New Workouts, Based On the Most Effective Exercises

Hey everyone,

We try to stay up-to-date on new practices and events in the fitness world by regularly perusing certain fitness blogs.  Recently, while reading through Ben Bruno's excellent compilation of 'Good Reads' (http://www.benbruno.com/2012/04/good-fitness-reads-3/), we checked out an article titled 'Top 10 Weight Training Exercises for Building Muscle' (http://jasonferruggia.com/weight-training-exercises/).  This article provided an interesting take on the most effective exercises, which inspired us to modify our workouts.

So far after 2 workouts, we haven't transformed into Arnold - but they were good workouts!

As we went through the list of exercises, we had to agree that these were fundamental, tough exercises that should be a part of your fitness routine.  That said, we felt that at least one exercise was missing - pullups!  We couldn't imagine upper body or back workouts that didn't include pullups, so we added  that in as #11 - then we added in reverse pushups (although any type of heavy row could suffice) to make it an even dozen.  Here's the list we were left with:

1.       Snatch

2.       High-pull

3.       Overhead press

4.       Squat

5.       Deadlift

6.       One-arm row

7.       Flat or incline press

8.       Farmer’s walk

9.       Kettlebell swing

10.   Car pushing (weather-dependent)*

11.   Pullup

12.   Reverse pushup

* Car pushing is not listed in the article... Sled dragging/pushing is.  However, lacking this equipment, we picked this alternative.  If weather is not cooperative, we will substitute any heavy, compound leg movement (particularly quad-focused ones).

With this list of a dozen, effective and challenging exercises, as well as our previously practiced method of eliminating 'filler' exercises (see posts on 'One-A-Day' program), we came up with 4 new workout foundations:

Workout A:

1.       Squats

2.       Kettlebell swings

3.       Car pushing (alternatives: lunges, TGUs, etc.)

Workout B:

1.       Deadlifts

2.       High pulls

3.       Farmer’s walks

Workout C:

1.       Snatches

2.       Flat or incline press

3.       Overhead press

Workout D:

1.       Pullups

2.       One-arm rows

3.       Reverse pushups

Stay tuned, as we describe how we applied these workout foundations to custom design some awesome workouts that have been fun and challenging!

- Tannys & Alex