Thread: The Most Under- & Over-Rated Exercises?

Underrated: Weighted Dips

i agree on the bent rows, i see someone doing them at my gym maybe once a week or less, and i go almost every day.
over-rated: bicep curls. not that we dont need to do them, but i see guys come in the gym with pencil sized arms, spend an hour doing various types of bicep curls with crappy form, then leave.

Over rated: Bench, some people don't even do that exercise and have a big chest.

Under rated: Dead lifts, no one does these at my gym.

Over rated: Leg press - It's good, but when people come in and it's the only thing they do, that says something.

Under: Deads

Agreed about deadlifts.

Bench, some people don't even do that exercise and have a big chest.

Under- Face pulls and Incline Prone DB Rows

Oh, and this is due to Patrick (me knowing these exercises now)

Over-rated - Arnold Press
Under-rated: Bentover Rows

Overrated: Barbell Bench
Underrated: Bentover Rows

Overrated: Barbell Bench/Barbell Curls
Underrated: Deadlifts/bentover rows ...my brother and I are the only ones at our gym to do these exercises and people look at us as if they are thinking "What the hell are they doing"

Thigh master

Overrated: Barbell Bench Press
Underrated: Weighted Dips

Underrated of all time:
Deadlifts

Overrated: Curls or Bench

Overrated:Kickbacks
Underratedecline bench

It seems Bentover Rows seems to be the popular choice .. one question how do you do them? I am guessing since 'Row' is involved it is meant for the Back

How can bench press be overrated. That's probably because you're not lifting enough weight.

Originally Posted by Lord_of_the_GYM

It seems Bentover Rows seems to be the popular choice .. one question how do you do them? I am guessing since 'Row' is involved it is meant for the Back

click here

Over Rated: Rocking, swinging bicep curls in the squat rack (if you want to do a full body workout do the below exercise VVVVVVVVVVVV)

Under Rated: Deadlifts

under-rated: chinupschinupschinupschinupschinupschinupschinupsc hinups
chinupschinupschinupschinupschinupschinupschinupsc hinupschinupschinups.
(also a bit of straight leg deadlifting/good mornings thrown in)

At peak times the ONLY equipment you can GUARANTEE being unused is the bar in the sky. If anything, chinning is the ONLY exercise there is - same way that physics is the only 'true' science.

Over-rated: doing 25% incline bench press on the smith machine. What the feck is that all about? In fact, just about anything done on the smith machine. ----i've seen bi curls being done on good ol' smithy before now.

pull-ups are definitly underrated to its counterpart the lat pulldown.

"pull-ups are definitly underrated to its counterpart the lat pulldown"


no no no! SUPINATED chinups as wide as possible......not pull ups (which are palm pronated).


(he he he, my mistake)

Originally Posted by goal_500_bench

How can bench press be overrated. That's probably because you're not lifting enough weight.

bench press is over rated because its the only excercise that some people do. that and bicep curls

OVER rated? I cant see how the flat barbell bench-press could be over-rated when it works so many different body parts at the same time but what do I know. Under-rated? Those are usually the ones that are the toughest: bent over rows, deadlifts, squats. The guys who ask me how to increase their benchpress all get the same answer: deadlifts. Dont believe me? Try it.

It's overrated in the sense that every single common person flat benches solely because of how talked about it is when the incline, decline, and even dumbell work is just as beneficial if not more.

Originally Posted by soxmuscle

It's overrated in the sense that every single common person flat benches solely because of how talked about it is when the incline, decline, and even dumbell work is just as beneficial if not more.

I see what your saying. Its kind of like in baseball: The NYYankees are the pinnacle of baseball greatness because of ALL the world championships the outstanding tradition and because Boston didnt have one in A LOOOOONNNGGGGG time all Sox fans said "championships" were over-rated.....right? Now that they have the championship how do they feel?

The guys I know that think the bench press is over-rated cant bench very much. Is it MORE effective than other chest/back/shoulder/tricep excercise? Probably not. Is it cooler to incline 200lbs or to flat bench 350?

flat bench overrated
front squats underrated
stiff legged underrated
incline bench underrated
tri extensions overrated
reverse grip tri extensions underrated

Originally Posted by Maynard Keenan

reverse grip tri extensions underrated

I agree with you on that, they are never done and to me very effective.

Over-rated: Squat
Under-rated: Ab machines ( )

Originally Posted by myCATpowerlifts

Over-rated: Squat

Really?