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The 20 Greatest Exercises of All Time (CHANGE MY MIND)

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Rating: 4.5; Vote: 2

Have you ever wondered what are the 20 greatest exercises of all time? In this video, I am going to put together a list of what I feel are the 20 greatest exercises of all time and why I feel so strongly about them so that way you know exactly which ones you should be including in your workout routine. Not only that, I am going to give you some tips for each exercise that will help to make sure you are getting the absolute most benefit out of them. In this list of 20 great exercises, there are going to be some exercises that you would expect anyone to include in the top 20 as well as a few exercises that you might be surprised to be given such a high honor. You can expect that some of the bigger, compound lifts are surely going to make the list - but you might be shocked to find some smaller, more corrective exercises within the rankings as well. I believe that some corrective exercises hold more weight in their benefits than you might have considered before watching the video. Just because they are a smaller exercise that targets smaller, more neglected muscle groups does not make them any less important. In fact, I would argue that that is what makes them so much MORE important than people give them credit for. That being said, let s take a look at the list and see which exercises fall into the category of greatest of all time First up, we have the barbell squat otherwise known as the king of all leg exercises. To make sure you are getting the most out of this leg exercise, it is important to keep a few things in mind. Make sure that you are moving the pelvis and the ribcage together as a single unit. This will prevent the dreaded squat morning and make sure that the exercise remains fluid. Secondly, try to grip the ground with your toes to help create a stable base through the foot. Doing so will make sure that you remove any instability from the bottom of the kinetic chain. Next up is the barbell curl. I like to add a little extra weight to this exercise and utilize the cheat variation because I can get a great overload on the biceps as well as taking advantage of my strength in the eccentric portion of the lift. One thing I like to do with the cheat curl is to keep a staggered stance - this is actually helpful for the cheat portion of the lift because it sets ourselves up to avoid excessive lean when bringing the bar up. The dumbbell bench press is on this list of the greatest exercises of all time and for good reason. An awesome chest based exercise that is great for overloading the pecs and adds in a slight bit more adduction than it s barbell-based cousin. Like the barbell bench press, it is important to take advantage of the use of your legs during the press by utilizing leg drive. Some people might argue that they avoid the dumbbell version based on shoulder problems they may have, but I often give the suggestion to play around with the speed or tempo of the reps as slowing them down may actually help solve a stability problem. No list of greatest exercises could be complete without the inclusion of pullups. My suggestion on this exercise is to stop simply trying to increase the number of reps you can do on the exercise and instead add some weight to overload the movement. The weighted pull-up is a great strength developer and muscle building exercise when included into a routine. One tip that I would give with this exercise is to instead of pulling with your biceps and forearms, use the lats. My cue for this is to put your elbows in your back pockets on each rep. If the squat is the king of all leg exercises, then the reverse lunge has to be considered the prince. By training through a staggered stance, we are making use of functional, real world movement patterns. Not only that but the exercise maintains an important versatility as well; not only does the lunge allow you to train with either a barbell or dumbbells to match your strength capabilities, you can also alter your torso position to better target different muscle groups. Of course, there are many more exercises on this list to help you build muscle and get stronger. Be sure to watch the whole video to get the entire list and a breakdown on each exercise.
Date: 2023-01-10

