With more and more fitness influencers on IG, TikTok, Youtube, to drive content and clicks they come up new exercises all the time and try to persuade people "this is the newest best exercise for XYZ".
Do we need to change exercises? Probably. With new stimulus the muscles respond better, the brain responds a little better to newness, there is new excitement with a new exercise for some time.
However, we should remember muscles recognize stress, nothing more. The back muscles do not know whether you are doing barbell rows, chest-supported rows or dumbbell rows. They respond to stress, load, different positions.
I strongly believe we benefit from changing accessory exercises, plyometric exercises, targeted hypertrophy exercises, exercises for muscle imbalances. These can be more modified with using bands, etc.
But there are a few basic compound exercises which are so great, with so great muscle and strength building qualities and tested by millions of lifters for decades that we should use them all the time and never change them. Sure, you can apply different loads, stances, tempo, etc. but they are so great they stay in the template for decades.
Here are my pics:
1/ SQUAT
Probably the best exercise for whole lower body development; quads, adductors, hams (to some extent), glutes, core. Variations? Low bar, high bar, box squats, tempo squats, pause squats, front squats.
Personal picks: low bar squat for heavy triples, front squat for heavy doubles, pause squats for heavy doubles.
2/ DEADLIFT
Whole lower body movement plus posterior chain. They hit so much muscle it is hard to believe. You should deadlift your whole life. One of the most basic human movements - to pick heavy sh*t off the groud. Variations? Sumo, conventional, deficit, RDL, pause deadlifts, deadlifts up to knees.
Personal picks: conventional for triples and doubles, deficit for heavy triples, RDLs for heavy 5's, pause deadlifts for triples which hit core like nothing else.
3/ OVERHEAD PRESSING
Also one of the basic patterns; overhead pressing hits shoulders, traps, triceps, middle back, core. Variations? OHP, push press, behind neck press, DB presses, KB press, KB thruster.
Personal picks: OHP for strict 5's, very heavy push press for heavy doubles, seated behind the neck press for 5's very strict with a pause at top. Barbell thrusters for time.
4/ BENCH PRESSING
No need for any intro here. Yes, you can bench press your whole life with cool shoulders, you just need to vary the loads and have solid surrounding muscles for support: upper back, lats, triceps, biceps. Bench pressing exercises hit chest, triceps, shoulders and serratus anterior muscles which are very important for posture. Variations? Bench press, close-grip bench press, board press, floor press, DB bench press, DB floor press, paused bench press.
Personal picks: bench press for triples, paused bench for doubles, close-grip bench press for 5's.
5/ BAR DIPS
This truly is an upper body squats. They hit triceps, pecs, shoulders in perfect sync. Variations? None. Just vary the load. Go bodyweight only for high-rep sets and super heavy with added weight.
Personal picks: very heavy for 5's or sets of 20 with bodyweight only.
6/ PULL-UPS
An exercise which has been around for 200+ years and righfully so. They hit upper back, lats, shoulders, mid back, biceps, forearms, grip. Dead hangs for 2+ mins cure shoulders. Just try them. Hang for 2+ mins and you'll feel all those little cracks and pops around your shoulders - wonder corrections for your posture. Variations? Grip mainly. Pronated, supinated, parallel, cobra pull-ups, BW only, with added weight.
Personal picks: very heavy pull-ups with added weight for triples and doubles. BW only high-rep pull-ups.
7/ ROWS
These really can add slabs of muscle to your frame. They add to bench press, squat and deadlift because a massive upper back = strong person overall. Variations: barbell rows, DB rows, Meadows rows for rhomboids, seal rows, machine rows, low cable rows.
Personal picks: strict seal rows where I have to use back muscles only. Very heavy DB rows.
That's about it. Variations and change is a spice of life, they say. Vary the loads, angles, frequency; change exercises for smaller muscle groups, lagging muscles, change jump exercises, plyometrics, add in Oly lifts variations, play with kettlebells, you name it. But the bread and butter should not change.
Been squatting and overhead pressing on Mondays for 25 years? Good. Change nothing and keep going. You are on the right track :-)
