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!
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 strengthening the entire backside of the body and torso 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:
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 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:
While these are the exercises that made my top 3 list, I certainly wouldn’t neglect exercises like 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 your strength overall.
Stay Strong AND Healthy!
-Scott
