THE BEST EXERCISE
You'll often hear me say, SQUATS ARE THE KING OF ALL EXERCISES, nothing beats it, it's the best exercise ever, PERIOD!
But is it though?
Squats CAN be the best exercise, but squats also have a really high learning curve, it requires directed effort for you to really become proficient with squats— and A LOT of people due to an overabundance of sitting, can’t even execute the movement properly without doing TONS of mobility drills prior to putting a barbell on their backs.
On the other hand, we have Leg Presses, sure it doesn't have all the stabilizers and other components of the Squat like the AWESOME axial loading of the spine that’ll turn our CNS into DEFCON4 and stimulate all sorts of positive health metrics that go BEYOND STRENGTH & HYPERTROPHY— but with Leg Presses, you can be a DAY 1 Newbie, and I can FRY your legs with it, there's almost no learning curve at all, while with squats, we would be probably working on your mobility so you don't screw yourself up doing it.
The same idea applies to anything else, Barbell Bench press vs. Machine Chest Press, to safely go hard on the bench by yourself, requires a lot of experience, Machine Chest Press, Day one we can even throw sets to failure if we want to.
The idea I'm trying to convey is very simple.
Some exercises are indeed better than others, but do you have the time to learn them?
Do you like doing them?
Because you will only really learn them if you enjoy doing them.
So experiment, find exercises that you like doing, get strong at them, and understand that if you're not willing to learn the heavy-ass compound movements, you're missing out on a lot of gains in the long run, but it's not the end of the world, you can build a SOLID physique if you are strategic with your exercise selection and introduce progressive overload over time.
The best exercise IS THE ONES YOU ENJOY DOING— the ones you’ll keep doing for a long time.
Ideally, for the rest of your life— and dude, I CAN’T WAIT!
'TIL THE WHEELS FALL OFF, BABY!
THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT, MY BRUDDAH!
💪 LET'S FCKN GO! 💪
Big KISS,
THE POTATO MAN
Totally agree with the need to enjoy an exercise to keep doing it!
I've made an effort to work barbell squats into my training, but just don't want to do them. Instead, I have bodyweight and goblet squats, weighted lunges and step-ups that I regularly train. On the other hand, I enjoy deadlifts and have been doing them for about 40 years now.
Nice! Great to see a lady on the cover image too. 😉 Completely agree about your enjoyment level of an exercise having an impact. I freaking love OH press and deadlift (both w/ barbell), but always “struggle” with my love for back/barbell squats. Give me a goblet or front squat and I’m delighted! Having said that, I’m just starting to get back into barbell squatting again as it’s an exercise that I would love to love more. Let’s see!