One of Our Strength Coach's Favorite Exercises

I’m starting my list off with an exercise that I include in almost all of my lower body workouts. The rear-foot elevated squat is performed in a split stance, with the back foot elevated on a pad or a bench. Out of this
position, you perform a squat with most of your weight on your front leg. This exercise targets the glutes and quads, while placing minimal stress on the low-back compared to the traditional barbell back squat. Because of the amount of muscle that this exercise works, the rear-foot elevated squat is a high-effort, high-intensity, and high-reward exercise that lights your legs on fire like no other. This exercise will leave you out of breath and will make climbing a flight of stairs challenging the next day if done right and at a high intensity. You can perform this exercise with or without weight depending on your ability, and the results are certainly worth the challenge.

When it comes to training your back and biceps, there is no better exercise to get good at than the pull-up. The ability to do pull-ups is a great predictor of your overall health because it is a good indicator of overall strength as well as a good indicator of your body composition. Regardless, pull-ups are an exercise that we should all be working on to get better at no matter what level of fitness you are at. There are many ways to modify the pull-up to make it easier, such as a band-assisted pull-up. You can also make the pull-up harder by doing weighted pull-ups, which is one of my go-to exercises. By varying your grip on the bar, you can switch between narrower grip, wide grip, overhand grip, and underhand grip to change which muscles you are targeting. Chose the right pull-up variation for your ability and give them a try.

The dumbbell bench press or any variation of the dumbbell bench press is a no-brainer when it comes to selecting an upper body push exercise to add size and strength to your chest, shoulders, and triceps. While bench pressing with a barbell is effective in building upper body pushing strength, the barbell bench press often places greater strain on the rotator cuff muscles of the shoulder and can more quickly cause overuse injuries for
many people. One of the mistakes that I made with my training was bench pressing with a barbell twice a week every week until I ended up with a nagging right shoulder. Switching to dumbbell bench press has helped me
to continue to bench press without any shoulder pain. Another advantage of this exercise is that there is a greater freedom of movement that is both safer and more effective in building muscle. The dumbbell bench press can be performed on a flat bench as well as an incline bench and I recommend giving both a try.

The single leg deadlift is another staple exercise of my lower body workouts and is a great exercise to target the glutes and hamstrings. The single leg deadlift can be performed without weight for beginners, and with weights in the opposite hand or both hands for those looking to increase the load. The single leg deadlift is a hip hinge that is performed on one leg, and the details matter for doing this exercise effectively. Focus on keeping your hips level, your spine neutral and focus all of the movement on your hip to ensure that you are working your glutes and hamstrings. This exercise puts minimal strain on the lower-back when done correctly and is a great alternative to the barbell deadlift for those looking to add strength to their lower body.

I recommend that you give these exercises a try in your workout program and enjoy the results from each of them. While these are my favorite exercises, make sure that you or your trainer find the exercises that you enjoy and that are right for your goals.