What Exercises Should I Do to Get Me to My Goals?

There is a common idea that there are certain exercises that you have to do to determine your success in losing weight, having a great core, or getting in the best shape of your life. Is this true or a misconception; well with looking at this statement from a few different angles maybe I can shed a little light on the truth.

Doing bench press will make the difference in my weight loss goals; this statement on its own doesn't make much sense because one exercise in itself can only make so much difference in your overall workout. If you want a great overall workout you need to do a variety of exercises that work different muscles and sections of your body. If losing weight is your goal, full body workouts produce the greatest caloric expenditures which contribute to weight loss. The saying the sum is greater than the parts is the perfect description of what your workout should look like; so do your cardio, abs and strength training but realize that one exercise in itself is just one exercise.

If I want to work my chest I have to do bench press; this statement in my opinion also doesn't make sense, but based on my own observations at gyms for many people this is true. While bench press is a great exercise, there are also other exercises that can be done to work your chest. For people that do the same exercises to work their body for every workout often hit a "plateau." A plateau in exercise is easily described as a period where you don't see any physical improvement while not changing your workout; so if the first time you did ten shoulder presses at 5lbs it might have been challenging, but after doing it for every workout for three months your body is less likely to get the same response. This statement also applies to people who do the same crunches everyday and expect to get a "six pack", as the saying goes there is more than one way to skin a cat, so make sure you mix your workout up to keep your body guessing to avoid hitting plateaus.

Regardless of the exercise, by itself it can only do so much for you; a full body workout, where you change the exercises is the best path to take to get you to your fitness goals. So the next time someone tells you that your program always has to have certain exercises now you know that this isn't the truth. For some ideas of how your program should look click here [economyexercise.com/exercise-program-design.php]

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