9 Underrated Exercises You Need

You’re probably not taking advantage of these underappreciated exercises, but you should be. They’re surprisingly beneficial. Here’s what to do, why, and some set and rep recommendations for each. 1. Stability Ball Wall Squat By using only a ball, a wall, and a set of dumbbells, this move basically offers the same benefits as a Smith machine squat… but without the Smith machine. Oh wait, you still think the Smith sucks? It’s true, the fixed bar path of the Smith machine isn’t a great way to improve your free-weight squat performance since the two movements involve different mechanics, but not everyone wants to be a powerlifter. And not everyone judges every lower-body exercise by how it relates to their barbell squat. For the purpose of building and strengthening your quads, both the Smith machine squat and the wall squat are great options. Plus, who says you can’t do both? Liking one thing doesn’t mean canceling out the other. These make for a great burnout move towards the end of a workout. Set and Reps: 2-3 sets of 12-30 reps. 2. Chest Supported T-Bar Row Many lifters don’t appreciate the unique benefits this machine offers relative to most other horizontal rowing variations. T-bar rows fit your strength curve more closely than most other rowing exercises. When doing horizontal rowing exercises, the lever arm is at its longest when your humerus is perpendicular to the force vector. So if you’re doing barbell bent-over rows or one-arm rows with your torso roughly parallel to the floor, the lever-arm is at its longest when your humerus is parallel with the floor (in-line with your torso). This is at or very close to the end of concentric portion of the range of motion. But when doing the T-bar row, the weight is getting lighter as you pull it because the higher the angle of the bar (closer to being vertical), the more weight is going into its pivot point, so it offers a mechanical advantage over the load as you pull it in on every rep. Sure, you can do T-bar rows by simply anchoring a barbell in a corner. However, the machine version is far less awkward, and the chest pad support allows you to deal with heavier loads. It also makes it more difficult to cheat. Set and Reps: 3-5 sets of 6-20 reps 3. Angled-Barbell Leaning Press with Band Back in 2011, I coined the term “angled barbell training” to represent the wide variety of great exercise options offered when using the Landmine Device (or with a barbell in a corner). I also co-produced the first DVD on the subject with Bert Sorin, the original inventor of the Landmine. And today the standard angled-barbell (landmine) press is a pretty popular exercise. That said, an underrated version of it is to simply lean your torso forward to change it from a diagonal pressing action to a vertical (overhead) pressing action. This is much like how an incline barbell press creates a different training stimulus to an overhead barbell press. I failed to cover the leaning variation in The Ultimate Guide to Landmine Presses. However, I did discuss the benefit of adding band resistance to angled barbell presses: “As you press the barbell, the weight load actually gets lighter. Since you’re getting stronger as you extend your arm (due to creating a shorter lever arm), it makes sense to add a band for accommodating resistance: the band creates a continually greater resistance challenge as you continually gain a mechanical advantage.” Just like with the standard angled barbell press (where your torso’s more upright), if you’re in a split-stance, you anchor the band underneath your front leg. If you’re in a parallel stance, you anchor the band underneath the same-side foot as the arm you’re pressing with. Set and Reps: 3-4 sets of 6-20 reps each side 4. Cable Chops (Horizontal and Diagonal) Back when I was coming up as a trainer, cable or wood chops were all the rage. Now, you’re hard pressed to find folks doing dynamic rotational training exercises like this, and it’s far more common to see anti-rotation (Pallof) presses, which I believe are overrated. Look at athletes in action and it’s obvious: the torso has an active role in rotational strength and power production in actions like throwing, golfing, batting, punching, etc. And if you want to improve your rotational ability, the principle of specificity dictates that you need to practice dynamic rotational exercises like cable chops. They’re great for teaching your torso and hips to work together to produce rotation. Set and Reps: 2-3 sets of 8-15 reps each side 5. Side-Lying Rear-Delt Flye Exercises like face-pulls, rear-delt flyes, and wide-grip rows maximally load your arms when they’re out to the sides, which is when the posterior shoulder musculature is in a shortened range. However, they neglect to strengthen the aspect of horizontal shoulder abduction when your arm is in front of, or across, your torso – when the posterior shoulder musculature is in a mid to lengthened range.
Origin: 9 Underrated Exercises You Need