THE 9 BEST EXERCISES YOU'VE NEVER HEARD OF
Revitalise your training with these undiscovered classics
By Jeff O'Connell
The catch-22 of being a devotee of anything is the let-down that accompanies exhausting the subject of one's passion. Whether it's the Beatles fan reaching the end of "Abbey Road," the card collector wrapping up his '68 Topps set with a Nolan Ryan rookie, or Wilt Chamberlain finishing - er, never mind. The point is that completists of all stripes usually experience disappointment rather than fulfillment at the end of their explorations.
The same goes for bodybuilding: What a drag to feel like you've tried every variation on every exercise under the sun. The good news is that you haven't; in fact, you probably haven't even come close. Granted, many lost or unknown exercises well deserve their obscurity, but a select few are hidden gems, either lost, forgotten or never before given the exposure needed to popularise them.
Until now, that is. M&F interviewed the best personal trainers and bodybuilders in the business in search of the nine most effective exercises you've probably never heard of, let alone done. Here they are, presented in no particular order:
Spinal Flexion With Ab Wheel and Cable
Contributor: Joseph Dowdell, a certified strength and conditioning specialist (CSCS) through the National Strength and Conditioning Association, and the owner of Peak Performance gym in New York City.
Genesis: "I always felt the Ab Wheel was a pretty good idea but limited because of the direction of resistance relative to the actions of the targeted muscles," says Dowdell. "The resistance is a combination of the user's bodyweight and the effects of gravity pulling downward, which requires the extensors of the spine, primarily, to resist that direction of pull. A second source of resistance is the friction caused by the wheel moving across the floor in direct opposition of the spinal flexors. Since the original intention of the exercise was to train the ab muscles, I realised that if I were able to provide additional resistance against the movement of spinal flexion, I could improve the overall effect."
Targets: Primary muscles: hip flexors, lats, triceps (long head); secondary muscles: hamstrings; stabilisers: abdominals, spinal erectors.
Execution: Attach the single end of ankle straps to a low cable pulley and place the forked end of the straps over the handles of an Ab Wheel. Select the desired resistance on the cable stack. Kneel facing the Ab Wheel and cable stack, grasping the wheel's handles with an overhand grip so that your body is fully extended except for your upper thighs and torso, which are angled up off the floor slightly; and your arms, which are angled downward to the same degree. Keeping your spine neutral, your arms extended and your shins and feet in place, flex your torso to roll the wheel toward you, stopping once your arms and thighs are both nearly perpendicular to the floor, at which point your torso is angled upward. Reverse the movement and repeat for reps.
Footnote: "As you get stronger and gain core stability, start the exercise with your arms farther out in front of your body," Dowdell advises.
Lying Biceps Curl at Seated-Row Station
Contributor: Jimmy Peņa, CSCS, spa and athletic director at The Ritz-Carlton hotel in Half Moon Bay, California, USA.
Genesis: "Dude, this is awesome, and I've never seen anyone else do it," says the irrepressible Peņa of this partial movement, which covers the same territory as the upper half of 21s. "Everyone's done standing cable curls, but this is a totally different feel. I like to do it 'cause I can just go so stinkin' heavy that I can hardly stand it, but it's also good for someone with back problems, because it unloads the back."
Targets: Primary muscle: biceps; secondary muscles: forearms, trapezius.
Execution: Sit on the bench of a seated cable-row station, plant your feet on the support and use an underhand grip to hold a straight-bar handle attached to the pulley. Lie on your back and bend your knees at a sharp angle, at which point the cable will ride up between your thighs. Bend your elbows and contract your biceps to curl the handle up to your shoulders, keeping your legs stationary. Lower the handle until it reaches your thighs - at which point your elbows should still be significantly bent - and repeat. The exercise covers the upper half of the concentric portion of a regular barbell curl, although you can increase the range of motion by scooting your glutes up the pad and extending your legs somewhat, lowering the point at which the bar will be stopped by your thighs.
Footnote: "You can also do reverse curls this way," Peņa remarks, adding that this is also suited for some rest-pause action. "You don't even have to sit back up. You just sit there for a few seconds and, boom! You're off to the races again."
One-Arm Flat-Bench Dumbbell Flye
Contributor: Christopher Lockwood, MS, CSCS
Genesis: "The reason I like this is that it's a unilateral movement where you can really focus on one pec at a time," Lockwood states. "You're not going to be able to use as much weight, but it really works your intercostals, obliques and spinal erectors as well as your chest, helping to build stability. You're also able to get a little better squeeze out of it, 'cause you're able to come a little farther over your chest. All around, it's a really nice finishing movement if you want to get a pump at the end of a chest workout."
Targets: Primary muscle: chest; secondary muscles: intercostals, external and internal obliques, rectus abdominis, spinal stabilisers.
