Subject: THIS is why I create insane exercises... (16 for you to test out)
So I've been coming up with cool, new exercises for a LONG time...more than 30 years now.
And people often ask me why I do that when there are so many "basic" exercises available already.
There are several MAJOR reasons why I do this...
1. Training Variety
When you train for years and years, you (and your muscles) get so accustomed to those basic movements that you can mentally check out when training or your muscles simply don't have anywhere to go in terms of overload (plateau).
New movements can fix this fast.
It doesn't mean that you totally leave the basics behind and go off into the woods doing nothing but weird stuff. It just means that you keep things fresh and interesting.
This version of the dumbbell press is a single-arm press with your legs wrapped around a post. This is AMAZING for core training in addition to working the chest.
2. Necessity is the Mother of Invention - Dealing With Minimal Equipment Situations
There have been many times in my training career where I've found myself in gyms or "not gyms" that lacked equipment.
Finding ways to do a large variety of exercises and movements working every muscle in multiple ways is really critical in those situatoins.
There are times where I'll purposefully limit myself to using just one single piece of equipment, then come up with ways to work every single muscle with it.
That leads to some really cool innovations and takes me down very different pathways that often result in some AMAZING exercises.
Towel-Plate Lateral Raises are a great example of this...it's a towel strung through the center hole of a plate, then do laterals with it to get a different line of pull.
3. It's Fun and Challenging
In my opinion, above all, training should be FUN.
If you're not having fun with it, you're not going to stick to it as long and you're not going to put maximum effort into it.
Admittedly, some of the stuff I do is a bit insane...but there is a LOT that actually looks relatively normal, even though it gives you a fresh training stimulus.
This is a push-up exercise done with the pulleys in your hands. When you come to the top, you bring the handle across under your body to activate the pecs more effectively.
4. Different Angles and Loading Patterns Work More Muscle Fibers
Not all muscle fibers run the full length of a muscle or align in the same directions.
In order to fully develop and work a muscle, you need to hit it from different angles and load it in different ways (think incline curls versus concentration curls, for example).
There are ways to make these patterns and positions even MORE effective (for example, sitting up on the incline bench to get your upper back off the top end to allow your shoulders to hang back more, which puts more stretch on the biceps).
One of my favorite applications of this is the Triple Hybrid Bench Press...dumbbells give you more loading in the bottom half, cables give you lateral resistance as you're bringing the dumbbells together and towards the top, while chains add more resisitance as you press to the top and the leverage gets better.
(This is from my Hybrid Training book, which is included in the Best Exercises All-Access package that I have on sale right now here).
The Bottom Line...
You don't necessarily NEED to use unique, new exercises like this... you can still get great results sticking with the basics.
What I do is take the basics and make them BETTER.
Have a great Thanksgiving!
And don't worry...this sale will be on until Monday at midnight, so if you don't have time to check it all out today, no problem.
Nick Nilsson
The Mad Scientist of Muscle
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