Fast Fitness - Choosing exercises for muscle growth

This article is the first of a new series called fast fitness, bite sized fitness advice

Choosing exercises for your workout routine can be daunting, but it doesn’t need to be. If you find an exercise that ticks most of these boxes, you’re on the right track to making the most of your workout.

Exercise checklist for muscle growth

When choosing your exercises choose ones that:

1) Causes tension and burn in the target muscle

  • The exercise should be felt predominantly in the muscle you’re trying to train

  • If you’re doing pushups and are trying to target your pecs but are mainly feeling it in your triceps rather than your pecs, it might be a good idea to try different hand positions

2) Gives you the best pumps

  • The exercise should feel like it’s giving you a decent pump, that ideally peaks after ~2-3 sets

  • If there is no pump but it’s ticking all the other boxes then it doesn’t mean the exercise isn’t working, but is something to be aware of

3) Fatigues your target muscle the most

  • When all other things are equal, try to choose an exercise that hits your target muscle the most

  • If you find your legs feel like they aren’t that sore from back squats, but front squats are causing a massive amount of fatigue in your quads, front squats may be the better choice

4) Stresses your joints the least

  • The exercise shouldn’t be causing joint pain or undue discomfort

  • If you find back squats are hurting your knees time and time again, you may be able to achieve the same amount of training stimulus through leg press instead

5) Can achieve 1-4 sets without excessive exertion or systemic fatigue

  • If the exercise is so fatiguing that you aren’t able to do enough sets to get adequate sets in or is affecting the rest of your workout because of how fatiguing it is, consider a different exercise

  • If you find yourself gaining a lot of systemic fatigue from an exercise like the deadlift, but another exercise lets you do 1-4 sets, doesn’t fatigue you as much and ticks the rest of the boxes, it might be a good idea to try a substitute

Take away points

  • These aren’t hard and fast rules, but if the exercises you are using aren’t ticking any of the boxes, you should take a good look at it and why it should be a part of your program

  • Don’t swap out what works - If you find an exercise that is ticking all these boxes AND is are making consistent progress on, don’t swap it out, its working for you and you’re getting the best bang for your buck as is.

Brendan ReghenzaniComment