Exercise guide

Exercise selection for hypertrophy matters as much as how you perform each exercise. A quality how to for doing each exercise for hypertrophy can be found on Renaissance Periodization’s channel on youtube. For strength training movements (squat, bench, deadlift) a very good guide can be found on the Cult Strength channel. (Link to youtube chanels on resources page)

Picking exercises for your training split can be hard to get right at first. Running other people’s pre-made training programs/splits is how you learn how to make your own training split.

The order in which you perform each exercise during a training session matters a lot. Research has shown, that you will get stronger on the first exercise you perform than on the rest of the exercises you train that day. Same goes for muscle groups. The first one you train will grow the most.

You should never change things about a program for no reason. Pain or discomfort during an exercise is the best reason to make changes. If a program was created by someone who knows what they’re doing, the included exercises are there for a reason. When running someone else’s program, make sure to start with the lowest recommended number of sets. This helps you avoid burning out on the program and allows you to gradually add more sets later on.

Here’s a list of what muscle groups you would usually train on each day. Not in any particular this order:

Upper – chest, back, arms, delts.

Lower – quads, hamstrings, glutes, calves.

Arms – arms, delts.

Push – chest, triceps, side and front delts.

Pull – back, biceps, forearms, rear delts.

Legs – quads, hamstrings, glutes, calves.

Full body – full body, if done multiple days a week usually picks out parts of the full body, for example – one day its quads, chest, and triceps: the next its hamstrings, back and biceps. More of an advanced way to run your training split, but probably the best way.

Also, muscle groups like abs are best placed after training legs due to the core demands of most lower body exercises. Forearms and neck are optional muscle groups that you can train on any day if you feel it won’t interfere with the sessions coming within the next 1-2 days.

The main thing when it comes to choosing what exercises you do each training day – a balance of compound and isolation movements. From what I’ve seen, bigger muscle groups grow better (especially in the beginning) from big, compound lifts, and smaller muscle groups are the opposite. You won’t develop huge arms doing barbell rows, and you won’t get massive triceps doing bench press. You might – but not nearly the type of result you would get utilizing isolation movements to target the smaller muscle groups.

One thing to look for when you’re prioritizing muscle building over anything else – a deep weighted stretch on the exercise. A deep stretch is the reason why squats ATG (ass to grass), chest flies, preacher and incline curls, overhead extensions all build muscle very well. This is also the reason lengthened partials have been shown in research to work way better than shortened partials. A lengthened partial is a way to perform the exercise in which you only do the half of the range of motion where the muscle is stretched, whereas a shortened partial is the opposite. Shortened partials have been shown to lead to way less gains when compared to full ROM (range of motion) or lengthened partials. Lengthened partials have been shown in studies to build muscle as well, if not better than, full range of motion reps.

Main movement patterns that are a base for most compound lifts:

Hinge – deadlift type movements. Deadlift. Mainly trains the glutes and hamstrings as primary movers; lower back, abs, lats and traps as stabilizers.

Squat – squat type movements. Squat. Primarily trains quads and glutes, secondary – hamstrings; lower back, midback, abs as stabilizers.

Bench – chest pressing movements. Bench press. Primarily trains the chest, triceps and front delts; back, delt, arm musculature in general as stabilizers.

Press – overhead pressing movements. Overhead press (OHP). Primarily trains the front delts and triceps, with minor upper chest; stabilizers same as bench if you’re sitting.

Pull – more lat oriented, vertical pull. Primarily trains the lats.

Row – more trap oriented, horizontal pull. Primarily trains the mid back-traps.

There are key exercises most people find value in strength wise, such as the bench press, squat, deadlift, pullups, bent over rows, the overhead press – but applying these exercises to muscle growth specific training can be a little finicky due to the fatigue they cause once you can lift sufficient weight. These are called compound lifts, and they’re always the basis for each training day, other than MAYBE arm day. Versions of these exercises that are easier to apply for more muscle specific hypertrophy are:

The SLDL – stiff legged deadlift, more specific to glute, hamstring, and lower back development than the deadlift due to the eccentric loading that the deadlift lacks.

Romanian deadlift – SLDL variation with more bent knees.

Incline bench press – usually the lower chest isn’t much of a weakness for most lifters, therefore the incline, when it comes to pure hypertrophy, will probably be a better time investment over the regular bench press.

Smith machine incline bench press – a good accessory to push harder than the regular incline since its stable.

Dumbbell incline, regular bench press – very good accessory or main lift to emphasize the stretch.

High bar squat – the most basic squat, if done with a more upright torso, letting the knees drift forward more and done ass to grass – is a very good quad exercise.

Front squat – same as high bar but even more quad emphasis, less hip dominant, but more technical.

Hack squat – usually done in a machine, not technical at all in comparison, insanely good quad builder if done as deep as possible.

Seated overhead press – usually done at a very slight incline, 15 degrees from vertical, emphasizes side and front delts.

Seated dumbbell press – same as previous, but allows for more shoulder and wrist movement, tolerates volume better than the barbell variation.

