I often get asked what my favorite exercises are, and while there are too many great exercises out there to choose from, if I had to narrow down my favorites, these would make the top 3 list!
Thanks to my friend and Humane League Atlanta Office Director, Chris Guinn, for the topic idea BTW!
1. Deadlift:
In my opinion this is hands down the best exercise you can do. It requires a lot of coordinated muscular effort to perform properly, is fantastic for strengthing the entire backside of the body and torso (i.e. core), and requires no special equipment – just a bar and a bunch of iron plates. In addition the deadlift is a very safe lift to perform as missing a deadlift has far fewer potential dangers than missing a squat or bench press. Plus there is just something raw and awesome about ripping a heavy barbell off the ground!
2. Pull-Up:
The pull-up is king of the upper body exercises as far as I’m concerned. I see way more people opting for the easier to perform lat pulldown. Pulldowns will not give you the same mid- and upper-back development as the pull-up. If you want to jack up your pull-up numbers here’s a simple plan. Test your max number of reps. Now do a set of half your max in-between sets of all your other exercises in your workout. If you can only do 4 pull-ups in a row, do a set of 2 between sets of all your other exercises. If you have 20 sets of exercises in your training session, you will end up knocking out 40 pull-ups throughout your workout. Do this for a few weeks then retest your max, you’ll be pleasantly surprised!
3. Kettlebell Clean and Press:
The kettlebell clean and press can be performed with 1 or 2 kettlebells and is one of the biggest “bang for your buck” kettlebell exercises you can do, as it works almost every muscle in the entire body. Kettlebells are a great addition to any strength and conditioning or fitness program and can be used almost anywhere. Sometimes I drag a kettlebell or two to the park and do a lighter weight conditioning workout outside if I want to get out of the gym for a bit. Kettlebells are great to keep at your house too in case you can’t get to the gym and need an efficient and effective full-body workout.
Photo credit Dani Taylor.
While these are the exercises that made my top 3 list, I certainly wouldn’t neglect exercises like full squats, various presses and pulls, and direct abdominal work; but putting a lot of hard work into my top 3 favorites will provide huge improvements in functional strength.
Stay Strong AND Healthy!
-Scott