Exercise has becoming more difficult than it should be. It seems like a new fitness fad is announced as "the best for growing muscle" or "guaranteed to lose X amount of fat in X amount of days" every week. Some of these trends are quite helpful; group exercise courses like orangetheory can be fun ways to exercise. However, some of them (I'm looking at you, crossfit) are not particularly helpful.
It can be a little overwhelming trying to choose the finest specialty gyms, content providers, fitness influencers, and trends because there are so many. Particularly for someone starting to exercise. It can be more difficult than calculus to choose between Peloton classes, Pure Barre, Planet Fitness, your friend's cousin's online Zoom workout at home programme, and Thor's Super Hardcore Iron Muscle Paradise.
Since exercising doesn't have to be difficult, I'll try to keep this as straightforward as I can. Exercise can be done at home with equipment or supplies you can find around the house or in a basic gym setting. The main components of a well-rounded fitness regimen are resistance and cardiovascular training. Exercise is intended to improve our health and general well-being.
I've condensed everything into seven basic exercise movements while keeping all of those factors in mind. These seven exercises are the cornerstone of a well-rounded training regimen, regardless of your level of fitness. By include these seven exercises in your training regimen, you'll not only reduce the complexity of the contemporary fitness industry but also improve the health, strength, and daily functionality of your body.
I'll go over the following for each of the seven exercises:
1. The exercise's effectiveness (how it carries over into day-to-day life)
2. The principal muscles and supporting muscles that the workout targets
3. Various methods of carrying out the activity
1. Squat
Functionality: Regardless of our level of fitness experience, the squat is without a doubt the most functional exercise for everyone. The squat helps us stand up or sit down from a chair or other seating surface, which is something that everyone does on a daily basis (barring those who are bedridden). Our capacity to go up and down stairs, leap, and pick something up off the ground is all improved by squatting, which also strengthens our legs and core.
The quads, glutes, and hamstrings are the main muscles that the squat targets. The lower back, calves, abdominals, and foot intrinsics are the muscles that the squat targets as secondary muscles.
Squats can be carried out solely using body weight. The simplest method to do a squat is to stand up and sit down from a chair, which is how I teach novices to do them. With a weight in the hands, a barbell on the shoulders, or bands set on the floor and held up by the arms, one can perform squats. Squats can be performed with just one leg by advanced athletes. Although the squat is a fairly adaptable exercise, its fundamental movement should be a part of everyone's programme, provided they are physically able to carry it out.
2. Hinge
Function: The movement of the hinge is both effective and safe. As a door spins on its hinge, you should hinge at your hips. To avoid your back from rounding and add to the pressure on your lower back, lean forward at the hips when reaching for anything on the floor or putting on your clothes and shoes. Every time we move something heavy from a lower surface, stoop to pet a dog, or perform household chores, hingeing safeguards our lower back.
The entire posterior chain, or the muscles on the rear of our bodies, is targeted by the hinge. The main muscles involved in the hinge movement are the glutes, hamstrings, calves, lower back muscles, and back extensor muscles. They actively help us raise ourselves back up by actively controlling our spine as we lower ourselves. The abdominals, lats, quads, foot, and traps are the auxiliary muscles used in the hinge movement.
Methods: The deadlift exercise is the main hinge movement used in gyms. A barbell, dumbbells, kettlebells, cables, or anything else that can be picked up off the ground can all be used to complete this exercise. The premise of the deadlift remains the same: hinge at the hips, lift something, and lower it back down. Different deadlift variations target different muscles more effectively than other variations. Kettlebell swings, good mornings, pull-throughs, cleans, hip thrusts, and squats (again!) are more versions of hinge exercises.
3. Push
Functionality: Both athletes and non-athletes can use push movements in a variety of everyday tasks. Athletic actions like kicking a ball or pushing someone aside come to mind. Push movements help with everyday tasks like opening doors, moving furniture, getting out of bed, and punching in martial arts or self-defense.
Push motions frequently focus on the shoulders and pectorals, or the chest muscles. Push actions are made possible by the rotator cuff muscles, shoulder blade stabiliser muscles, traps, biceps, triceps, and abdominals.
How to Perform: The bench press, which can be done with a bar or dumbbells, is the major push exercise that is most frequently done in a gym setting. Other routines that strengthen our ability to push include shoulder presses, flyes, sled pushes, and jerks. These are all standard workouts in a gym setting. Additionally, there is the dreaded pushup (arguably the best upper body exercise in my opinion). Another way to add push actions that might increase our strength and reduce tension is to box or punch a punching bag.
