How to Choose the BEST Exercise for Muscle Growth
You’ve probably seen tons of videos or blog posts on the Internet entitled “The best arms exercise!” or “The only glute exercise you’ll ever need!” And I’m sure other videos titles like “You should never do this exercise” have caught your attention before, especially if it has more than a million views. I’m guessing you’ve watched them and took their advice as golden. I do use such headliners myself on my YouTube page, but that’s all for marketing and click bait purposes. The truth is, there is no such thing as a best or worst exercise for muscle growth. There might be a grain of truth in that, but it is mostly BS - the best exercise for arms or glutes does not exist! Does that mean that the fitness influencers are wrong?
In this article (adapted from concepts by Dr. Mike), I will be giving a checklist to assess if an exercise is not good for you or not. Then you can judge for yourself if these fitness influencers are wrong. Let’s dive in.
Are leg press better than back squat? Read on to find out more!
How to Know if an Exercise is Not Good for You?
The first and most obvious sign that an exercise is not good for you is that it gives you pain when you do it. And not just any pain. Slight acute pain or lactic acid burn that goes away is fine. But if you experience 1) pain that gets worse with more reps, sets, or load, 2) pain that doesn’t get better over the weeks, or 3) pain in the joints and tendons, it means you need to make modifications to the exercise, either through changing it altogether, or adjusting its form.
The second sign is if the exercise does not
stimulate much tension at the target muscle (at low reps), or much burn at the target muscle (at high reps),
give a pump at the target muscle,
cause the target muscle to be much weaker, OR
cause soreness in the target muscle,
it probably isn’t a good exercise for you. For example, if you’re going to do a barbell row for 8 reps and you don’t feel much tension in the lats, nor give your lats a pump, nor cause your lats to be much weaker nor cause any soreness in your lats, but instead tons of tension in your biceps, it probably isn’t a good exercise for your back. Your form may be the problem, but if it isn’t, then you should find a more suitable exercise instead.
The third sign is that the exercise causes too much fatigue. It may be able to train the target muscle group well, but if the rate of perceived exertion is too high, it is a sign to change it. In other words, you’re too tired after the exercise and it interferes with the rest of your training. You may feel the tension, pump and soreness in the target muscle, but if the fatigue level is too high to finish the rest of the workout optimally, it may not be the best exercise for you. For example, say you want to find a good exercise to target your quads. A front squat gives good stimulus to your quads, but it burns away almost all your energy and have none left for the rest of the workout, while a Bulgarian Split Squat which has almost the same stimulus to your quads doesn’t give that much fatigue. It is then pretty clear which quad exercise you should choose in your training program.
The last sign is if you don’t seem to improve the exercise over time. For example, say you want to find a good exercise to target your shoulders. If you’re doing military press for months, but the weight and reps just can’t seem to increase at all, but the weights and reps of your dumbbell shoulder press increases week after week, then the latter may be a better shoulder exercise for you.
If an exercise causes sharp acute pain in your joints or tendons even with good form, it is a sign to change it up.
How to Know if an Exercise is Great for You?
What makes an exercise great for you is simply the opposite of the above. When an exercise causes
little or no joint or connective tissue pain,
a strong tension or burn in the target muscle - for example, after sets of bicep curls, you can feel massive stimulus in your biceps,
nasty pumps, tons of local fatigue, crazy soreness - for example, after a back squat day, your quads swells, you can’t walk properly, and get super sore the next day,
not too much systemic fatigue - for example, lat pulldowns which gives you a strong tension on your lats but you still have lots of energy left for the rest of the workout, AND,
great gains in strength over months - for example, constantly adding weights on your bench press every 2 weeks, in the same rep range,
this exercise is likely a good one for you. For example, if leg press isn’t giving you any pains, you feel tons of burn in your quads, soreness in your quads the day after, it doesn’t affect the rest of your workout, and you see yourself adding 5 lbs of weight every week, you should stick to leg press to target your quads. It is definitely a great exercise for you to build up your quads.
