Exercises that you are fond of that you never see anyone doing

[groink]

I see at lot of exercises being done differently just for the sake of being different.

That dude doing hyperextensions with a swiss ball was comical

[StressMonkey]

What the hell??

[hemingersl]

No problem as far as explaining and my apologies if you are dealing with a prior injury that inhibits full range of motion. Otherwise really there's nothing, other than just not making a point to increase ones depth a little ever leg workout, to prevent one, at any age from improving ones depth.

As far as artificial stopping point on squats I'm referring to a point that the the body is not biomechanically designed to stop at, meaning the thickness of both portions of cartilage. This optimal level of thickness, as described by J. Horrigan, isn't reached until full depth, ie. at about parallel or a little below. Otherwise shearing of both sections of cartilage can, and does with enough time, occur. As far as the paranoia regarding knees over the toes goes, the fear was created, to a great deal by the very same doctors who felt that squating in and of itself was risky to the knees. Granted there are definite risks to poor habits in any lift but knees slightly over the toes is not one of them.

I'm curious about the claim to begin with that there are many lifters at your gym whom you've seen doing this? As a lifter of many years, I've seen very little of lifters doing squats of any type, and certainly even fewer doing a full range squat. I'd bet Less than 5% of any gym population across the board...probably more like 1% in all honesty and that 1% being me, lol.

As far as the artificial stop I'm referring to in floor presses, I simply mean the compression and possibly separation of the elbow joint which occurs when one stops the stroke with upper arms resting on the floor and elbows serving as a prop on the floor as the weight being lifted unnaturally rests on them. The tension moves from the muscles to the tendons and ligaments trying to hold the joint together with the force of the weight and the unmovable surface of the floor working in opposition to them.

Not good over time no matter who one is.

Artificially stopping? My full range for me just so happens to be above parallel, I currently don't have the flexibility to go any lower without rounding my back. If I could, I would just to say I can do it... I stopped doing atg recklessly over 10 years ago. My half squat would be what others consider a quarter squat at present.

Where I train, I have yet to see a dude go past parallel without rounding & knees floating past toes... the day I do, I'll start a thread about it & ask the guy if I can film it to post here...

..With the exception of one gal recently, I watched her break parallel doin' hack squats w/ the smith machine. Her back didn't cave & her knees were in line... I made a comment to my workout partner about how nice her legs were except her butt was way too big!!!



There's that word again... "umm" what artificial starting point are you talking 'bout?

[pac8x8]

No problem as far as explaining and my apologies if you are dealing with a prior injury that inhibits full range of motion. Otherwise really there's nothing, other than just not making a point to increase ones depth a little ever leg workout, to prevent one, at any age from improving ones depth.

As far as artificial stopping point on squats I'm referring to a point that the the body is not biomechanically designed to stop at, meaning the thickness of both portions of cartilage. This optimal level of thickness, as described by J. Horrigan, isn't reached until full depth, ie. at about parallel or a little below. Otherwise shearing of both sections of cartilage can, and does with enough time, occur.

Oh I don't have an injury, just trying to minimize further degeneration of the lumbar. Other than that, I couldn't agree with you more on improving flexibility, safely though. 'Full depth' is based on doing it in such a way that the back isn't put at risk, just for the sake of doing atg because some expert in a reparable mag says you must.

As far as the paranoia regarding knees over the toes goes, the fear was created, to a great deal by the very same doctors who felt that squating in and of itself was risky to the knees. Granted there are definite risks to poor habits in any lift but knees slightly over the toes is not one of them.

Slightly prob okay,
Most of the time though, the knees are traveling forward a ways coupled w/ the rounding.

I'm curious about the claim to begin with that there are many lifters at your gym whom you've seen doing this? As a lifter of many years, I've seen very little of lifters doing squats of any type, and certainly even fewer doing a full range squat. I'd bet Less than 5% of any gym population across the board...probably more like 1% in all honesty and that 1% being me, lol.

That's good you consider yourself in the 1% because of that 1% that perform full, most are more than likely hurting themselves thinking they have the flexibility, but rather putting their backs in precarious situations that does lead to long term injury.

As far as the artificial stop I'm referring to in floor presses, I simply mean the compression and possibly separation of the elbow joint which occurs when one stops the stroke with upper arms resting on the floor and elbows serving as a prop on the floor as the weight being lifted unnaturally rests on them. The tension moves from the muscles to the tendons and ligaments trying to hold the joint together with the force of the weight and the unmovable surface of the floor working in opposition to them.

Not good over time no matter who one is.

I did have this detailed thing typed up where I explain my form, but you know, I'm just goin' to say... I'm not doing it the way that you describe. Mainly, no exercise should be labeled an "all exclusive" exercise. Floor presses have their uses in bbin' as do many Olympic lifts as well -@ least for completeness in development, ie: Sergio Oliva. It's a matter of people honing in on their abilities within reason,
'biomechanically' speaking; us gorilla armed shallow chest people can't necessarily compete in PLin' w/ the 'touch the chest w/ the bar' aspect of the sport. Now if it was the floor press that replaced the bench press in the meets... look out all you short armed -barrel chested PLers you!

