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7:39 am
May 24, 2010
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Darrin
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What would you choose if you were limited, for the rest of your life, to one lifting exercise?
If you say barbell curls, I'm going to reach through the computer and smack you!
By now you know I live and breath The Big 7 as the core of any lifting program.
But which single one is the best?
Today's article is SURE to cause a lot of debate and disagreement!
"What is the best lifting exercise?" is a really hard question, and of course it's a silly question too. Nobody is every confined to a single exercise. But it's a fun point of debate, and an instructional one. Because it forces you to consider what gives you the best results for the time and effort involved. Right away, that clearly eliminates any isolation-type movement from the list.
For years I've avoided taking a stand. Until now.
I'm sure to get a lot of people disagreeing with me – that's ok, I can take it.
The single best, most important, most impactful lift is …
The Deadlift
We've written before on how to deadlift properly, so I won't repeat that here. And to be clear, we're talking deadlift, not Romanian Deadlift, not Straight-Leg deadlift, not Sumo deads… just good old fashioned regular deadlifts.
Why is it the single best?
- hits the most muscles of all The Big 7 lifts – quads, hamstrings, glutes, traps, delts, core, some lats, some arms, some calves; really just missing chest, though some guys swear it hits the chest
- high metabolic value; after an intense set of 8, you are wiped
- it has, almost, all the good parts of the squat if you're doing everything right, but none of the downsides
- safer than squats (generally)
- very natural and functional – lifting something heavy off the ground is common (compared to squats – how often do you have something on your back? or bench press – do you really ever lie on your back trying to push something heavy off?)
- it actually trains you for regular life; you will be better/stronger/safer in your everyday activity
- the older you get you can keep dead lifting; squatting heavy properly when you're 70 years old is tougher than doing proper deadlifts
- you can do dead lifts in so many variations: barbell, single leg, dumbbells. And in fact, a lot of times when people start talking about dumbbell squats, they're really doing dumbbell dead lifts
I include the deadlift in EVERY one of my routines, for beginners or more advanced, for muscle growth or fat loss.
Why Other Lifts Don't Cut It To Be "The Best"
Squats - a close second I think but fewer muscles recruited; plus, if you deadlift like I recommend you are getting a lot of the same benefit of squats; see above points.
Bench press, Overhead press – nothing for lower body.
Push-ups (we can debate whether this is a subcategory of chest press from the Big 7 or not) – with weights on your back (or a vest), these can be really tough, full-body exercises. Highly recommended (in fact, I'm pretty sure pushups are in every one of my routines too.) However, they don't beat deadlifts. If I could pick two exercises, then pushups and deads would be the two. But I said "just one"!
Cleans - excellent lift for sure, but too hard for the average person to do properly and extremely difficult to do with a lot of weight. This is the same reason I left cleans out of The Big 7, even though half my routines include cleans.
Of Course, No Single Lift Is Enough
To conclude, let me re-state the obvious. I'm not saying all you need is the deadlift. I'm just saying that if you had to pick only one, it'd be the best. The right answer is to use many different lifts. But if you had just one, do you agree it would be the Deadlift?
 Read original blog post
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7:11 pm
May 26, 2010
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gregsfc
| | Rickman, Tennessee | |
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I know my pick would severely limit the amount of weight a lifter could use, but at least one would be using his or her entire body with both push and pull contractions.
Clean and press
However, I'm going to cheat with my exercise. I'll do one set of eight; then I'll add more weight just to the point where I can't complete the press part of the exercise. This gives me cleans–oops. Then, my third set (every other workout), I'll add weight that just happens to be too much for me to clean (let alone press). Oh dern, now I can only do deadlifts, even though I tried to do clean and press  . Well–maybe next week I can clean and press 350.
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9:08 pm
May 26, 2010
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Darrin
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10:57 pm
May 26, 2010
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Cameron
| | Greensboro, NC | |
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hmm… can't say barbell curls…
I vote for dumbell curls!!! :)
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7:35 pm
May 28, 2010
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gregsfc
| | Rickman, Tennessee | |
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I lied about deadlifting 350 but I would have had to further explain if I had given my actual deadlift weight, because some may have been confused, thinking 220 could actually be my clean and press weight. My fib was only to protect any humor value, if there was any to be had.
Speaking of deadlifting, I did one set of deadlifts the other day, after heavy squats, but I did them with dumbells. Normally, I do one or two sets of deadlifts every other workout at about 220 lbs using one of those trap bars that you grab at your sides. I've just started working out in a gym and I feel much more upright using this bar than a straight bar. I feel like I'm really targeting my glutes and hams better with this straight up lift, but the grab bars are a little too wide for my body. It likewise seems a little wide for me for shrugs, which I do occationally.
With the dumbells, I grabbed the heaviest in the gym (90s). I noticed it was easier to stay on form than even the trap bar, I could keep the weight closer to my body, and I could really focus on exploding up with the weight, and I could go down to the exact spot I desired. The only disadvantage, as with dumbell chest presses, was getting in the starting position. Not as hard as the dumbell bench press but still pretty hard. I had to make use of my thighs until I got to a spot where I could begin the lift. I've done dumbell deadlifts before, but its always been when I was just starting back lifting and with lighter weight, i.e. 50s., for more reps.
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9:54 am
June 12, 2010
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Metric
| | Cincinnati | |
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If you get your Deadlift over 2.5 x bodyweight, squat over 2xBW, and bench 1.5xbw, you'll look and perform better than 98% of the nonlifting population.
Once my Dealift crossed over the 400lb. mark, I saw steady progressive increases across the board on all my other lifts.
Deads are king, in my opinion.
Squats / cleans / trapbar jumps a close 2.A,B,and C.
