Overrated and Underrated Exercises

There are an unlimited amount of exercises that we can do.  But not all exercises are created equal.  For the most part I’m a believer that there are no bad exercises.  Rather, there are bad applications of an exercise.  The exercise should be performed with correct form.  In other words, if a person lets the weight of his/her feet shift to the toes when squatting, rather than

keeping the weight back on the heels, then that is the lifters fault when his knees start to hurt.  Not the fault of the squat.  Another example would be a person doing a deadlift from the floor when they lack sufficient hip mobility to get in proper position to execute the lift properly.  In this case, a rack pull (a deadlift from the pins in a squat rack, where the pins are set at about knee height) would be the appropiate choice.  Since I don’t have the opportunity to properly assess each and everyone of you reading this, when I go over this brief list of exercises, I’ll assume you are healthy enough to perform the lift properly.

When I say, “Overrated/Underrated,” here is what I am talking about; this is my opinion based on what I see the typical trainee doing in the gym; what they prioritize; what they omit from their training sessions; etc.  Just because I give one of the following exercises a grade of, “underrated,” it doesn’t mean that I don’t like or use the exercise for myself or with my clients.  I think Michael Jordan is the greatest basketaball player of all time.  BUT, if the general public was to make this statement; “You give me Michael Jordan with 4 guys off the street and I’d take Jordan’s team in 6 games over the 1986 Celtics.”  Well, IF that was the thinking of the majority of people, then I’d have to say that Michael Jordan is overrated!

Ok, with that said, lets get to some of the exercises.

Biceps Curl

This is an exercise that most guys just can’t get enough of.  Curls for the girls baby, yeah!  Well excuse me Mr. Curl Guy, do you know what a chin up is?  How about the deadlift?  Ever heard of bulgarian split squats?  Don’t get me wrong, I like curls.  And I definitely think that when it comes to fully developing your biceps, you need to directly work them.   But when I see guys doing set after set after set of curls, instead of some of the aformentioned lifts, it makes me wanna puke. (back in March of ‘08 I saw a guy perform 23 sets of biceps curls in one workout and it actually made me blow chunks all over the shoes of the guy right next to me that was performing tricep kickbacks while talking on his cell phone***)

Conclusion: Curls get a BIG fat OVERRATED!

Rows

I don’t care whether we are talking about cable rows, dumbbell rows, or TRX rows.  Your call.  Ok, lets talk about the boring row.  Not quite as fun as bench pressing.  Plus, you can’t even see your back muscles in the mirror when you performing the row. Double-boring!  Definitely heading towards the side of overrated, right?  Not so fast.  In today’s society we sit WAY too much.  We sit at work.  We sit in our cars everyday.  We sit at home when watching South Park.  And you, yeah you, you’re sitting right now as you read this.  All of these hours of sitting day-in-day-out, leads to poor posture – shoulders slumped forward which quite often leads to shoulder pain/injuries.  Plus, all of that chest work that you are doing doesn’t look as good when slumped forward.  To help this do more rows, way more rows.  Believe me, in the long run you’ll have healthier shoulders, and an improved looking physique as better posture will make your chest look better as well.

Conclusion: No doubt about it, rows are UNDERRATED!

Alright, there you have it for this addition of overrated/underrated.  Hopefully if your nickname is Mr. Curl, you’ll see the light and reduce the volume just a bit on all those curls.  I’d rather call you Row Guy anyway.  Afterall, chicks just can’t get enough of guys that perform rows.

***Now that I think of it, did I puke because of seeing that guy spend 37 minutes doing nothing but curls?  Or was it the combo of tricep kickbacks and the cell phone?  Can’t remember.