All of us, at any given point, have certain compound exercise that we happen to hate. In short I will tell you why you HAVE to do that particular exercise.
In this blogpost I want to talk about doing exercises that we hate.
For a long time for me it was the bent over barbell row. I always recommend people doing barbell row for their back but when I started out I couldn’t correctly perform the exercise. I was terrible with the bar, I felt shaky, I felt awkward and I realised, knowing what I know about training, that means I really needed to work on that exercise. Some time later it became my favorite exercise, one of my strongest movements and I swear by it as one of the main mass builders for your whole posterior chain, back and biceps.
The Reason You Hate It…
For a lot of you it might be the front squat, it might be the conventional deadlift or the incline bench press. Whatever it happens to be. If you have any basic heavy exercise that you hate, odds are the reason you hate it is because you suck at it. Because you’re weak at it and you feel awkward doing it. You’re shaky because you have some stabilizer muscle or some primary mover somewhere in that movement that is weak and underdeveloped. If you continue to avoid that exercise, you’re going to have a glaring weakness in your functional strength pattern.
That is something you see a lot of people do in the gym. They always neglect that one or two big exercises that they avoid just because they don’t like doing them. While the reality is, if you don’t like doing an exercise and it’s not because it’s painful as a result of an injury, then it is because you’re weak at it. You’re pussing out and it’s time to short that weak link.
It doesn’t matter if you’re a powerlifter, strongman, bodybuilder or a general fitness enthusiast. It is a good idea in general to balance out those weak points.
The Fix
To fix this weakness you have to do this exercise multiple times a week with somewhere between 10 and 20 sets total of that exercise spread out over the week.
What I did was doing the Bent-Over Barbell Rows 4 times a week with 4 sets of 5 reps. Not training to failure but stimulating the muscles, focusing on technique and explosiveness. It didn’t take long because it became one of my favorite exercises with the muscle growth that came along with it.
It Should Be Pain-Free
And if a big common exercise that everyone else can do hurts, and you can’t do the full range of motion of it without pain, you need to learn the correct technique on the exercise. There is nobody in the world that, unless you have a previous injury, that should ever prevent you from doing full range of motion on any basic barbell movement.
You need to perform the exercise correctly for your body. If you have something different about your body then you need to find the bar path that would allow you to perform that exercise correctly. It doesn’t matter if it’s a behind the neck press, regular bench press, deadlift or whatever it is. There is a way that you can do it that should be pain free.
Take-Home Message:
- If you have a big heavy compound exercise that you hate, odds are you are weak at it because you have stabilizer muscles and primary movers in that movement that are underdeveloped.
- Hammer the exercise until you get strong at it and shortened the weak links in your body.
- You need to learn the correct technique on the exercise if it is painful.
- To fix this weakness you have to do this exercise multiple times a week with somewhere between 10 and 20 sets total of that exercise spread out over the week. (for example: Bent-Over Row 4 times a week. 4 sets of 5 explosive reps, not to failure)
Ready To Get In The Best Shape Of Your Life?
I’m offering free 45minute strategy sessions with me personally via Skype or the phone to discuss your current situation, desired situation and map out a plan to take you there.
You can schedule a breakthrough strategy call with me using the link below:
YES! Schedule My Breakthrough Strategy Session Now.
To your success!
Stefan Lamers