Smith machine seated overhead press – decent specifically for delt development, however isolations are likely better.

The pullup – essential for lat development, if you’re not strong enough, machine or band assisted pullups are a very good tool to build up to it.

Barbell row – very good for beginners to build total back strength, only worth progressing if your lower back fatigue isn’t an issue.

These exercises give more muscle growth proportional to the fatigue they cause because you will be forced to use less weight on them than you typically would on the main barbell lifts. Less weight = less joint damage to heal through = less fatigue = more frequency, volume and gains.

The other type of exercise – isolation movements. These, according to some research, take longer to recover from for the muscle, however the upside – much less CNS fatigue. This allows you to add these to the end of the workout or perform them before other exercises without much detriment to your energy levels. Usually used to finish off muscle groups after compound lifts (this leads to greater gains according to some anecdotal evidence of other natural lifters). Its easier to feel the muscle and emphasize a deep stretch on these in comparison to most compound lifts, and progression is usually easier to keep true, in the sense that while you can cheat on isolation movements, it is much more obvious to yourself than on a compound movement. Now, once again, priority muscles should be trained first – for example, triceps before chest or biceps before back if that is your priority. The best isolation exercises will be even more individual than compound movements, however the simple ones are ALWAYS the best.

3 factors to look for when choosing the exercise – it must be possible to progress on for a long time, stretch out the muscle and not injure you. Most exercises aren’t inherently injurious, but sometimes you will have to start off way lighter than you’d think due to the smaller muscles, especially the rotator cuffs in your shoulder, not being prepared for big loads in that specific movement pattern. These exercises would be behind the neck presses and pulldowns, upright rows.

I recommend only reading this exercise list if you want to figure out why these exercises are good. Since they are staples, any single training program that’s worth your time will have most of them in it.

Some good examples for isolation exercises going from upper body to lower:

Chest press – any sort of chest press machine that allows for a deep stretch, the hammer strength incline press is also good.

Chest fly – any chest fly, cable, or dumbbell, as long as it’s done light, safely, with a big emphasis on the stretch.

Lateral raise – if you want to emphasize the stretch, with dumbbells a power raise version is better than the regular strict version, but a cable version is even better as you can finish off the delts purely in the stretch position once the set is done.

Rear delt raise – same as lateral raise, just for the rear delt.

Upright row – this exercise is good only if you start very light and allow your shoulders to adapt properly. It is also a good idea to not do it early in a workout, for example only do it after an overhead press or lateral raise. Side delt focus.

Pulldown – if done with a narrower grip and elbows straight down, emphasizes lats. If done with flared elbows, emphasizes mid back traps, rear delts. Must emphasize stretch.

Cable row – same as pulldown except horizontal, offers a very good stretch for the midback if done properly.

Pullover – can be done with a cable or a dumbbell, slightly harder to set up with a dumbbell, but if you do it correctly the stretch is incredible. Best done on a bench, with only your upper back set on it, letting your rib cage flare out and glutes stay low as you lower the weight and stretch out your lats.

Upper trap exercises are unnecessary if you’re lifting heavy with your compound lifts, however if you’re not – power shrugs with a trap bar is something that definitely works to grow them. Be very careful while doing them to not pull something, but the traps can take a lot of weight. The way you grow them – weighted stretch.

Skull crusher – usually done with an EZ bar, good stretch and loadable indefinitely, as you will usually not fill out the entire bar with plates. The heavy movement for the triceps.

Overhead extension – same movement pattern as the french press, but preferably done with cable machines and a rope or stable attachment. V-bar or EZ-bar work well.

Pushdown – can be done with a rope or any other attachment you find comfortable, decent stretch, one of the basics done by all bodybuilders.

Bicep curl – best done with an ez bar to favor your elbow health more, the basis of bicep isolation. The heavy movement for the biceps.

Hammer curl – a curl variation that emphasizes the side of the bicep and forearm. Really good if you don’t do forearm work. Good to go heavy on because its very elbow friendly and safe.

Incline curl – stretch based movement, set up on a bench with a slight incline. As your arms are behind your body in the starting position, the bicep is stretched and has to produce a lot more force to lift the weight. Forces you to use less weight, but since it is hard to cheat on it works as a really good marker of bicep strength.

Forearm related exercises – best look at what arm wrestlers or strongmen are doing.

Leg extension – quad isolation movement, good if you have solid knees, access to a good machine and enjoy the movement. Good stretch, low fatigue.

Hamstring curl – best done seated to start off in a pre-stretched position. Good stretch, good growth, low fatigue.

Calf raise – if you want your calf to LOOK big, standing calf raises are what trains that specifically. Seated trains the calf muscle that’s at the front of your shin bone. Emphasize the stretch.

Glute muscles aren’t something that you NEED to isolate if you’re doing enough compound lifts for the lower body (deadlifts, splitsquats, squats of any sort).

2 thoughts on “EXERCISE SELECTION FOR HYPERTROPHY”

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