With so many people on a busy schedule it can be hard to find the time to workout at all let alone fit in an hours training per day. If this sounds familiar then you want to be sure all of the exercises you are doing during your precious workout time is well spent and all the exercises are giving you the bang for your buck you need. Here are 5 of the exercises our coaches have chosen to do exactly that.
Exercise 1 - Goblet Squats
Exercise 2 - Push ups
Exercise 3 - Inverted row
Exercise 4 - Deadlifts (under-stance)
Exercise 5 - Farmers carry
Goblet Squats
Goblet squats are a fantastic compound exercise, which means many large muscles groups are working hard together to produce the movement. This forces your body to work hard during the exercise, burning lots of kcal’s and working your muscles in a functional movement pattern. The Goblet Squat is a knee-dominant lower body exercise that when used with excellent form will give your body a load of strength, core and dynamic mobility benefits - this is one you do not want to skip from your workouts.
Push ups
The Push up has to be one of the 5 bang for your buck exercises everyone should be doing in their workouts. People see the Push up as a simple, easy and relatively non-effective exercise but nothing could be further from the truth, just ask any coach, trainer or athlete on how highly they rate the ”simple” Push up. The problem is most people that have not been taught the proper form during the Push up struggle to make any real improvements and at worse can end up hurting their shoulders and/or lower back through poor movement technique. But when done well with locked in core muscles, sound elbow and hand positioning and good co-ordination, the Push up sings to the top of the exercise charts. It works all of the upper body muscles and challenges your core immensely well, whilst burning lots of kcal in the process. Take the time to perfect a great Push up technique and see and feel the amazing benefits it brings, whilst using Push up variations to challenge your muscles even more.
Inverted row
The Inverted row is a horizontal pulling exercise that is a compound based movement and challenges the back, arm and core muscles. This exercise is great when paired up with Push ups as it works the opposite muscles groups and gives you the strength and muscular balance throughout the upper body you want. This exercise can be performed in many ways using rings, straps, barbell, ropes etc which all challenge your pulling strength in a slightly different way with great variety. It’s also an easy exercise to regress and progress depending on the amount of your own body weight you can lift during the movement. Use the Inverted row to bring great back and arm strength to your routine whilst helping improve posture and body alignment too. Again not one to miss out of your workout!
Deadlifts (under-stance)
The deadlift is the holy grail of bang for your buck exercises and is the type of exercise that is either loved or hated by people depending on their experience of doing them. You pretty much contract every muscle in the body when doing deadlifts and it‘s this that can supercharge functional strength and muscular endurance. The great thing about “under-stance” deadlifts is that the weight you lift starts directly under your body between your feet, which makes the lift easier to perform and also much safer for most people. You do not use a barbell for this deadlift variation instead opt for kettlebells or dumbbells instead, using 2 at once will obviously increase the load and therefore the challenge. There isn’t anything much more functional than being able to safely lift a weight from the ground, so it‘s essential that you incorporate this into your workouts in some degree unless you have a historical or current back issue which makes the exercise contra-indicated. Great technique is key so if you’re in any doubt then please get the help of a qualified trainer or coach.
Farmers carry
The Farmers carry is a lift and carry exercise that challenges upper body stability, grip strength and lower body co-ordination and balance amongst many other components. It’s a very simple exercise to perform and doesn’t require too much coaching, although there are still many technique cues that make the exercise even more effective. The Farmers carry is a dual sided carry so you want to use a weight in each hand when walking from A to B. This balanced weight on either side of the body actually helps to keep your pelvis more balanced and stable when walking compared to a harder single sided or suitcase carry. Again we have chosen this exercise because there isn’t anything much more functional than carrying a load from one place to another and it’s a movement that we have to do everyday outside of our workouts. Get strong and efficient at carrying heavy objects and you will notice big gains in total body strength and integrity that easily transfer to other exercises and daily tasks to.
Start learning how to perform these 5 exercises with great form and technique and then put them into your workout routines to supercharge your gains and make the absolute most of any time you have to train. It’s all about the “bang for your buck” when you are forced to do shorter workouts so we hope these exercises help you reach your goals quicker whilst getting more functional.
Until next time,
FF team
Put any questions to us at info@functionalfitness.me