Really. I wish someone told me this many years ago when I started lifting that 80-90% of your training should be The Magic 8. These are time proven lifts/exercises which built tons of muscles and strength. For decades. New routines come and go, new machines and gadgets hit the market but if you build your program around these Magic 8, you can't go wrong. For years. For decades. Bored? Play with frequency, volume, sets & reps, stances, bands, chains, blah, blah. But don't change the bread and butter lifts.
The Magic 8:
1 - Squat
Enough said. The 1st powerlift and the best exercise ever. "But I have long legs and I can't squat!" Crap. Find your technique. I myself have spider long legs and it took me a while before I found my optimal form: slightly wider than shoulder width, with Oly shoes, sitting quite back with a solid forward lean. Do squats. Do not find excuses. If you do not do squats you are just lazy. Squats build legs, hips, glutes, lower back and abs. Bored? It's ok to be bored, we are humans, not robots. Do some variation for a while but then go back to regular power squat, for decades. Useful variations: pause squat, Oly squat, box squat, pin squat. Do your power squat 1-4 times per week.
2 - Front squat
Very close second to the power squat. Plus if you have long legs you might find like me that front squats feel much more natural to you than regular squats. Front squats build massive quads, strong middle and upper back and core of steel. Go deep. Really deep. Waaaaay below parallel. Go heavy. Go low reps and high reps. I like 4 sets of 8 of 4 sets of 5. Your front squat should be around 75-80% of you back squat. If not, your quads are weak. Front squats is the best assistance for deadlifts. Variations? None. Just do your front squats.
3 - Deadlift
Sumo or conventional. If you are long legs and short torso, you will probably prefer conventional. If you are short legs and longer torso, probably sumo is better for you. But not necessarily. Deadlifts build everything: legs, hams, lower back, upper back, middle back, traps, abs. Be careful with volume and frequency, they can fry your CNS like nothing else. No, deadlifts are not harmful for your lower back. Check some of the best pullers on Youtube, the axis of rotation is in the hips, not lower back. Lower back stays rigid throughout the whole lift. Conventional builds more back while sumo builds more the hips, glutes and hams. One feeds the other. Pull twice a week, once heavy with your competition stance and once the opposite style for assitance. For example you do 5 sets of 3 with 80% of your conventional pull (competition style) and 3 days later you do 3 sets of 8 sumo with moderate weight. Variations? All kinds of deficit pulls, pulls with chains and bands. I do not think rack pulls help the traditional pull because the form is alternated. Try pulls to the knees and be humbled.
4 - Romanian deadlift
Yes, I think it is that importnat. Looking for an exercise which works your lats, middle back, lower back, glutes, hams? Well, look no further, Romanian DL is the answer. Go pretty heavy. I like 3 sets of 8 pretty heavy or lighter 2 sets of 20. They kill glutes and hams like nothing else. Don't blame me if you have to buy bigger jeans couple of months later cause your legs and butt do not fit anymore.
5 - Bench press
Hmmm, why did I put bench press as the 5th lift while it is the most popular gym lift ever known to humankind? Well, at the meet the math is simple. You can usually lift much more in the squat and deadlift than in bench press. 600 lbs (270kg) raw bench press is very unique and there are only handful of people who can do that but 600 lbs (270kg) squat and dead can be done by thousands of people all around the world. Concentrate on your pull, squat and bench, in that order. Yet, bench press is a terrific exercise. Hits pecs, delts, triceps and and tons of other supporting muscles. Learn the proper form and your shoulders will thank you. You can bench 2-5 times a week and still recover well but you have to manipulate intensity vs. volume. Bored? The variations here are endless: paused bench, close-grip bench, incline, decline, chains, bands, reverse bands, etc., etc.
6 - Floor press
A terrific exercise. Takes the lats and legs somewhat out of the move and overloads your pressing muscles big time. I like doing floor presses for 6 sets of 8 with moderate weight. My floor press ROM is from 1" above chest to lockout and I always go close-grip. I do not know better exercise for triceps. Sometimes, after the 6 strength sets, I do a set of 20 reps with moderate weight for hypertrophy in front delts, triceps and pecs.
7 - Standing press
For a raw bench press, if your overhead press goes up, so does your bench press. These two really complement each other like sumo pull and conventional pull. I like going semi heavy with lots of volume. For some reason the shoulders can tolerate lots of volume and frequency if you downturn the intensity a bit. I like 6 sets of 8 with moderate weight. Keep the lockout position for good 1-2 seconds for big traps involvement. Properly done shoulder press heals the shoulders because it forces scapulae do their proper rotation and trains all the small stabilization muscles. Variations? None. Do the standing overhead press. Get freakishly strong. Don't stop until you can press 5 sets of 5 with your bodyweight. You really can, trust me.
8 - Seated DB press
Another excellent shoulder builder and one of the best exercises for bench assistance. I like going medium heavy for lots of volume, 8 sets of 6, 6 sets of 8, 6 sets of 12, etc. Don't go explosive here, concentrate on piston-like controlled reps. Your goal here is not to break the world record but to build some huge shoulders.
Bam, here you have it. The Magic 8 exercises. Don't change them. Ever. Yes, you can round your routine with back work, abs, hams, lower back, arms, etc. But this is your bread and butter. You can add tons of other stuff AFTER your are done with your Magic 8. Your routine should be built around these 8 lifts 90% of your training time for years.
Here are some variations as you can couple them:
Training 5 times a week? (lucky bastard ... :-):
squat
bench
assistance
deadlift
bench
assistance
press
Romanian deadlift
assistance
front squat
seated DB press
assistance
floor press
squat
assistance
Training 4 times a week?:
squat
press
assistance
deadlift
floor press
assistance
front squat
bench press
assistance
Romanian DL
seated DB press
assistance
Training 3 times a week? (Actually, this is what I do at this moment ...):
deadlift
floor press
seated DB press
front squat
press
assistance
squat
bench press
Romanian DL
Assistance: T-bar rows, DB rows, low cable rows, shrugs, leg raises, incline sit-ups, flat DB presses, hypers, ham curls, hammer curls, triceps pushdowns, blah, blah. Here you can go crazy and do tons of variations. But it does not matter, actually, because it is just 10% of you training. The remaining 90% is The Magic 8, remember? :-)
