The Best Exercises You Might Not Be Doing, #5, Lunges

I’ve had a few emails from readers lately, who provided me with a breakdown of their workouts. Most of them were relatively standard, but I did notice a few exercises that seemed to be missing. So I decided to write up a quick series of articles on some of the best exercises that most people are missing out on. Number 5 is going to be lunges.

The Basics

The lunge is one of the simplest leg exercises and yet, one of the best. A simple explanation is, place both of your feet together. Now lower your body down until the knee of your back foot almost touches the floor. Here’s a quick video from Cooper’s Guns on the basic dumbbell lunge.

Proper Form

The guy in the Cooper’s video is doing the lunge a bit too fast for my taste. I usually prefer the 3 and 3 rule. That means you should spend 3 seconds slowly going down and 3 seconds slowly coming back up to your starting position. However, his form is good otherwise. His knees are in good position. Notice how, when he’s at his lowest position, both his knees are just about at 90 degrees. That’s a good lunge right there.

Benefits

The lunge works out your entire upper legs area, reaching all the way up to your lower back and waist. It’s one of the most comprehensive legs exercises because it recruit every single leg muscle group you have. It’s also great for practicing stability. It can be done with zero equipment since even a basic body weight (no weights) lunge, is still good exercise.

Warnings

The lunge does place some pressure on the knees. So if you have bad knees, take it easy when you first try out lunges. Talk to your doctor if you’re worried and stop if you experience any pain.

Variations

The dumbbell lunge shown is the basic one, but there are lot of variations.

• Lunge and curl - When your body is at its lowest point, hold that pose and do a slow biceps curl with the weights you’re holding. This will work out your upper body and pushes your legs even harder as you try to maintain your form.
• Walking lunge - Instead of moving the forward back to your starting position, move the back foot up as though you’re taking a step forward. In essence, you’re walking, but each step is interrupted by a lunge.
• Barbell lunge - Use a barbell with some weights on rather than a curl. Allows for some higher weights to be used.
• Bench lunge - Same as a normal lunge except your back foot is on a bench. Not recommended for those, like me, who aren’t very flexible.
• Side lunge - The forward foot moves up but also to the side. It should move to the outside of the back foot. This will put more strain on your outer and inner thigh muscles. However, the few times I’ve done this, I almost fell over. Again, not recommended for the flexibility challenged.

Who’s Missing Out?

For the most part, it seems to be guys who are missing out on the lunge. For some reason, guys seem to think that upper body is where they should focus and ignore their legs.

Summary

The lunge is an easy exercise that can be done anywhere and at anytime. You can even do it at the office or on long plane ride as a way to stretch. Add a few weights and it’s an integral part of any workout.

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The Best Exercises You Might Not Be Doing, #4, deadlifts

I’ve had a few emails from readers lately, who provided me with a breakdown of their workouts. Most of them were relatively standard, but I did notice a few exercises that seemed to be missing. So I decided to write up a quick series of articles on some of the best exercises that most people are missing out on. Number 4 is going to be deadlifts.

The Basics

Like the lunge, the deadlift is both an exercise and a stretch. It’s a rather simple movement. Just stand up straight, feet slightly apart. Now bend down at the back, keeping your legs straight, until your fingers are at toe level. Hold for a second and straighten back up. Here’s the video of a dumbbell deadlift from Cooper’s.

Proper Form

The Cooper’s video is showing a stiff legged dead lift.  That means you’d lock your knees and then do the movement.  However, I prefer a slightly bent kneed stance.  Bend your knees just slightly so that you’re not locking them and then keep that stable.  You don’t want to increase or decrease the bend of your knees as you’re doing deadlifts.  That means you’re working out your knee and not your back.

Benefits

The deadlift is one of the best lower back exercises.  It also recruits many of the muscles in your legs for an even better workout.  Like the lunge, the deadlift can be done with no equipment.

Warnings

The deadlift does place a lot of strain on your lower back and on your knees if you choose to do the stiff leg pose.  You can minimize this a bit by bending the knees as I discussed in the form section, but you’ll still be putting strain on your lower back.  If you have a back issue, you’ll want to be careful with this one.

Variations

The dumbbell deadlift shown is the basic one, but there are lot of variations.

• Toe touches - No weights involved with this one but the form is essentially the same.  Just bend down at the waist and touch your toes with your fingers.
• Barbell deadlift - Same as the dumbbell one but with a barbell instead.  This allows for greater weights to be lifted.
• Bent knees deadlift - As discussed above, this is the same as the stiff legged deadlift shown in the video but with the knees slightly bent.  Less pressure on the knees this way and you recruit more of your leg muscles.  However, this is a harder form to maintain properly.

Who’s Missing Out?

The opposite of the lunge, it’s women who seem to overlook the deadlift.  Actually, I’ve noticed that women in general tend to overlook the back exercises.

Summary

Another easy exercise that can be done anywhere and at any time, the deadlift is useful as a workout and as a stretch.  It’s one of my favorite exercises to do as a break from work or from a long plane ride.  It’s also part of my back day and my legs day.

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The Best Exercises You Might Not Be Doing, #3, push ups

I’ve had a few emails from readers lately, who provided me with a breakdown of their workouts. Most of them were relatively standard, but I did notice a few exercises that seemed to be missing. So I decided to write up a quick series of articles on some of the best exercises that most people are missing out on. Number 3 is going to be push ups.

The Basics

Unlike our last two exercises, the lunge and the deadlift, push ups work the upper body. In fact, they work the entire upper body, from arms and shoulders to chest and abs. They even recruit some back and neck muscles to maintain good posture. Like the lunge, a push up is a simple movement. Straighten your whole body and balance yourself on your arms and toes. Now slowly lower your body down by bending your arms and then push up again. Here’s a video from Cooper’s on how to do a push up.