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5:30 pm
June 12, 2010
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gregsfc
| | Rickman, Tennessee | |
| Member | posts 145 | |
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Let's see @ 150 lbs, I should…
Deadlift @ 2.5XBW = 375
Squat @ 2XBW = 300
Bench Press = 225
I've spent half my adult life trying and hoping I could lift with these kind of numbers, because then, I would be a strong person. My best numbers ever, respectively, are: 270, 230, 220; but my 270 deadlift was in high school with the worst possible form one could imagine. So I could increase my deadlift if I did it with a bowed back, but then I would be through with all weight lifting for a while after just one attempt. My bench press best was also not legal. I probably bounced it off my chest; I was about twenty-two years old, and I think I may have weighed about 155; so I wasn't really that close to 1.5BW anyway.
My point is that, I've tried it all (from pure strength training to bodybuilding), and I've been lifting off and on for twenty-four years, and have never come close to being stronger than 98% of the non-lifting population. In fact, I think I've always stayed about the same strength after the first month or two after starting back. The first time I started lifting with regularity, I probably improved for the first four or five months, but all times since, my muscle memory kicks me back to the same point rather quickly, and then I stall. I think, however, I'm more physically fit; more flexible; quicker; and tougher than 98% of the non-lifting population.
I have to guess my current, one-rep max's, because I never do one-rep max's, but here is my guess: 245 (1.6BW), 205 (1.4BW), 190 (1.3BW). If I went to a pure strength routine, these numbers would probably slightly improve after two or three weeks.
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1:49 am
June 13, 2010
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Metric
| | Cincinnati | |
| Member | posts 6 | |
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Post edited 6:07 am – June 13, 2010 by Metric
Getting bigger and stronger takes time. Getting really big and strong takes a really long time. Years….Not months, years. It's a lifetime worth of work. Everytime you train, you aren't training for that day, that day is just a piece of the link in the big chain. Too many people feel discouraged after a few months training when they don't look like their fav. actor, athlete, or Arnold. We don't have their genetics, money, time, drugs, trainers….in most cases. It is what it is. You have to accept what you're working with and make the best of it. Dudes in prison get jacked all the time. Every day. They're working with nothing. You can do it if you really want it.
You don't know your 1rm? Find out what it is. How can you follow any program? You're guessing. And cheating yourself. And besides, it's fun to go in and work up to your 1 rm, then do a few backoff sets. Then hit the next lift the same way. You'll never get bigger unless you get stronger. In my opinion, a person has no business doing pretty much any isolation movements 'til they can do pullups, chinups, deadlift, squat, bench the numbers mentioned before in relation to their bodyweight. Because those movements will do them no good.
Jim Wendler's 5/3/1 program is amazing. And well worth looking into. I haven't checked out the full body routine that is promoted on this site. But I'm sure it's solid. Darrin seems to know his stuff.
If you want to get bigger and stronger, you need to do a few things:
Follow a full body routine to begin with.
Probably a 3x5 type deal. Then move on to a 5x5. Then maybe an upper/lower split.
The key within each system is to always progress. In either weight or reps. Even if it's just one rep, or 2.5 lbs. Each training session is a war with your log book. You MUST beat last weeks numbers (weight or reps).
There's the nutrition side of it. There's the recovery side of it. And the sleep factor as well. If getting strong and jacked were easy, everyone would do it.
Basic compound lifts will add slabs of muscle to your frame. If you doubled your 8 rep max in 1 yr. in millitary press, rows, deads, squats, chinups, pullups, and bench you'd be a helluva lot bigger. I detest bench press, though. Horrible for your shoulders once you start pressing real weight. I like incline or incline db press, or weighted pushup variations.
Stick to 3-4 compound movements per session. Throw in some calf, neck and grip training a coupla times a week. Once you can get 7 reps on your first set of a given lift it's time to increase the weight. Don't train past 1 hour (cortisol rises, and test. drops to nil around 45 mins). Keep it simple, basic. Eat, sleep, train, beat your log book. Repeat. You'll be just fine.
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3:38 pm
November 2, 2010
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hsl
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i think squats would be best;
because it is a great exercise,
you can do so many variations,
and it doesn't require any equipment.
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9:22 am
December 1, 2010
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CGWarrant77
| | Portland, Oregon | |
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Hi Darrin,
Just getting back into the gym after several months of pure laziness. I'm relatively well educated regarding lifting in general, but want to know more about suitable replacerments for squats and deal lifts. I have two damaged lumbar discs at L4/L5 and L5/S1 and have been doing machine leg presses as a substitute. Sadly, the seated position takes away frtom many of the advantages of a free-standing squat or lift.
I use weighted lunges as a warm-up, but am not sure if this type of exercise is enough to make the difference.
I am a member of a national gym chain, and have access to just about every veraity of machine and dead weight available, so the sky is the limit at this point.
I realkly want to improve my lumbar stability, as well as core and hip strength. Any feedback is appreciated.
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5:30 pm
December 1, 2010
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Darrin
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@cgwarrant77 – it's really hard to find total replacements for deads and squats but single leg movements are generally a great way to get the benefits (some people would say even more benefits, but I'd debate) with less load. I'm no back specialist, so given your injury do not do anything based on what I say, but lunges and single leg deads can go a long way. But I'm not sure what your exact goals are – if hypertrophy, then you can certainly get away without them. But if overall strength is your goal, then deads and squats are really hard to beat. Since you say you want lumbar stability, core strength, and hip strength, then you should be able to go far with single leg movements. Are you strong enough to do pistol squats?
If you continue using the leg press machine, I generally tell people to do that with single leg as well. the non-working leg rests on the floor, flat-footed. This helps keep the proper shape of your lumbar spine and also helps decrease the total load. Since most leg press machines put insanely high compression forces on your spine, I really recommend single leg for those machines.
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