Thank you for clarifying your reasoning... all this artificial starting & stopping discussion was making me think of artificial sweeteners, and how the world is coming to an end.

ps I have read that Ironman issue with regard to cartilage in the knees, I may have that issue or I read 'bout it in the grocery.

[shlape]

What the hell??

If I'm not mistaken, and assuming "elbows! elbows!" was yelled as a reminder not to bend them, that's a lying forward shrug supposedly to train/isolate the front of the traps. I've heard of the rear version being done in a seated row machine, where the arms remain straight and the movement done from the shoulders. Another is the 'reverse shrug' (I think its refered to as that). Lat pull down machine with arms extended, and the only movement is done at the shoulders.

I don't do any of these. The basic old school shrugs are enough for me.

[Marius_Ursus]

I like the two-hands anyhow also, and that's another one you never see.

[mickyb55]

Its been mentioned here already, but I want to second incline DB curls. Thats a great bicep exercises. I don't do alot of bicep work myself but my partner and I will always do a few sets of these.

Lots of people mentioned deads and I tend to agree. Deadlifting is a lost exercise that has amazing strength value. The public gym I go to rarely has anyone doing deads. In the school I teach and coach at, everyone does deads. When we implement strength training into my high school football program, deads are a staple and a requirement. We work individually to ensure proper form. Without the right form, the exercise is pointless and dangerous.

[silverlightning]

at my gym, bent over barbell rows.

[cozener]

deadlifts

Hate to admit it but after working out for two years I hadn't tried deads until a couple of months ago...and I could kick myself in the ass for that because I enjoy the hell out of them. It might even be my favorite exercise.

[THORNLYMCPRICK]

freeweights

lol good one!
I like to push my old fire fly car around the back yard..works everything real good
Can't say i see people doing that one much.

[Equalizing]

I'm fortunate to have a decent gym at work.

Not one person does dead lifts.

Only one other man does squats, but only during skiing season and he uses fairly light weight. ( he's an incredibly fit and very strong 55 year old man)

I've only seen two men do pull ups.

I see loads of arm curls, thousands of ab crunches and of course, all the men use the bench press.

[Buffycat3]

This is a great thread....I've seen some exercises I have never seen before.
..but then again I do train at home.

Thanks for everyone who has posted....I think some of these I will include in my upcoming workouts.

Some of the mentioned, I currently do, like weighted pull-ups, weighted dips, incline curls.

[Iron Barbarian]

Hell, I love Weighted Dips. I do them twice a week at least. I think they rock!!

I also love laying on my back on the floor and doing Cable Curls and never see anyone doing those. Along with Close Grip Bench Presses and Decline Bench Presses.

1. Weighted dips.
2. BB curls.... in the squat rack!

[StressMonkey]

This is a great thread....I've seen some exercises I have never seen before.
..but then again I do train at home.

Thanks for everyone who has posted....I think some of these I will include in my upcoming workouts.

That was definitely what I had in mind when I started it. I love trying new things.

[NorwichGrad]

POWER CLEANS.

I see one or two squatters and deadlifters, but nobody ever does poewr cleans.

[KLR650]

I had to look up the good morning exercise as I will start on that now that my back is capable of light workouts now. But I pulled up a vid on Youtube on it and MAN!!! The lady that was demonstrating it was cut! Normally when I see female bodybuilders they look a little too much like Yugoslavian shotputters for me - this one did it right, she had excellent tone, good muscle definition, and still looked damn sexy. Too bad I can't post a link yet -

[hardBODmiranda]

I work out alone at home. so basically everything.

[halogenic]

Cable crunches

[hemingersl]

I'll respect your decision to not take a risk you think is unnecessary doing squats, even though I do think it is silly to make the claim when one is a proponent of a very unnatural lift such as the floor press.
I will say however that I find your misrepresentation of those who do squats at level or below a little disconcerting. In fact in most instances I'd say that those maligning a certain exercise are frequently those using their arguments, to some degree, to justify their own decisions.
The statement that most who do squats at level or below are putting themselves in precarious situations is just absurd. In my experience the 5% (I'll admit I exagerated when saying 1% before, lol) who actually perform the lift at the depth it was designed to be done are long term lifters who understand good form and have established a disciplined training routine. There are exceptions, of course but generally speaking the VAST majority of those doing squat at that level are either competitive bodybuilders or powerlifters who have established training routines meant to keep them in the gym for the long haul.
As I clearly said ,there are exceptions to this but there is no way that that even a plurality, much less a majority of those performing parallel squats are doing so with a potentially risky rounding of the lower back.

Oh I don't have an injury, just trying to minimize further degeneration of the lumbar. Other than that, I couldn't agree with you more on improving flexibility, safely though. 'Full depth' is based on doing it in such a way that the back isn't put at risk, just for the sake of doing atg because some expert in a reparable mag says you must.



