Why don’t basic exercises really work?

We are used to seeing men in the gym on banquettes doing chest presses or girls squatting in front of the mirror. These exercises seem to be inseparable from the concept of a beautiful figure, but sometimes they bring the result completely opposite to what we want.

fitness methodologist, head of the Sport Russia project

It’s not enough to just lift weights, it’s not enough to take basic stereotypes. There is no program that is universal for everyone.

Bench press

All newcomers of the world go to the bench to do the bench press, trying to squeeze out as much weight as possible. But as a result, after painful exercises, the desired result in the form of voluminous pectoral muscles is not. In the gym there are usually enough experienced athletes who either do not do this exercise at all or do it third or fourth in a row, using a small weight. Sergey suggests to pay attention to them and think about the fact that it may be worth reconsidering the approach to your training plan.

Muscles are developed thanks to this exercise only if you have breasts – a genetically strong muscle group. But in that case, muscles will develop with any other exercise as well.

If your chest muscles are a lagging muscle group, as most trainees are, then the load will mainly go to the front delts and triceps. The chest muscles will grow slowly or not at all.

Moreover, if you have used up all your strength at the beginning of the workout on the press, you move on to the next exercise and continue to work the front delts and triceps, and the chest muscles again do not receive the necessary load.

Substitution: the first exerciseis better to do the “butterfly” in the trainer or arm curl in the crossover, and after that do incline presses with a barbell, or better – with dumbbells.

Stanovaya pull

Sergei believes that this is a very effective exercise for the back muscles, but it is also the most dangerous for the lumbar and spine.

Especially in case of incorrect technique and physical unpreparedness. Pulling should be introduced into the training complex only after several months of training in the gym. And with spinal injuries, the exercise should not be done at all. It is not at all necessary to pull a huge weight from the floor to rock your back.

Replacement: isolated pulling dumbbells to the waist on an inclined banquette.

Knäböj

Girls come to the gym for a beautiful butt and slender legs. Squats for girls are a very powerful stereotype. Actually, this exercise is designed to train the hips, quadriceps.

The glutes are involved only at the lower point of amplitude. As a result, you get powerful legs, but your butt never grows. And if you are genetically inclined to the fact that your legs increase in volume, squats should be excluded from your training plan.

Substitute: exercises aimed strictly at working the glutes, such as leg swings or gluteal bridges.

Training should be based primarily on your body, its strengths and weaknesses, on sensations, not on stereotypes and conventional trends. Then the result will not make you wait for a long time.