So we’ve talked about technique, now it’s time to see what exercises to apply that to. This is going to be a difficult section to write for as there are an almost endless amount of movements to choose from. Physical education stretches back a long time and really the fundamentals haven’t changed that much over time, like with nutrition though fads have come and gone with the advent of marketing.
There’s only a select few people who actually enjoy spending time in gyms, so we’re going to concentrate on the minimum effective dose here, in that what is the maximum benefit in the shortest amount of time or the biggest bang for your buck!
Enter compound movements, and to explain that term it means movements that move more than one joint. As an example think of a squat movement vs a leg extension. The primary joints moving in the squat are your ankle, knee and hip, this consequently means there are also more muscles acting upon those joints to produce that movement.
There’s only a select few people who actually enjoy spending time in gyms, so we’re going to concentrate on the minimum effective dose here, in that what is the maximum benefit in the shortest amount of time or the biggest bang for your buck!
Enter compound movements, and to explain that term it means movements that move more than one joint. As an example think of a squat movement vs a leg extension. The primary joints moving in the squat are your ankle, knee and hip, this consequently means there are also more muscles acting upon those joints to produce that movement.
If we compare this to something like a leg extension, the only joint moving is the knee, and so is deemed an ‘isolation’ exercise using just your quads. This is not to say that isolation exercises are useless, they certainly have their place but if you’re goal is efficiency of time spent in the gym, priority should be given to the compound exercises.
So now we know how to act upon more than one joint we can go about choosing specific exercises with this in mind and categorise different movements.
We’re going to categorise most movements into a simple system that’s used by coaches the World over, there’s a bit of debate about who actually came up with this categorisation but suffice to say the vast majority of exercises fit into these headings…
So now we know how to act upon more than one joint we can go about choosing specific exercises with this in mind and categorise different movements.
We’re going to categorise most movements into a simple system that’s used by coaches the World over, there’s a bit of debate about who actually came up with this categorisation but suffice to say the vast majority of exercises fit into these headings…
Knee Dominant
Squat variations > lunge variations > leg extensions etc.
Hip Dominant
Deadlift variations > Kettlebell swings > Glute bridges etc.
Upper Horizontal Push
Pushups > Bench press variations etc.
Upper Horizontal Pull
Row variations > seated row > one-arm row etc.
Upper Vertical Push
Shoulder Pressing variations
Upper Vertical Pull
Pullup variations > lat pulldown etc.
Core
Crunches, planks, rotations etc.
Choosing the exercise variations of the above is likely going to be pretty individual. If you’re a beginner it’s perfectly reasonable to do machine versions of all the above to build your confidence and strength before moving to dumbbells or barbells, providing your technique is up to scratch of course.
We’ll discuss programming those exercises in the next article but a very simple workout structure could simply be picking 3 exercises, one exercise for the legs, one push and one pull, and make them into a circuit, pick different exercises the following day.
As an example:
Legs: Squat X 10reps
Push: Pushups X 10reps
Row: TRX/Suspension trainer row X 12reps
In the above example, pretty much all body parts are covered in 3 compound movements and keeping it simple gives you a pretty effective workout. We’ll delve into more detail on this in the next part on programming.
As usual if you’ve any questions please drop us a line.
Choosing the exercise variations of the above is likely going to be pretty individual. If you’re a beginner it’s perfectly reasonable to do machine versions of all the above to build your confidence and strength before moving to dumbbells or barbells, providing your technique is up to scratch of course.
We’ll discuss programming those exercises in the next article but a very simple workout structure could simply be picking 3 exercises, one exercise for the legs, one push and one pull, and make them into a circuit, pick different exercises the following day.
As an example:
Legs: Squat X 10reps
Push: Pushups X 10reps
Row: TRX/Suspension trainer row X 12reps
In the above example, pretty much all body parts are covered in 3 compound movements and keeping it simple gives you a pretty effective workout. We’ll delve into more detail on this in the next part on programming.
As usual if you’ve any questions please drop us a line.
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