3 Exercises Every Man (and most likely every woman) SHOULD be doing … and if you aren’t, then you're STUPID!

Long time no blog! Sorry for the stupid comment but I wanted to get people’s attention. For those of you who don’t already know, I spend part of my week working at a doctor’s office just for men. I have a gym facility there on site where I do some personal training and “fitness education” as I like to call it. My real passion there is getting to work with guys that who may or may not have been athletic at one time in their lives that have let themselves go and/or don’t know how to work with the body they have now. So I am not necessarily that type of “trainer” that pushes you to during your workouts (although I can do that) or barks at you about what you need to eat or not eat (because as well all know – that is definitely my demon). Rather, I am a trainer whose goal is to educate men how to work out smartly so they don’t get hurt and can work on their other fitness goals.

With the above said, I have learned that there are many, many men out there that need to be doing certain exercises and for whatever reason, are not. I am not going to go in to long descriptions of how to do these exercises, rather I am going to tell you what they are, a little about them, why guys need to be doing them and what happens when they are not.

Back Row

Done seated or standing this exercise is basically pulling an apparatus (most likely a bar of some sort) to your midsection engaging many of the muscles of the back.

Why? The back is the largest group of muscles in the upper body. The “lats” along each side of the back are big slabs of beef that assist in a variety of pulling and supporting motions. The muscles of the mid and upper back are very powerful tools which when developed help hold your posture upright and keep your shoulders pulled back and chest out (how we should look).

When you don’t work these muscles you essentially get “flat back syndrome”. This leads to slouching and again, flat back. Not only does this not do much for your posture but also it looks bad over the years. And lack of balance in the back muscles can begin to impact how your shoulders engage leading to increased chance for injury.

Slight Incline Chest Press

I actually prefer that guys do this on a bench with either dumbbells, a barbell, or even on a machine if you can adjust it accordingly. I prefer that the bench be a little less than a 45 degree incline, maybe like a 30. This reduces the chance of this becoming more of a shoulder press and really hits the mid to upper section of the chest.

Why? When men get older, things can sag left unattended. Many men have done some form of pressing (usually bench pressing) in their lifetime. Some men may still have fairly well developed chest muscles even though they haven’t lifted weights for some time. Most men have not worked the upper portion of their chest with this type of exercise. Using this exercise, you can create balance to the chest musculature top to bottom.

If you look at many men’s profile you will notice a slope to the chest from right below the clavicle (collar bone) down towards the nipple. Yep, it kind of starts to look like a breast when left unattended. Plus if you store some body fat around your lower chest … well let’s just say it isn’t pretty.

1 legged Leg Exercises (that challenge stability and balance while developing muscle).

I do a variety of exercises to address this with men. Things as simple as standing on a bench with a slight bent knee while doing leg lifts with the other to the side (Try it – do about 20 to 25 per side and tell me it is easy) or stepping up on to a bench with one leg while holding hand weights.

Why? First – cardio is not legwork. Second – most people haven’t done exercises to challenge their balance for years and are very surprised how much their ability has declined over the years. Third – the legs are the biggest muscle group in the body and thus burn the most amounts of calories. Fourth – if you don’t work on balance and structural stability as you age – it will come back to haunt you! Muhwaa ha ha ha ha! (That was my attempt at a scary laugh) Also, the musculature around the knee joint as well as in your ankles needs to be challenged to improve overall function. Many times men have had injuries or things as simple as gait patterns that has caused imbalance. Working legs separately will keep one leg from doing the work of the other.

Guys that don’t do this are often unbalanced in the leg department. Some have inner thigh weakness and others outer thigh weakness. Over time imbalance can lead to pressure on the knee joint that can lead to injury. Even the butt (which is the biggest single muscle in the body) and hamstrings can slag over time when not addressed. You want to have nice development in your lower half because most of the time – nice development means nice function.

Thanks for reading,

Andy