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Comments and reviews: 14

sport
One thing I always admired about athlean is he s a natural body builder and didn t take any roids. His physic is what you get as a normal human who works hard and eats right. At least he s not like 99% of the other dudes that say follow my program, eat like me and you ll get my results. All those clowns forget to mention the special ingredient, roids! I ve fell victim to these scandals. I ve believed in my idols and followed their plans, not getting same results. If only they d tell you they also take roids. I know it s taboo, but also if you re selling packages to look like me, stop false advertising, and let people also know that if they really want those results they need to take roids. All the professionals are juiced. I didn t know that before. And I m not talking just about Olympian s. All those pros are juicing. Some sort of something, even hgh as example. It s just gross how they ll sell programs and never tell people the real reason behind their results.
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Jeffbtall
Love videos. Watching for last few years. As i get older in age. i wish i had access to these techniques 20 years ago. Being about 6 11 I grew fast at a young so i got a bit a challenge for you. For today's youth in sports. Can you come up with a jump training regiment for younger athletes that helps with explosive, but also balanced techniques to help with knee and and ankle strength? Back in the day P90x jump training was very helpful. Today's youth might not be aware of those techniques. Would love your input, not for me. To help educate your youth followers on updated techniques and routines. Thank you for all the work you do. I look forward to your future advise. P. S. Thank you for all your efforts in your field.
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YoloSwaggins
I cant believe he s reccomend a bit of a cheat curl most of the guys in the gym would call this blasphemy and look down there smug noses at it. They are so against cheating and they hate it when you do more weight. In fact they sometimes even call you out on it depending on the gym you go to. Luckily im at a good gym now where everyone is cool. But yeah im glad to see this cause i sometimes like to use extra weight and explode because im training for more than just bodybuilding im training for function and fitness and explosion is massively important to me. This video has been great some of these exercises i forgot about or dont do much anymore its a fantastic refresher
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Num
Push
2: 20 DB Bench Press
6: 10 Cable Lateral Raise
10: 25 Lying Triceps Extension
14: 30 DB/BB Push Press
16: 55 Crossover
Pull
1: 15 BB Ch at Curl
3: 20 Weighted Pullup
7: 00 Single Arm High Cable Row
8: 35 DB Waiter Curl
12: 25 DB Pullover
13: 35 Facepull
15: 15 Rotator Cuff External Rotation
16: 15 DB High Pull > Upright Row
17: 55 BB Dead Row
Leg
0: 20 Squat
4: 00 DB/BB Reverse Lunge
5: 20 Deadlift
7: 45 BB Hip Thrust
11: 40 Reverse Hyper
Abs
9: 40 Hanging Leg Raise
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Douglas
I ditched hip thrusts when I noticed my back felt better the times I skipped them, and my workouts haven't suffered without them. If you're doing squats, lunges, deadlifts and RDLs, hip thrusts are a bit overkill.
My top 20 would have to include farmer's walks, Bulgarian split squats and RDLs, and I'd definitely have barbell overhead press ahead of dumbbell push press. I totally agree with the inclusion of external rotations though. Maybe swap one of the bicep ones for something more forearm-dominant?
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Perc3nt
Hi Jeff, could you make a do's and don't exercise video for people with retroverted hips? I found out late that I have retroverted hips, and it is the main cause for many muscle imbalances that I have. For instance any kind of squat is extremely difficult for me to do, however I was a decent dead lifter. You are one of the only sources I trust due to your prowess is physical therapy, and your vast knowledge of how the body moves.
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Alan
Thnx for ur videos Jeff. I have watching you and Jesse for some time now. I am 49, my orthopedist recently told me I have a herniated disc in my neck. This is causing poor mobility on my left side. As a result, I am having a hard time with pushing exercise, such as bench pressing. Prior to my diagnosis I was benching two plates, and now I am down to one. Is there any advice on how I can help move the needle up?
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Pumpychan
I m a bit moved to see ALL goofing on Jesse stopped. The man has arrived nice. (Jeff, could you do talk some more about programs and progressions. the exercise explanations always awesome but not quite sure what the alternate pro s and con s of increasing load, reps per sets, set number, or tempo. How about some nerd math in spirit of Mark Wileman, but with your selected exercises.
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sport
key takeways from me from all the exercises:
1) Leg squat: the clawing/gripping the floor like tiger's claws as you sqaut down (that was a new trick)
2) Dumbbell waiter's curl ( never saw that done that way)
3) Lying flat tri-ceps extension (a variation of the skull crusher. If I don't see the bar til the end by extending out then I'm doing it correctly)
Great tips Jeff!
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Tyler
I never understand why you seem to refuse to acknowledge that a reverse hyper machine is a thing that actually exists and can be a useful piece of equipment.
That gym even had one! I saw it in the background at 15: 24. I get why you want to show an equipment-free version of it but to never even acknowledge the machine exists and to never actually use it is just baffling to me.
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Allan
Great video as always. Just in regards to the PPL split workouts. I only have time to do the 3 day split so as to do cardio on the other 2 days. Do u think it s better to do the 1st workout for say 8 weeks then do the other workout for say 8 weeks? Or just alternate between each week? 2 week seems like a long time between bench press, deadlift etc. any advice?
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Obi
If I could only do one exercise, while it requires proper coaching, it would be the clean. Both the clean and the snatch should be on the list IMO if we're talking greatest exercises of all time. Same with the just the old fashioned military press. Front squat would also get a vote from me over back squat because of the greater core engagement.
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Bisa
Jesse has been training for how long? I know he's natural, but at his rate of growth, which is too slow, even for a natural, something is not right. But probably because he's not going for the 'bodybuilder-look' and more to atheltic. He grew and improve, yes, but not at the rate of someone that has a good BB training under his belt.
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Bernard
Imagine working out right beside them when Jeff is explaining the exercises You'd be like that one meme with the eyes glancing to them and glancing back, then consciously correcting yourself LOL.
I'd love it if Jeff goes to a random gym goer as a prank and starts explaining how they're doing it right or wrong mid-workout!
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