Slightly prob okay,
Most of the time though, the knees are traveling forward a ways coupled w/ the rounding.



That's good you consider yourself in the 1% because of that 1% that perform full, most are more than likely hurting themselves thinking they have the flexibility, but rather putting their backs in precarious situations that does lead to long term injury.



I did have this detailed thing typed up where I explain my form, but you know, I'm just goin' to say... I'm not doing it the way that you describe. Mainly, no exercise should be labeled an "all exclusive" exercise. Floor presses have their uses in bbin' as do many Olympic lifts as well -@ least for completeness in development, ie: Sergio Oliva. It's a matter of people honing in on their abilities within reason,
'biomechanically' speaking; us gorilla armed shallow chest people can't necessarily compete in PLin' w/ the 'touch the chest w/ the bar' aspect of the sport. Now if it was the floor press that replaced the bench press in the meets... look out all you short armed -barrel chested PLers you!

Thank you for clarifying your reasoning... all this artificial starting & stopping discussion was making me think of artificial sweeteners, and how the world is coming to an end.

ps I have read that Ironman issue with regard to cartilage in the knees, I may have that issue or I read 'bout it in the grocery.

[GnomusMaximus]

High Pulls
Front Squats
Zercher Squats
Push Presses or ANYTHING overhead

[hemingersl]

Come on man! Give the guy a break! I'm sure that there has to be a legitimate reason to do hyperextensions with a swiss ball...like to give all the rest of us heart attacks from laughing so hard.

I see at lot of exercises being done differently just for the sake of being different.

That dude doing hyperextensions with a swiss ball was comical

[patriarcaangela]

deads, overheads, squats and benching the right way - PL style :]

[patriarcaangela]

In my whole life I've never seen anyone doing deadlifts at any gym I've been to.
Never, not even once lol.
The only one I've seen is myself, it's my fav exercise.
I don't think it has to do with how hard an exercise it is.
Calve exercises are tougher if you ask me, they burn like hell.
I always see people moaning and farting doing leg presses, benches and stuff till failure so it's not about effort.
It's because people go to they gym and they are given a workout to do and it never ever has deadlifts in it.
Most don't even know what it is.
And they don't know what it does either.
Biceps curls will give you big arms, what are deadlifts gonna do for you?
I've talked to some of my friends who work out about it and they were all concerned about injuring themselves so I gave up.
Let's face it, 90% of people hit the gym to look good for the Summer, they could't give a rats' *** about deadlifting.
Of course it's one of the two best exercise for packing on mass and staying lean for life but try to explain that to people who think ab exercises will burn the fat off your belly.
Still, I kinda like it that way, I'm the only one in the gym who does them, they do abs for 45 minutes I do the king of exercises, feels great!!!

yeah ! speak the truth

[hemingersl]

Damned Straight!

yeah ! speak the truth

[CleanDean]

90% of the members of my gym do not train legs period !!! Never have to wait for the hack squat machine or leg press. Unfortunately, everyone uses the squat rack for straight bar curls.

[kostasthai]

DL, single leg weighted DL, glute ham raise, front squats, weighted pullups and dips, good mornings, ab roll out to straight plank and up (no knees), donkey calf raise, woodchopper or after DL tak off one sides weights and lift the other side up with both arms left to right till you drop. shrugs with 2x45 plates every time i go to the fountain instead of rest.That's my programme and then 5 kms on weight free days combined with 50 weighted back raises halfway. love it

[christos_swc]

I also saw a huge guy picking up a big bar and hitting the squat rack,determined to do some barbell curls.
I thought "that's a first here".
Next thing he jerks the weight up using his lower back to impress everybody with his poundage.
The weight got up so fast you knew he hit failure in his waist before his biceps after four reps.
So I guess next thread should be:"Which exercise you never see people doing right?"
The standing barbell curl is one of the nicest exercises ever, it's just there are so many muscles screaming to take over people just can't resist letting them in and piling on the weight!

[IR45N]

Good old fashioned push ups after training chest. Feet up on a bench, grab a pair of dbells on the floor to hold onto & crank out as many in as many sets as possible til you can't do anymore. Shins on the bench or even knees on the floor if starting; pushing just your upper body weight is beneficial for beginners. Push ups rank right up there with dips as far as chest building.

[StressMonkey]

Good old fashioned push ups after training chest. Feet up on a bench, grab a pair of dbells on the floor to hold onto & crank out as many in as many sets as possible til you can't do anymore. Shins on the bench or even knees on the floor if starting; pushing just your upper body weight is beneficial for beginners. Push ups rank right up there with dips as far as chest building.

Abso-freaking-lutely. That's how I end every chest day. I bust out the pushup pro handles and crank some out with my feet at varying heights.

[StressMonkey]

Hanging leg raises in ab slings, but instead of bringing your knees up to your belly button bring them up to your chin and slowly lower yourself down. I tried this last night and loved it.