Does Such a Thing As the Best Bodybuilding Exercises Exist?
Searching for the 'best' in bodybuilding can almost drive you crazy.
Everybody wants to know which are the best exercises, which are the best programs, methods, supplements and foods to make their physical aspirations become reality quicker.
You can't fault this at all, the thirst for knowledge people have is inspiring.
However, I truly feel the need to weigh in on this debate to offer a different perspective for beginner trainees who are developing paralysis through fear; meaning they are afraid to get started or try certain exercises or change their program because they fear they are going to be doing something wrong or aren't getting the best from themselves.
Traditionally and mechanically some of the best exercises for overall body development are squats, bench press, dead lift and bent over rows.
So, you should just stick to those, right? Wrong.
Some would have you believe everything is as simple as that, but, I beg to differ.
I'll tell you a little story now which I hope illustrates just how futile the search for the best exercises are.
Dave Tate of Westside Barbell once wrote how despite having very impressive lifts by most peoples standards, even at his advanced physical state he still believed lifting was as simple as if you wanted to bench more, you benched; if you wanted to squat more, you squatted, and if you wanted to dead lift more, you simply did the dead lift.
He also admitted the first time he realized he was very, very wrong in his ideas - it was the very first time he trained at Westside Barbell on the safety squat under Louie Simmons.
Recalling how he used to think the safety squat bar was a joke before he began at Westside, Dave remembered how he could regular squat far more than most people who trained at Westside at the time, yet was absolutely shocked when those same people 'humbled' him with how much they could squat when it came to the safety squat bar.
How could this be? Simple: The other lifters were more used to training with a different method which they had adapted to, and, which carried through to their regular squat.
Dave clearly seized on the opportunity and his progress which he admits had stagnated for years once again began to go through the roof.
All through a little change! Westside Barbell and the people who really know their stuff don't offer simple solutions because in reality, achieving the best you can is never simple.
Westside rely heavily on 'assistance' exercises - all in all, probably hundreds of them.
That should tell you beyond any doubt that variety - and as much variety as you can get - is how you get the best from yourself.
Everybody wants to know which are the best exercises, which are the best programs, methods, supplements and foods to make their physical aspirations become reality quicker.
You can't fault this at all, the thirst for knowledge people have is inspiring.
However, I truly feel the need to weigh in on this debate to offer a different perspective for beginner trainees who are developing paralysis through fear; meaning they are afraid to get started or try certain exercises or change their program because they fear they are going to be doing something wrong or aren't getting the best from themselves.
Traditionally and mechanically some of the best exercises for overall body development are squats, bench press, dead lift and bent over rows.
So, you should just stick to those, right? Wrong.
Some would have you believe everything is as simple as that, but, I beg to differ.
I'll tell you a little story now which I hope illustrates just how futile the search for the best exercises are.
Dave Tate of Westside Barbell once wrote how despite having very impressive lifts by most peoples standards, even at his advanced physical state he still believed lifting was as simple as if you wanted to bench more, you benched; if you wanted to squat more, you squatted, and if you wanted to dead lift more, you simply did the dead lift.
He also admitted the first time he realized he was very, very wrong in his ideas - it was the very first time he trained at Westside Barbell on the safety squat under Louie Simmons.
Recalling how he used to think the safety squat bar was a joke before he began at Westside, Dave remembered how he could regular squat far more than most people who trained at Westside at the time, yet was absolutely shocked when those same people 'humbled' him with how much they could squat when it came to the safety squat bar.
How could this be? Simple: The other lifters were more used to training with a different method which they had adapted to, and, which carried through to their regular squat.
Dave clearly seized on the opportunity and his progress which he admits had stagnated for years once again began to go through the roof.
All through a little change! Westside Barbell and the people who really know their stuff don't offer simple solutions because in reality, achieving the best you can is never simple.
Westside rely heavily on 'assistance' exercises - all in all, probably hundreds of them.
That should tell you beyond any doubt that variety - and as much variety as you can get - is how you get the best from yourself.
