Favorite Exercise

I was just curious what everyone’s favorite exercise was. Some exercises we have a love/hate relationship with…LOL My favorite exercise is the deadlift. It’s just a good exercise and you can’t cheat it. You either pull the weight up or you dont’ My favorite body part to train is chest and triceps, I love the pump!

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Personal favorite is the deadlift as well. Most badass. Past that, I think pull-ups (overhand grip) are one of my favorites too

Deadlift here as well. Although I’ve found as of late that doing it less helped me gain more. my Prep into january had tons of deadlift volume, putting 10 lbs on my deadlift in 12 weeks (590 to 600 in competition). my 12 week prep into July included much less deadlifting but alot more volume on accessories and yielded 45lbs (600 to 645)

Not sure how the competition equates into that strength since I squatted well into the 500s and benched high 300s both days, but it’s still interesting to see. I’m still not even close to understanding my own body

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lol deadlift too

Who’s not??

Sounds like some good lifting to me. Yeah, the body definitely is a mystery at times. Been many times where I don’t have any energy or don’t feel like being at the gym and I end up having the best workout of my life. I destroy my log book.

I’ll be “that guy”. Bench press! Been obsessed as long as I can remember, and it was most of what I did (besides curls) starting out. It’s taken years of back workouts to finally fix my posture. Even after growing up, I bench all the time because I just love doing it. It’s also miles ahead of any other lift I can do, so I consider it something of a “specialty” of mine. Not just compared to the other powerlifting lifts, but, for example, I got Charles Poliquin’s arm training book years ago where he shows a chart of what he calls “strength norms” or something which is ratios he shoots for with clients to ensure balanced development. Considering my bench press strength, my biceps and triceps are about half as strong as they should be!

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Bench has been a struggle for me, although I’m starting to see some gains from training with Brandon Lilly

Here’s my quick 410 bench from a few weeks back. Always open to critique!

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bad6sXBlWUw/?taken-by=strengthandhonorfitness1

Anything with legs or back…if I had to pick a favorite of each …Pull Ups (even though they’ve taken me forever to get decent at) for Back…Bulgarian Split Squats for legs (these will eat your soul if you go heavy enough)

410 doesn’t sound like you’re struggling. :thinking:

Yeah, another deadlift lover here. I also love rows, especially on the Hammer Strength “machines.” Getting really cheaty with unilateral rows on THIS bad boy is such a good time.

Least favorite is probably squats. Like, I don’t hate squats themselves, but they just utterly crush my body, like intense full-body fatigue, in a way that not even deadlifts do. Rather than a post-gym glow, I always have a post-gym crash after a day with squats.

That’s a good question. I probably have a favorite exercise for each muscle group. If I had to pick just one, it would probably be squats. Some days they feel awful, but when it’s feeling good and the weight/form is going smoothly, there’s nothing like it for me.

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Hammer Strength machines are awesome!

as a 242 competitor 410 isn’t all that impressive, and as I’m pretty sick of cutting I might stay in the 250s and compete against 275s so it’s definitely not impressive lol

I guess it’s all perspective though, when i was struggling on 315 this wouldve been impressive

Ah okay. I’ve never competed, so I’m not real familiar with what’s “good”. I just know you’re about where I am. I weigh about 200 and can put up something in the low 400-s, but I haven’t checked in a while. My all time record was 445 when I was weighing about 205. Not sure how that would hold up in a competition, but it’s far better than anyone I personally know!

As for the video you shared, I did notice you lifted your head up a little. I’ve always heard you’re supposed to keep your head planted back on the bench. Not sure if it’ll make much difference for you, but it’s just something I noticed. To be honest, that seemed to go up fairly easily for you, so I’d think you’ll be able to get more weight on there soon!

Bent over barbell rows or bench press. Always been able to progress well on both.

I like Yate rows. They feel Good and I’m pretty strong at them. Also I know sounds silly but I like the leg press. Basically because of how you can change the tempo, time under tension, and really get an insane pump and burn.
I’m finally squatting into the 400s now so they are getting fun too.

I don’t mean to sound like a jerk, but you can do that with any exercise. I assume your point is that it’s easier to do on a leg press versus a squat, but even still. You want to change up your squat tempo and get a burn, try pausing at the bottom for a few seconds without a box.

Oh I know. But I’m also 40 with some arthritis that can be pretty severe at times, so being able to just sit and get my legs placed in the right spot the pressure on my knees is not as bad. I guess I should have added I mostly use this as a finisher also. Doing single leg presses. Kinda fun to really see how bad I can get it to burning.

Another vote for deadlift from me.

That makes more sense now. Having knee issues can definitely make someone prefer a leg press! Glad you’ve found something that works too. Most people with arthritis would have given up I’m sure.