Exercise should be kept simple because the rest of your life is complicated. With this in mind, every time you step inside a gym or wherever you exercise, these 6 exercises are essential for a strong body and mind.
These 6 movements will keep you strong and better able to withstand whatever life throws at you. There’s nothing too sexy or difficult about these moves and you probably know what they are.
You may have just avoided them. 😊
But no matter what your health and fitness goals are, you’ll need to include these 6 exercises because
- They’ll help you get stronger. And stronger is always better
- They’re your best avenue to results city
Yes, you can still do your curls in front of the mirror but only if you grunt.
1. Squats
I generally avoid squats like the plague. With long legs and a short torso, I’ve always found them difficult because the weight has to move through a large range of motion.
However, squats are a fundamental human movement that you perform every day, and they were programmed into our brains while we were safely in our mother’s womb.
Have you ever seen a child squat?
I rest my case
As you grow older and sit more and move less, you lose the ability to squat like a baby.
And rather than putting a barbell on your back and complaining that squats hurt your knees, reawaken your squat ability with these exercises.
If you feel comfortable with those and can knock out reps of 12-15 reps with good form, step up to the goblet squats. This could be the only squat you’ll ever need.
2. Groundwork
There’s more to groundwork than lying on the ground and doing sit ups. Groundwork is how you learnt to move and returning to the floor helps you reactivate neglected movement patterns.
The ground gives you stability, balance and feedback and is an ideal place to start you warm up before you crush the weights. Doing these moves may get you some strange looks but trust me, you’ll be the coolest person in the gym.
3. Pushing
This move has also been installed into our hardware while safely in our mother’s womb. This is why you know how to push ourselves away from the floor when lying face down or push our siblings out of the way when they’re bothering us, without even batting an eyelid.
Pushing is a movement you do every day without even realizing it, so it makes sense to strengthen this movement in the gym so you can remain injury free and push aside anything that this world throws at you.
Try these pushing variations rather than bench pressing.
4. Pulling
When you were a toddler, You would pull yourselves up on a stable object to a standing position in trying to walk while using it for support. Did anybody teach you that?
No, because this movement was hot-wired into your brain.
Pulling something towards us is a natural movement that is often neglected. But working those big strong muscles of the back will improve your posture, give you stronger shoulders and extra work on the gun show.
Like you needed an excuse.
5. Hip hinging
Using the hips correctly will make you a boss in the gym and your partner a happy person in the bedroom. Yes, they’re that powerful. A lot of athletic movements on the sporting arena have hip hinging/hip extension as their base.
Furthermore, incorrect use of the hips is one of the major causes of low back pain and hinging correctly will keep the back happier. It also helps you look great in your favorite pair of pants.
To re learn this movement consider the following exercises.
6. Carries
Think about how many times per week you carry stuff around in your hands. Don’t worry, I’ll wait. Twice, five, ten times or more? Now doesn’t it make sense to train this ability to make your life easier.
Carries will improve your grip, upper back, shoulders and leg strength. They are quite possibly the biggest bang for your buck exercise you’ll do, providing you many benefits.
But be warned, carries look simple but they’re not easy.
- Suitcase carry
Wrapping up
Performing these 6 exercises will benefit you in and outside of the gym with increased strength and resilience. Exercise shouldn’t be complicated; it only needs to be effective.
Need help with programming fundamental movements into your program? Contact me here with the subject line “programming.”
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