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Squats. If you were only ever allowed to do one exercise, I would say the squats is the best. It hits the big muscles. Forces you to learn balance through the

Squats. If you were only ever allowed to do one exercise, I would say the squats is the best. It hits the big muscles. Forces you to learn balance through the range of motion. And improves flexibility. The hormone release from training big muscles under heavy weight will echo throughout the body and help stimulate growth everywhere. Deadlift is more fun, hits the big muscles, and you can go even heavier. But I don’t see the same benefits when I focus on a heavy deadlift cycle as compared to a heavy squat cycle.

ungamedplayer 2y ago
I find my CNR endurance improves with a heavy dl cycle much more so than a heavy squat cycle. The CNR fatigue really helps with getting to sleep and I feel better the following week(s).
- michaelrpeskin 2y ago
  Yes. That is totally true. You can feel the CNR stimulation deep in your soul. I feel great on a DL cycle and my proportions make me relatively much better at deads than squats so I tend to do them more. But I also recognize that for general health and fitness squats are probably better if you were forced to choose.
  - munksbeer 2y ago
    What is CNR?
    - michaelrpeskin 2y ago
      It's supposed to be CNS (central nervous system), but I made the same fat finger typo on my phone :)
nightowl_games 2y ago
I never recommend anyone do deadlifts. Deadlifts can cause back injury if not done properly. You shouldn't do deadlifts unless you are a serious lifter who is aware of proper form and paying attention to it.
- ndriscoll 2y ago
  The correct advice there is that you should do deadlifts and/or variations, but also for every weighted exercise, you should take the weight seriously and learn proper technique. Don't ego lift and let your form deteriorate. Done correctly it should be perfectly safe. Personally I've found overhead pressing to be prone to to pulling my back, and only do it with a belt now.
- dizhn 2y ago
  As long as we're bringing attention to things. Pull ups on a straight bar are also pretty bad. I have a bad wrist from that and it pretty much never healed.
  - nightowl_games 2y ago
    That sucks..I've been training pull ups for a year now. Making really slow progress. I also have wrist problems but haven't had it for years now. I had some amount of "tennis elbow".. I fixed it with some exercises and can't even remember which ones now. I think it might have been rolling my tricep and elbow on a lacrosse ball. Ever try that? You get numbness in your fingers? Could be elbow nerve..
    - dizhn 2y ago
      I ride a motorcycle and play guitar as well. That might be why i have issues. I have tried a bunch of things from time to time including what you said, but never with any regularity. I might give it another shot. By the way chinups on a straight bar are fine. For pullups one of those curved bars is recommended. (Usually one bar can do both).
- CPLX 2y ago
  Deadlifts also prevent back injury when they are done properly.
  - nightowl_games 2y ago
    > done properly I don't tell anyone to deadlift unless I'm there coaching them. Even then, I'm not good enough. You should get a qualified trainer if you want to deadlift, and you should make damn sure your doing everything else right first, sleeping, stretching, eating right, etc. The % of people who are gonna benefit from walking up to a bar and doing a deadlift right now in the West is probably something like 10%. You think it's not a big deal until you start meeting people who seriously injured themselves..some of them have been working out for years, some just getting started.
gwd 2y ago
> Deadlift is more fun, hits the big muscles, and you can go even heavier. Since this is in the context of benefits for older people, Stuart McGill, a back expert who has helped lots of power-lifters recover from major injuries, recommends against going for higher and higher PRs as you get older: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tM599A6wUAw&pp=ygUXaXMgZGVhZGxpZnRpbmcgd29ydGggaXQ%3D https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tM599A6wUAw&pp=ygUXaXMgZGVhZ... (What's not clear to me after watching the video was if just doing moderately-heavy sets of 12 would introduce the same kind of risk he's talking about.) ETA: The kind of injury he's talking about is decades-long cumulative bone and joint injury that only starts to be noticeable once you're 70. (Unless you're a wordl-class competitive athlete, in which case you notice a lot earlier.). Early in the video he talks about 50-year-old powerlifters coming to him, asking how they can continue to do PRs into their 60's. And he says, basically, do you want to do PRs through your 60's, or do you want to be able to get down on the ground and play with your grandkids when you're 85? Because I can help you do one or the other, but I can't help you do both. One of the points he makes frequently in his videos is that while bones can get stronger, similar to muscles, the rest time they need to actually recover from being stressed is a lot longer; something like 7 days. And so if you're deadlifting PRs for years and years, with only 3-4 days between maxed-out sets, you're going to be accumulating micro-fractures in your vertebrae, which will eventually catch up with you. Anyway, def worth the watch.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- lottin 2y ago
  Here's some responses to Mr McGill's remarks, which I think are interesting. Drs. Baraki and Feigenbaum's (from Barbell Medicine) response: https://player.fm/series/barbell-medicine-podcast/episode-290-reaction-to-hubermans-back-pain-podcast-and-april-2024-research-review https://player.fm/series/barbell-medicine-podcast/episode-29... Jonathon Sullivan's response (author of The Barbell Prescription): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O491cW89Ky8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O491cW89Ky8
  - gwd 2y ago
jawilson2 2y ago
Found Mark Rippetoe's account. If anyone is interested in learning about weight lifting, Starting Strength (by Mark Rippetoe) is a GREAT book to start with!
- michaelrpeskin 2y ago
  Ha! Yeah, he’s not wrong. But you do need to keep in mind that his main audience is 18 year old boys with tons of T running through their veins. Us old guys need to make adjustments to his plans.

