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Squats, dead lifts, bench presses, those are the Big Three. That's what you absolutely need to do, and if you do them it is where 90% of your results will come
by tjogin 16y ago
Squats, dead lifts, bench presses, those are the Big Three. That's what you absolutely need to do, and if you do them it is where 90% of your results will come from. It's also the only exercises you need to ever do.
Having said that, if you "like" some other exercise, like cable chest presses, dumbbell flyes, standing barbell bicep curls, crunches, or whatever, then fine do them (I do), but do so knowing that the Big Three should be the core of your exercise, and whatever else is complimentary.
- yummyfajitas 16y agoWhat about pullups? The big three you mention don't seem to hit your upper back, biceps or shoulders much. (I'm a novice, genuinely curious.)
- keeptrying 16y agoI would do chinups/pullups/pushups/dumbell-presses instead of bench press. If you have long arms then bench press can lead to shoulder injuries as you approach 1xBW if you dont do it right. Lots of great info at t-nation.com .
- tjogin 16y agoOf those, only the dumbbell presses are even an alternative to the bench press. Dumbbell presses are fine. But bench presses are better, and if you do them, you don't need to do dumbbell presses (but do, if you like them, I do too, as a complimentary exercise). Injuries are nothing to scoff at of course, and you should always make sure to not put on more weight than you can safely manage. Regardless of exercise method.
- keeptrying 16y agoI was trying to suggest other very useful exercises instead of bench presses. You need to do pullups if you do benchpresses else you'll have a big chest and weak back muscles. This will pull your shoulders in. And which will eventually lead to injuries. Yo In fact I've increased my bench by just working my back. Lots of people only work the "mirror muscles" (ie ones you can see when you check yourself out in the mirror) and this leads to shoulder injuries.
- tjogin 16y agoDead lifts work your back.
- zacharycohn 16y agoYou should include (weighted) pullups too, as something supplemental. This will develop the antagonistic (opposite) muscles as the bench press, and help prevent the hunched-shoulders-overdeveloped-pecs problem a lot of people get.
- tjogin 16y agoThey're great, better than the complimentary ones I listed, but not strictly necessary if you do the Big Three. The areas you mention are covered by the dead lifts, especially shoulders and upper back. The bicep is a relatively tiny muscle that we tend to over train because of its "reputation" so to speak, but at a beginner to intermediate level, it really does get enough from just the dead lifts. You might want to re-evaluate that when you can dead lift at least 2x your body weight though.
- sedachv 16y agoIf you are using your biceps at all when deadlifting you are doing it wrong and will eventually tear one of them. The thing to do to build biceps without doing curls are pulling motions - rows and pullups.
- tjogin 16y agoThe bicep isn't the primary muscle being used, but it isn't relaxed during the exercise either, and at a beginner to intermediate level, it simply isn't necessary to target the bicep specifically. That's what makes these compound exercises better than others; they involve lots of different muscles other than the primary ones.