4. Pull
Functionality: We use our upper body for pulling just as frequently as we do for pushing, if not more so. From pulling up our jeans to picking something (or someone) up off the ground to opening a door, pulling is a common action. Pulling exercises target the same muscles that are involved in posture control, even though these muscles are not directly involved in pulling actions themselves. We maintain good posture when sitting at a desk, reading a book, or standing straight, preventing pain in our shoulders and neck, by maintaining our back and shoulder muscles strong and effective. The pull is undoubtedly the most advantageous upper body exercise in terms of upper body power and application to daily life.
The lats, rhomboids, traps, biceps, and back extensor muscles are the main moving muscles used in pulling actions. The lats are the broad muscles that frequently give us our "width" in our upper body; they originate from our spine and fan out over our back to connect to our shoulder. The rhomboids and traps are the upper back muscles. Our rotator cuff muscles, neck muscles, and abdominals are examples of accessory pull muscles.
Methods: For those who can do them, the traditional pull-up is the most popular type of pull exercise in the gym. Modifications may be made, including machine assistance, band assistance, or assistance from a third party. Rows are perhaps the second most popular way to pull. With a barbell, free weights, cables, or a machine, rows are a flexible exercise. Rows can be executed with one or two hands at a time, horizontally, vertically, or inverted. Deadlifts, shrugs, curls, and rowing machines are additional pulling activities.
5. Lunge
Functionality: The lunge is likely the hardest exercise on this list of seven, but it's also arguably the most effective for developing lower body and core strength. We rely on the strength in our legs when we lunge down to pick something up off the ground, pet a dog or cat, or tie our shoes. Moving up and down stairs, for example, requires a lot of lunging. The finest exercise on our list for balance, core strength, and posture control is the lunge. This exercise is a well-rounded, total-body workout because it requires the stability needed to balance primarily on one leg, stay upright, and stretch our sometimes tight hips and ankles.
Targeted Muscles: The quadriceps, glutes, hamstrings, inner and outer thighs, calves, and abdominal muscles are the main muscles targeted during a lunge, depending on the variant. According to the type of lunge being done, these muscles are also the main auxiliary muscles.
Methods: The quadriceps and calves receive the majority of the effort during the forward lunge, with the glutes and hamstrings serving as accessory muscles. The reverse lunge functions in the opposite way, placing more weight on the hip and less on the knee. Lateral lunges focus more on the muscles of the inner and outside thighs. Step-ups and split squats are two other lunging types. Lunges can be done while standing still or while moving, in one, two, or all three planes of motion, with or without a twist.
6. Carry
Functionality: The frequently overlooked carry is an exercise that works every muscle in the body. The term "carries" at the gym can refer to carrying a child, a pet, a suitcase, or groceries (or an adult, if needed). We carry objects of all sizes when we move them about in our hands, from the size of a cell phone to a person. Carries are a terrific technique to test your balance, posture, and core strength. We put the other side of our body to work keeping us upright, balanced, and symmetrical when we hold something in one hand.
Muscles Targeted: When performing unilateral carries, the shoulder girdle muscles, biceps, triceps, hand and grip muscles, obliques, and lateral hip/ankle musculature are exercised. On the other side, our upright posture and stability are maintained by the obliques, abdominals, glutes, and ankle stabilisers. Regardless of whether side is being challenged, walking engages and works our leg and trunk muscles. The front of our body receives the weight when we carry anything bilaterally (with two hands). In order to move forward and carry the weight, our front muscles must work harder than our back muscles, which must maintain our upright posture.
Performing Carries: Carries can be done bilaterally or unilaterally. Suitcase and overhead carries are examples of unilateral carries. Box or weighted carries, as well as sled drags, which place more focus on the legs, are examples of bilateral carries. Carries can be performed faster to aim speed/power or slower to target strength. Performing carries with uneven weight distribution on each side can make it harder for us to maintain our balance and control our posture.
7. Walk
Functionality: There are many various ways to engage in cardiovascular exercise, but walking is the one activity that (almost) everyone engages in on a daily basis. To make walking more or less difficult and to increase our ability to walk up hills, up/down stairs, on uneven ground, and in varied situations, we can change our speeds, surfaces, and inclines. Every system in the body benefits from walking, making it the finest workout for overall health.
Muscles Targeted: Walking is carried out by the quadriceps, hamstrings, calves, ankle musculature, glutes, abdominals, and postural muscles (every skeletal muscle in our body helps us walk). Every time we take a walk, our cardiac (heart) muscle is stretched and strengthened.
Ways to Exercise: There are several places where you can walk, including hills, parks, tracks, sidewalks, and elliptical machines. Get up from the couch and take a stroll!
These are the seven essential motions of any well-rounded workout regimen, regardless of where or how you exercise. Depending on your requirements, level of experience, and desire for challenge, you can (and should) modify any of these exercises. The greatest strategies to organise your exercise routine, move at your best, and increase your functionality in daily life are the seven exercises listed below.
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