Get The Most Out of Your Workout: 4 of the Biggest Bang for your Buck Exercises
Are you getting the most out of your workouts? Do you feel like you’re spending too much time in your session without seeing seeing results? Or do you just feel slammed for time in general when it comes to working out? Try these best “Bang for your Buck” exercises PFP owner and coach Tom Duer swears by!
Back Squats
What is a back squat? The Barbell Back Squat is a compound exercise that activates muscle groups throughout your lower body, including your hamstrings, glutes, and lower back muscles.
How do you perform a back squat? To perform the barbell back squat, take a deep breath and unrack a weighted barbell, holding it on your upper back. Standing with your feet shoulder-width apart, hinge your hips and knees to lower your body through a full range of motion into a squat position. Keep your chest up and your back straight as you move from the squat position to an upright standing position, with the knees and hips fully extended at the top.
What are the benefits? The back squat is a compound exercise that builds strength and stability in the legs, lower back, and core. By practicing the back squat and building strength in these areas, you can improve balance and coordination, and reduce your risk of falls and injury. The squat contributes to everyday movement patterns such as picking things up, sitting down, and walking up the stairs.
2. Deadlifts
What is a deadlift? The deadlift is a compound weight training exercise designed to strengthen the legs and back while reaching to or lifting objects
from the ground.
To perform the deadlift, a loaded barbell is lifted off the ground to the level of the hips. Maintaining tension through the core, legs, and lower back, lift the weight from the ground. Allow your hips and shoulders to rise at the same time until your knees and hips are fully extended and the torso is perpendicular to the floor. Once you reach the top of the movement, return the loaded barbell to the floor.
What are the benefits? Deadlift strengthens many muscles of the body, especially the thigh muscles, both front, and back. It can increase core strength and core stability. It engages the muscles that support your lower spine. Deadlift trains most of the muscles in the legs, lower back, shoulder, hip, spine, and core. These muscles are responsible for your body posture that keep your shoulders spine, and hips in alignment. For this reason, the deadlift may even be effective in lowering pain intensity for people who have mechanical low back pain (pain due to prolonged sitting or lying down). However, this must be done properly and under the supervision of a Coach or Trainer
3. Loaded Carry:
What is a Loaded carry? The loaded carry is an exercise in which you hold weight and walk for a set time or distance. This is a total body exercise that is especially great for developing core strength, grip strength, and shoulder stability. It also provides cardiovascular stimulus and improves work capacity.
How Do we perform a loaded Carry? The loaded carry is performed with a loaded hex bar, a hexagon-shaped bar that you stand in the middle of, Dumbbells, or Kettlebells. You will carry the weight down and back the length of the turf (equivalent to 100 ft) without setting it down. You should maintain total body stability and control while performing this exercise. Difficulty can be increased by adding weight plates. This should be challenging, but manageable with good form. Once the 100ft distance is achieved without setting the weight down, move up to the next weight.
What are the benefits? Core, hip, and spinal stability play a huge role in movement efficiency and injury prevention. Carries are also great for conditioning work as they will get your heart rate up significantly with relatively low impact. To reap the benefits, the weight should be something at least moderately challenging in which you can maintain good form while performing. The loaded carry directly applies to many tasks in daily life, such as carrying packages, moving furniture, or carrying groceries from the car.
4. Overhead Press
What is an overhead press? The overhead press is a compound exercise and acts as one of the best upper body exercises for gaining muscle and overall strength in the shoulders. The overhead press is sometimes called shoulder press, strict press, or military press (although not exactly correct). It is often abbreviated as OHP.
How Do we perform an overhead press? Start from standing with a barbell in a front-rack position (resting on the front of the shoulders/chest), feet shoulder-width apart, and hands gripping the barbell just outside of the shoulders. Press up on the barbell until the arms are fully extended overhead. Return the barbell to the front-rack position. Once 10+ reps are achievable in the 60-second time frame, move up to the next weight.
What are the benefits? The overhead press is an amazing movement to build shoulders, traps, triceps, upper chest and core. This exercise strengthens these muscles and allows us to better hold and lift objects overhead. Stronger shoulders and chest muscles help better support the head, neck, and shoulders, which helps to prevent injury.
These 4 exercises are keystones in the PFP Method. Try a PFP Method Class to maximize your time in and out of the gym!