Thread: What are your favorite exercise workout move/s and why ?

Traditional Deadlift -- I like this one because, like the squat, it is a full body effort in terms of power and major compound in terms of strength; it hits so many muscles in such a significant way. I like it more than the squat because I think the form is trickier and, while the squat can be seen as the most practical lift (i.e. man learns before anything else to squat..or stand), I think the deadlift is more practical because man is more likely to pick up heavy loads than hoist them on his shoulders.

The deadlift just annihilates. It takes full concentration, and always leaves you fatigued beyond belief.

Pec Deck- My favorite way to end a chest workout. I guess it's because I try to focus a little extra and feel the chest tighten with each rep. I like to go single arm reps on my last set.

clean and jerks

There's something awesome about taking a holding a heavy weight above your head knowing it was on the floor only a few seconds ago.

Olympic bar corner press. There are so many ways to perform this lift and they're all very, very effective.

Squats.

They just feel good. Plus leg DOMS is kind of enjoyable, unlike anywhere else - I find.

Squats.

There's over 50 reasons listed in another thread that I agree with why I like them.

Sumo Deadlifts - Feel so much better than a regular Deadlift. If it weren't for these, it would have taken me a lot longer to Deadlift from the floor following my back injury. Hip flexibility is a bitch. Can now do traditional ones, but Sumo is too fantastic to drop.

Weighted Pullups - Because they are awesome. Hanging weight off yourself and pulling up is something not everybody can do. Hell, not everybody can do bodyweight Pullups. Its a good marker of strength, and is on par with Bench/Squat/Dead if you ask me.

Muscle ups - because they are harder than weighted chins or pullups. It's a great combo for strength and explosiveness (and very few people can do more than 5 in a row).

squats
deadlifts
bench press
pullups

these 4 exercises, with regular variations, encompass 90% of the work ANY real bodybuilder needs to do

mmm, a nice big plate of front squats, with a side of power cleans.

French press, because nothing else puts mass on your triceps as well.
Barbell/ez bar curls, because nothing else puts mass on your biceps as well.
Weighted calf-raises on a raised platform, because nothing else puts mass on your calves as well.

squats,deads,and Arnold press

Originally Posted by PushAndPull

French press, because nothing else puts mass on your triceps as well.
Barbell/ez bar curls, because nothing else puts mass on your biceps as well.
Weighted calf-raises on a raised platform, because nothing else puts mass on your calves as well.

...

Originally Posted by Ben dur

...

I didn't include the compound exercises since they had already be said repeatly, and that gets boring-lol-. Besides deadlifts,squats,pull-ups,bench don't hit your arms or calves worth a shit, and anyone serious about bodybuilding or someone just interested in getting in shape can't neglect these muscles.

Originally Posted by PushAndPull

I didn't include the compound exercises since they had already be said repeatly, and that gets boring-lol-. Besides deadlifts,squats,pull-ups,bench don't hit your arms or calves worth a shit, and anyone serious about bodybuilding or someone just interested in getting in shape can't neglect these muscles.

Pullups and bench don't hit your arms?

Deadlifts and squats don't hit your calves?

Damn.

They sure hit mine!

Originally Posted by Built

Pullups and bench don't hit your arms?

Pull-ups do hit my forearms, bench does not.
Tricep/bicep is minimal at best these days for both exercises.

Originally Posted by Built

Deadlifts and squats don't hit your calves?

No, they never have.

That's gotta suck.

The best arms I see are almost invariably on the guys who do the least arm work. Ditto calves, but I suppose there are exceptions to everything.

What muscle groups seem to be the best-developed on you, PushAndPull?

Arms, lats, and quads/glutes are my best.
Although everything has good development except, my hamstrings. Hate those bastards.

There's always something. For years, for me, it was quads, delts and lats.

Now it's lats. And lats. Sigh.

What do you do for hams currently? Describe it in detail - PM me if you like so we can keep this thread clean.

If benching doesn't hit your tris, you aren't benching right. Ditto for chins and biceps, deads/squats and calves.

Originally Posted by gtbmed

If benching doesn't hit your tris, you aren't benching right. Ditto for chins and biceps, deads/squats and calves.