A couple of things about this video. First of all, Cooper’s likes to refer to a push up as a press up. That’s fine, it’s the same thing. Second, the variant shown here is a wide grip push up. There are quite a few variations which we will discuss a bit later.

Proper Form

My only comment about the Cooper’s video is the usual one, it’s too fast. Good form to me means going a bit slower. Remember the 3 and 3 rule. 3 seconds going down and 3 seconds coming up. Otherwise, this is great form for a push up. Note how the entire body is straight. Many people tend to either stick out their butts or sag around the middle section. Either one of these is bad. You should try to keep your whole body straight by tightening your abs and back muscles.

Benefits

The push up is an excellent upper body exercise. It uses quite a few muscles and recruits others to help in stabilizing your body. It’s completely equipment free which means you can do it anywhere. You do need a bit more space but that’s all. The push up can even be used as a cardio exercise of sorts. Just limit your movement and speed it up. That is, instead of lowering your body all the way down, lower it just part of the way down. Do that a few dozen times at a really fast pace and there you go, a bit of improvised cardio. The push up is relatively free of injury risk.

Warnings

The push up is relatively free of injury risk. The only things to watch out for are shoulder injuries. As usual, if it hurts, stop. If it keeps hurting, see a doctor.

Variations

The push up has dozens of variations, but here are a few:

• Kneeling push up - Instead of balancing your lower body on your toes, you’re going to be kneeling and just pushing your upper body up and down. This is a much easier variant and a good way for people to start out.
• Medicine Ball / Floor - And on the “I’m so fit I need to show off!” side of the spectrum, we have this variant which uses both the floor and a medicine ball. Don’t try this one unless you’re really well balanced and have a ton of upper body strength.
• Clapping Push Up - Another showy variant. I’m not a big fan of this one. It’s mainly for people who like silly gym tricks. To me, this adds too much injury risk without really adding enough workout benefit.
• One Handed Push Ups - And the ultimate in show off forms, the one handed. No clue why you would do this one. It’s not that good of an exercise.
• Close Grip Push Up - A bit more of a reasonable variant. This one will work your arms a bit more and your shoulders a bit less. Requires more balance work but I think it’s a great option to try out every once in a while.
• Hindu Push Up - I’d never even heard of this until a few months ago, but I got to say, I tried it and really liked it. It’s not as challenging on the arms but it’s a great whole body exercise. Plus it was a great back stretch.

Who’s Missing Out?

Quite a few people aren’t doing push ups.  Women seem to think of them as a “man’s exercise” while men tend to see pushups as something soldiers do, not gym goers.  I guess too many movies filled with “drop and give me 20 push ups!” have given the push up a bad image.  So let me clarify.  For you women, the push up will not make you into a body builder or some sort of super soldier.  For you men, it’s ok, not all gym exercises need to include weights.  Everyone can benefit from push ups.  Heck, I do them at home sometimes as a way of stretching if I’ve been sitting down too long.

Summary

There’s a reason the push up has become a standard for military training.  It’s an amazing all around exercise that uses a lot of your muscles and raises your heart rate.  It’s not meant to build up big bulky muscles, just to tone up the ones you have right now.

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The Best Exercises You Might Not Be Doing, #2 Abductions and Adductions

I’ve had a few emails from readers lately, who provided me with a breakdown of their workouts. Most of them were relatively standard, but I did notice a few exercises that seemed to be missing. So I decided to write up a quick series of articles on some of the best exercises that most people are missing out on. Number 2 is a combo of abductions and adductions, two of the best leg exercises that most of you guys are missing.

The Basics

Adductions and abductions are both thigh workouts. They are essentially opposites of one another. One works the outer thigh and one works the inner thigh. They’re some of the simplest exercises to do and consist of lying down on your side and lifting your leg. Lying leg adductions consist of lifting up your inner leg, the one you’re lying on, as you can see in this video. Whereas with thigh abductions you lift the outer leg as you can see in this video. Neither one of these exercises uses weights, so if you want to increase the difficulty, simply do more of them or do them slower.

Proper Form

As usual, follow the 3 and 3 rule. 3 seconds up and 3 seconds down. This is especially important with the adductions. With the thigh abductions, you may want to limit your angle to no more than 45 degrees. Any more than that and you risk a very uncomfortable pulled muscle in the groin area.

Benefits

These two exercises are key to strengthening your thigh muscles.  That may not seem like much, but remember that the muscles around your thighs and butt are part of the core group of muscles that stabilize your every move.  Virtually every function of your body is in one way or another helped by the core muscle group.  Strengthening these muscles will reduce the risk of injury from other exercises and give you better performance with your other workouts.  Think of it as working on your foundation.   No one will ever see your foundation, but without it, your entire house will crumble.

Warnings

Not too many warnings around these two exercises, they are relatively risk free.

Variations

Again, not too many variations here.  There are some people who prefer to use a machine to work these muscles.  That’s fine, you get just as good of a workout on a machine.

Who’s Missing Out?With this exercise, it’s mainly guys who are missing out.  I’m not sure why, but say “thigh exercises” to a guy and he thinks “that’s for women.”  I have no idea why this is?  Men have thighs.  We have the same muscle groups as women, so why would we not want to work them out?  Just relax guys, no one will think any less of you for working on your thighs.

Summary

Two excellent exercises that work on your core muscles.  both will strengthen your upper legs to reduce the risk of injury and increase your overall performance. Neither requires any gear and both can be done with virtually no risk injury.  What else could you want?

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