believe it or not, squats are my favorite for legs!) But what about our least favorite exercises for ourselves? I still strive to do them, especially if they are really great for growth or stretching and allowing blood to flow through the muscle. Here are the following exercises that I have (a little) disdain for for the following body parts.










     Chest- Cable Crossovers

     These can give you a good stretch and pump into your chest, but a lot of this exercise has to do with stability so to speak. Personally if you are looking for a good stretch, do dumbbell flyes. I swear by them


     Legs- Lunges

    Like I said, I love squats. other exercises such as leg press, leg extension, leg curls, etc. You can pretty much do the exercise "bang bang"  but lunges you need to utilize each leg separately and it just seems like it takes forever. I will say though, when I do incorporate them, they do wonders, but it is more of a mental game for me when doing them


    Back- Pull Ups

    Now hold on, I believe these are great to do, especially for a heavier lifter that carries more body mass and a good test of strength. But by the time I do them I am already gassed from doing deadlifts, bent rows, lat pull downs, etc. I could try to do them first but I like to be fresh for my big lift(s). (That's just me personally, others may benefit doing it the opposite of me)


    Shoulders- Barbell Shrugs

    I don't know what it is, but I personally never seemed to benefit from these much. If I do shrugs, I prefer to do them with dumbbells because it seems to engage my traps more. Other exercises I like doing for my shoulders are Barbell and Dumbbell shoulder press, Lateral Raises, Arnold Presses or other pushing movements that target my shoulders along with my delts and traps.


    Biceps-  Barbell Curls

     This one is kind of a head scratcher. I mean Barbell Curls are arguably the king for building mass and strength for your biceps. (And I do do them) I think right now it just has to do with age and having a nagging injury (nothing to serious) in my right bicep.  I benefit just as well from doing Dumbbell curls and Hammer Curls. Preacher Curls also help me with my peak and allow me to focus more on the bicep and prevents me from cheating as much as I may/would on regular Barbell Curls.


   Calves-  Calf Raises

     It's not that I really hate them, It's just that 1. It's basically the only exercise that primarily focuses on your calves. 2. Your calves can grow and gain strength from doing squats and deadlifts properly. Hell, even my least favorite exercise Lunges can help with calf development. I think for me is because I do not naturally have big calves and the fact I could probably do thousands of reps for calves and still not (at least noticeably) see a difference.




 I am not saying to not to do these exercises or any exercise you yourself may hate doing. (Sometimes what you may benefit from most is the thing you may hate doing). But I just wanted to share my least favorite exercises for my body parts. I plan on doing a piece of my favorite exercises for each of my bodyparts as well!





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"Now's The Time"

Image
    I approach the weight, contemplating what I must do to complete the lift. Thinking what and when I need to do to make sure I get the lift, or get as many repetitions I intend to think of. Fear, anger, anxiety, worry of failure, the thought of being victorious are all mixed in with adrenaline, when I realize "now's the time" to get the lift!  If you're fearing a certain weight due to a mental block, tell yourself "now's the time" to lift the weight.  If you're pacing back and forth trying to figure out how you're going to get 10, 12, 15 reps tell yourself, "now's the time".  Or if you're like me and you have been away from the game and sport of lifting for a while and you are wondering when and how you are going to get back into it or are thinking about starting lifting weights for the first time, tell yourself "now's the time". video of my 500lb bench press below My 500lb Bench Press
Read more

My Opinion Of Wrist Straps

Image
     Just like with anything in life, when you are trying to benefit from something, it can have both a pro and con. And with lifting, wrist straps are the same way. I never used them (mainly because I could never get them to wrap tightly and it just felt unnatural and weird for me) but wanted to share what I believe are both good and the downside of them.      The upside to using them is that your muscles can be focused on more. For example when doing deadlifts or something else such as barbell shrugs you can force out a few more reps which therefore would cause more muscle stimulation, hence allowing for more growth. Another exercise where I once read where you can benefit from using straps is lat pull downs. Basically any exercise that can and will benefit from this will be a pulling movement. Here comes the downside, which Im sure any and all readers will see as obvious, it can weaken your grip strength.      As I said I...
Read more

How To Properly Set Up For The Squat

Image
     Hey everyone! So when it comes to squats, some already dread the fact of thinking of doing that, but the hard part is actually doing them. A lot of the problems that beginners face (and I was guilty of it myself) is setting the squat up properly. Powerlifting legend Kirk Karowski showed me this set which allows me to get into the squat position quicker and safer as well as preserving energy to do the squat. Follow these steps in the video I show the set up so you don't continue making the same mistakes!        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRe9DH1Z_eE&feature=youtu.be    
Read more