Ok, or your tri's and bi's are weak and therefore they feel them alot when you're doing compound exercises such as pull-ups or bench. The same goes for the squats/deadlifts. If you get done doing a set of squats and your calves are blasted then maybe you're doing something wrong.

Or you're confusing how something feels with how well you've stimulated it...

Ask Dave Tate or Louie Simmons how you bench 1000lbs. They'll tell you that tricep strength is immensely important.

Bis are greatly stimulated by pulling movements. Calves are huge stabilizers during squatting/deadlifting.

Your personal feeling after a workout does not invalidate biomechanics.

Originally Posted by gtbmed

Ask Dave Tate or Louie Simmons how you bench 1000lbs. They'll tell you that tricep strength is immensely important.

Right, and why don't you go ask Dave Tate or Louie Simmons if they do isolation tricep exercises and why they do them.

Originally Posted by gtbmed

Bis are greatly stimulated by pulling movements.

I'll admit that chin-ups are a decent exercise for biceps, but I don't like decent, I like great, like curls for your arms.

Originally Posted by gtbmed

Calves are huge stabilizers during squatting/deadlifting.
Your personal feeling after a workout does not invalidate biomechanics.

Lets how do my calves feel after a set of squats or deads?
Well they don't burn, and they are not pumped, or even feel remotely fatigued. Like I didn't do anything? Yup, bro if you don't know your body and just go on what some else wrote on the net that's fine. You bet my "feelings" matter to me. They help me gauge how well i'm isolating a muscle, or if i'm overcompensating with one, if it's fatigued, or if it not fatigued. The feelings of your body matter.

Actually, they don't.

Feelings don't indicate growth. Growth indicates growth.

That being said, yours aren't growing so let's see what we can do to fix that.

Re the assistance work Tate and others do, much of that has to do with tendon and joint health, and recovery.

Originally Posted by Built

Actually, they don't.
Feelings don't indicate growth. Growth indicates growth.

Can they indicate activity? Can you not feel your muscles when you're working out? Can muscles grow that are inactive? I'm not saying that your calves are inactive when you do squats, just saying they're just not active enough to see really good gains. That's me though, maybe somebody could get huge calf gains from doing just squats? Then again, some people could get huge calves from walking. The only thing that's worked for me is weighted calf raises and they've worked great, but calves seem to be a stubborn muscle for some people so it could just be me.

Originally Posted by Built

That being said, yours aren't growing so let's see what we can do to fix that.

My hamstrings are not developed because I've never consistently worked them out. Hamstrings are the only muscle I hate to workout. I don't know why I hate them but I do. So doing nothing gained nothing -lol- which is no shocker. I've started doing them now, so i'll have to see how that goes. I've worked out every other bodypart for yrs with fine results.

Originally Posted by Built

Re the assistance work Tate and others do, much of that has to do with tendon and joint health, and recovery.

I still bet they workout their triceps.

I hardly ever really feel my individual muscles working when I train and I rarely get DOMS.

Hasn't stopped me from growing one bit.

The only kind of training I really feel is "depletion workouts" - and trust me, nobody gets huge doing that!

Re Tate and triceps - yep,they work 'em. Like I said, a lot of that has to do with recovery and conditioning.

Listen, I work arms too. Love the feeling of it. I think it's helped some, too. But as I've been able to do chinups, and as my rows and bench have gone up, I've found myself needing less and less direct arm work. It just doesn't seem to contribute all that much to my arm size. That being said, it is my strong feeling that if you've got a part that's not responding, you're probably going to have to train it differently than you've been doing. If you do a lot of low rep heavy work and your hams grow but your quads don't, well, do higher rep, higher-volume quad work (this was MY "problem part"). In your case, for hams, it will mean "well, train them, fool!" LOL!

I'm glad you're working 'em now. Hams are HOT!

Tate and many powerlifters DO work their triceps, and they work them with (gasp) pressing movements. Most of what westside does is bench pressing with boards, bands, or from the floor or the rack. They have very strong and well-developed triceps.

Originally Posted by Built

I hardly ever really feel my individual muscles working when I train and I rarely get DOMS.

Do you get pumps?

Originally Posted by Built

In your case, for hams, it will mean "well, train them, fool!" LOL!

I'm trying -lol-