Using the above points, let’s review if fitness influencers are right on the point that certain exercises are bad for you. A common exercise they do not recommend is the Upright Row. However, if after trying the upright row, you feel no pain, a lot of tension in your lateral shoulders, soreness in them the next day, it isn’t fatiguing, and you can constantly add weights weekly, why would you forgo such a great exercise to target your lateral shoulders?
You’ll likely know if an exercise is great for you - it hits the target muscle group hard and you feel really good post-training!
How to Find YOUR Best Exercises
First, take a few of the most popular exercises and try them. For example, for quads, you can try front and back squat, leg press, leg extension, split squat, lunges, and hack squats. Try them for about 8-12 weeks with good technique. Adjust as much as possible so you can feel the most tension in the target group. For example, if squatting with your toes pointed outwards give more quad tension than toes pointed straight, stick with the former.
Then you can try to rank them in order of stimulus-to-fatigue ratio. For example, if leg press gives the same quad stimulus as front squats and back squats, but front and back squats are much more fatiguing than leg press, then leg press will rank higher for the quads. On the other hand, if the ez-bar bicep curls and preacher curls give the same fatigue level but the preacher curls have a higher bicep stimulus, then the preacher curls will rank higher for the biceps. With that, you will have THE BEST exercise for any given muscle group at that point in time. Needless to say, focus on this best exercise during your workout.
At the first few months of the exercise, you get better at it, and your stimulus-to-fatigue ratio (SFR) starts rising, as it gives you a better stimulus with less fatigue. Unfortunately, there is no best exercise forever. After months of training, your SFR starts to drop because your joints start to get worn down in that particular movement, it starts to get boring, and your tension perception decreases. Your fatigue goes up and your stimulus goes down. As a result, the exercise top on your SFR list starts to fall, while another takes its place. In the same example above, after 3 months into leg press, you feel that leg press isn’t that stimulating to your quads anymore. Your joints do not feel too good, and it’s more tiring than usual. You try front squat once and you feel that sudden massive pump in your quads, with tension you’ve never felt in a long while, and no pain in your joints whatsoever. This just means that it is time to switch out leg press for front squats! This is not to say you won’t be doing leg press anymore. As you take a break from leg press, your body resensitizes itself, and after a while, the SFR for your leg presses will rise. It may come to a point that it overtakes front squats again, and thus becoming your best exercise once more.
In essence, your best exercise changes from time to time. There is a candidacy group of a top 3-5 exercises that are always the best, but there is no one exercise that is the best forever.
There is no best exercise forever. Every 3-6 months, the exercise can be stale and it is time for a change.
Individual Differences
So we’ve established that for one person, there is no best exercise. What about for multiple people? Is a great exercise for you necessary great for your friend? Even more so not! Bulgarian Split Squat is a great exercise for me, but it can be a bad exercise for others. Why? Because we all have different limb ratios, muscle shapes, angles, length, insertions, fiber types and nervous systems. Instead of following YouTube video advices, use the SFR and the above factors to determine if an exercise is best for you.
Nevertheless, for some exercises, it tends to be on the average better than others. For example, studies have shown that bench press stimulates the chest more than dumbbell flys. So for most people, bench press would be at the top of their list, but for a few, dumbbell flys would be the top. There are also exercises that are always bad. For example, doing one-legged bicep curl on a Bosu ball. No matter your anatomy or genetics, it is always a bad idea.
For most people, bench press has one of the highest SFR for chest.
Conclusion
There is NO best exercise for anyone. It depends on individual differences. Even if there is, the best exercises changes from time to time. Focus on feeling the tension, burn and pump in the right muscle without feeling pain. Experiment with different exercises. Never assume any one exercise is bad or good. It is whatever works for you!
P.S. - need help finding the best exercise for you? Try out my online coaching service!
