The Most Important Exercises

The most important exercises in the gym are the ones you need.  These needs are a mixture of your goals, your ability and your experience.  The most important exercises for two people will rarely be the same.  There are most definitely exercises that will overlap.  An exercise like a squat will be important for most people.  These common exercises will give you a good list of things to do often.  You could probably get a good “Top Ten Exercises” list out of these.  The next ten exercises will be where the magic and art of training happen.

It may not be obvious what these second-tier type exercises should be for an individual.  These exercises should address something that is important to the individual.  Some of these exercises should address your goals.  If your goal is to bench press 400 pounds, you are going to need big strong triceps.  You will need to do a lot more triceps exercises than a normal person just wanting to be “fit.” These exercises will be very important to your progress, when to your friend they won’t matter much at all.  Other exercises will be important to you because they address your weaknesses.

At some point to get better in the gym you will need to proactively address your weaknesses.  I personally have a naturally weaker back.   I must constantly be training my spinal erectors to keep them performing up to my standards.  You will have your own weaknesses to address.  This is where injury prevention comes into play as well.  If you are more susceptible to a specific injury than it would be wise and important to add exercises to mitigate this risk.  Neck training exercises are very important for football players, I can’t say there is a lot of benefit for a cross country runner doing them.  These concepts are not too hard to understand but the practice of finding these important exercises is a little harder at times.

Finding the right exercises is a mental exercise itself.  It will not always be obvious what your weak point is.  Sometimes you can be stuck at a plateau until you find the right exercise to add in to get moving again.  That exercise whatever it is, that is an important exercise.  In time you will become good at finding these exercises.  Actively engaging in this mental process will only enhance your training.

Useful Links                                                        

I am constantly on the search for new ways to get stronger, healthier and more awesome.  Here are some of the best things I have found lately.

Another good Table Talk Podcast from Dave Tate.  Worth a listen for the training and thoughts on life.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rR7LETkZyJM&t=123s

Great look here at assessing bench press weakness and solutions.  https://www.elitefts.com/education/movement-tiers-for-bench-press-weakness/

This was a good video discussing butt wink if you have that problem squatting.  Even if you don’t have that problem, it is worth a watch just for the discussion of anatomy.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuWxLb-iYlg

Training made simple in this article.  This is a good intro to training type article.  https://www.elitefts.com/education/simple-does-not-mean-easy/