ungamedplayer 2y ago

I find my CNR endurance improves with a heavy dl cycle much more so than a heavy squat cycle. The CNR fatigue really helps with getting to sleep and I feel better the following week(s).

michaelrpeskin 2y ago
Yes. That is totally true. You can feel the CNR stimulation deep in your soul. I feel great on a DL cycle and my proportions make me relatively much better at deads than squats so I tend to do them more. But I also recognize that for general health and fitness squats are probably better if you were forced to choose.
- munksbeer 2y ago
  What is CNR?
  - michaelrpeskin 2y ago
    It's supposed to be CNS (central nervous system), but I made the same fat finger typo on my phone :)

nightowl_games 2y ago

I never recommend anyone do deadlifts. Deadlifts can cause back injury if not done properly. You shouldn't do deadlifts unless you are a serious lifter who is aware of proper form and paying attention to it.

ndriscoll 2y ago
The correct advice there is that you should do deadlifts and/or variations, but also for every weighted exercise, you should take the weight seriously and learn proper technique. Don't ego lift and let your form deteriorate. Done correctly it should be perfectly safe. Personally I've found overhead pressing to be prone to to pulling my back, and only do it with a belt now.
dizhn 2y ago
As long as we're bringing attention to things. Pull ups on a straight bar are also pretty bad. I have a bad wrist from that and it pretty much never healed.
- nightowl_games 2y ago
  That sucks..I've been training pull ups for a year now. Making really slow progress. I also have wrist problems but haven't had it for years now. I had some amount of "tennis elbow".. I fixed it with some exercises and can't even remember which ones now. I think it might have been rolling my tricep and elbow on a lacrosse ball. Ever try that? You get numbness in your fingers? Could be elbow nerve..
  - dizhn 2y ago
    I ride a motorcycle and play guitar as well. That might be why i have issues. I have tried a bunch of things from time to time including what you said, but never with any regularity. I might give it another shot. By the way chinups on a straight bar are fine. For pullups one of those curved bars is recommended. (Usually one bar can do both).
CPLX 2y ago
Deadlifts also prevent back injury when they are done properly.
- nightowl_games 2y ago
  > done properly I don't tell anyone to deadlift unless I'm there coaching them. Even then, I'm not good enough. You should get a qualified trainer if you want to deadlift, and you should make damn sure your doing everything else right first, sleeping, stretching, eating right, etc. The % of people who are gonna benefit from walking up to a bar and doing a deadlift right now in the West is probably something like 10%. You think it's not a big deal until you start meeting people who seriously injured themselves..some of them have been working out for years, some just getting started.

gwd 2y ago

> Deadlift is more fun, hits the big muscles, and you can go even heavier. Since this is in the context of benefits for older people, Stuart McGill, a back expert who has helped lots of power-lifters recover from major injuries, recommends against going for higher and higher PRs as you get older: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tM599A6wUAw&pp=ygUXaXMgZGVhZGxpZnRpbmcgd29ydGggaXQ%3D https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tM599A6wUAw&pp=ygUXaXMgZGVhZ... (What's not clear to me after watching the video was if just doing moderately-heavy sets of 12 would introduce the same kind of risk he's talking about.) ETA: The kind of injury he's talking about is decades-long cumulative bone and joint injury that only starts to be noticeable once you're 70. (Unless you're a wordl-class competitive athlete, in which case you notice a lot earlier.). Early in the video he talks about 50-year-old powerlifters coming to him, asking how they can continue to do PRs into their 60's. And he says, basically, do you want to do PRs through your 60's, or do you want to be able to get down on the ground and play with your grandkids when you're 85? Because I can help you do one or the other, but I can't help you do both. One of the points he makes frequently in his videos is that while bones can get stronger, similar to muscles, the rest time they need to actually recover from being stressed is a lot longer; something like 7 days. And so if you're deadlifting PRs for years and years, with only 3-4 days between maxed-out sets, you're going to be accumulating micro-fractures in your vertebrae, which will eventually catch up with you. Anyway, def worth the watch.

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
lottin 2y ago
Here's some responses to Mr McGill's remarks, which I think are interesting. Drs. Baraki and Feigenbaum's (from Barbell Medicine) response: https://player.fm/series/barbell-medicine-podcast/episode-290-reaction-to-hubermans-back-pain-podcast-and-april-2024-research-review https://player.fm/series/barbell-medicine-podcast/episode-29... Jonathon Sullivan's response (author of The Barbell Prescription): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O491cW89Ky8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O491cW89Ky8
- gwd 2y ago

jawilson2 2y ago

Found Mark Rippetoe's account. If anyone is interested in learning about weight lifting, Starting Strength (by Mark Rippetoe) is a GREAT book to start with!

michaelrpeskin 2y ago
Ha! Yeah, he’s not wrong. But you do need to keep in mind that his main audience is 18 year old boys with tons of T running through their veins. Us old guys need to make adjustments to his plans.