5 of My Favorite Exercises.

Below is a list of my favorite exercises that I use for myself, my athletes, and my regular clients. I will be adding to this list during the week.

1. Bulgarian Split Squat (even though I don't know where Bulgaria is or if it even exists): I like these because they require some serious effort in terms of strength and balance, are easy to load, and some trainees who exhibit knee pain in traditional squatting can usually perform these.

2. Sumo Deadlifts: I find that these are tougher to mess up than the traditional deadlift set up. My athletes are able to keep almost a perfectly upright torso/neutral spine when performing these making them a safer exercise. I rarely see rounded backs during the sumo style. Perform these barefoot or with low profile sneakers on.

3. Pullups: These may be my favorite of all time. When people start to get strong at pullups they begin to get some serious back and arm development. Someone once said pullups were the equivalent to upper body squats and I have to agree. All variations are great in my book (pullups, chinups, parallel grip, mixed grip). Once you can do 10 perfect pullups, start adding weight. Get yourself away from lat pulldown machines.

4. Pushups: too many people rush over to the bench press station when it would be far safer and more productive to opt for pushups. Pushups are a total body exercise that engage your hands, arms, shoulders, and torso. If you can't do 20 perfect, you have no business on the bench.

5. 3 point Planks: maybe I should have started with a regular forearm plank, but I just like this progression better. When you can do a 30 second plank with ease, you need to start making the move more difficult as opposed to adding more time. By removing one of the four ground contact points you add a degree of instability that must be countered by engaging your entire torso.

Enjoy.