Execution: Holding a dumbbell in one hand, lie faceup on a flat bench with your feet planted. With your free hand, grasp the bench near your hip. Hold the dumbbell out to the side at chest level with your elbow bent and palm facing up. Arc the weight up as if you're giving a one-arm hug, making sure that your scapulae stay on the bench and your hip doesn't rotate at all. Once the dumbbell has gone just past the midline of your body, reverse the movement. Repeat for reps, then do the same number using the other arm.
Footnotes: "Don't start out too heavy or you're going to torque your low back," Lockwood warns.
Lying One-Arm Lateral Raise
Contributor: Dave Draper, former Mr. America, Mr. World and Mr. Universe.
Genesis: "There is nothing exactly startling or daring in my battered box of exercises," writes the Blond Bomber from Santa Cruz, California, USA. "I'm a proponent of the simple and basic movements applied with form, focus and finesse. However, injuries have demanded I stray from the norm in my vigilant search of the pump, and they have taught me a trick or two that might be worth sharing. I discovered this seeking an isolated deltoid raise while protecting a chronic rotator cuff injury, the result of a hillside fall."
Targets: Primary muscle: deltoid (middle head); secondary muscle: lats.
Execution: "Lie on one side on a flat bench with a dumbbell in the hand of your uppermost arm," writes Draper, author of Your Body Revival (On Target Publications, 2002; available from ontargetpublications.com). "Settle your opposing shoulder on the bench toward the end, so that both shoulders are perpendicular to the bench. The lower arm is extended in a comfortable position to act as a counterbalance, and the upper leg is straight and in line with the bench. The lower leg stretches out and to the floor to act as the main stabiliser in this seemingly ridiculous but extremely effective outer-shoulder exercise.
"Balanced and ready, position the dumbbell at its starting place by extending it out in front of your body and slightly toward the floor. With the strength recruited primarily from the shoulder, raise the weight above your body, contract, and lower slowly. Hold for a second and repeat till the set is completed. Focus, breathe, burn. Reverse the body position and continue the exercise. Do four sets, 6-8 reps."
Footnotes: "As you handle heavier weight, you'll notice the upper body becomes more active in completing the reps," Draper says. "The back - the lats, especially - start pulling. You can isolate the deltoid caps with a light weight or bring in more mass with a heavier weight. Experiment and make the choice, or go up the rack and mix the two."
Full-Range-of-Motion Lat Pulldown
Contributor: Dakota Mitchell, a personal trainer certified through the American College of Sports Medicine, works out of LA Workout gym in Woodland Hills, California, USA.
Genesis: Says Mitchell: "I get frustrated with pulldowns because you're limited most of the time to close- or wide-grip positions. Remember that old-school bar - the short, straight one that actually had handles that rotated out from that? You don't see them anymore, but I really liked that range of motion - I could feel it from insertion to origin. I couldn't duplicate that with other bars, so I made this up. It allows you to stretch from deep down toward the lower back to up into the armpits."
Targets: Primary muscles: lats; secondary muscles: biceps, teres major, teres minor.
Execution: Put a high-back bench directly between opposing cable stacks after attaching stirrup handles to the high pulleys. Once seated with your back flush against the pad, have a spotter hand you the stirrup handles, grasping each with the opposing hand, so that your arms are criss-crossed above you, palms facing forward. Keeping your chest up, and maintaining a slight arch in your low back, pull the handles down, as if doing a normal pulldown, except the range of motion will be more of an arc. As you do so, rotate your hands so that in the bottom position your palms face each other rather than forward. Return to the starting position and repeat.
Footnotes: "If I have a client who's a little heavier or thicker, I'll tilt the bench back a notch, which seems to help control the movement," says Mitchell. "Also, these can be done kneeling in a pinch."
"Gorilla" Chin/Crunch
Contributor: Mark Casselman, MS, CSCS
Genesis: "When I'm crazy busy, I like to do exercises where you can pack a punch by hitting two, three, four bodyparts at a time," Casselman relates. "One way I do that is by compounding exercises into one, such as the chin and crunch shown here."
Target: Primary muscles: lats, rectus abdominis, hip flexors; secondary muscles: biceps, obliques, forearms, especially with the one-arm version.
Execution: Hang from a chinning bar with your knees bent 90 degrees and your hands about 12 inches apart in an underhand grip. Simultaneously pull yourself up with your arms and crunch your knees up, so that you finish both the chin and the crunch at the same time. At full contraction, your nose will be at the bar and your knees will be pulled up into your chest. Reverse the movement slowly to return to the starting position.
Once you've mastered that basic version, try adding resistance by holding a dumbbell or medicine ball between your feet. "That's going to hit most of your body because you've got to chin that weight plus pull it up [with your legs]," says Casselman. "If you find that you're unable to do that with your ab strength, but your upper-body strength is greater, try hanging a plate off your waist."
The next progression is where the name "gorilla" comes in: Hang this time from one arm and grasp that wrist with your free hand. As you crunch this way, your obliques will scream for mercy on the side of your body holding the bar. Repeat for reps before doing the same number using your other arm.
Footnote: "I couldn't even do this, but if you're crazy mad strong, I guess you could move to another progression where you're not even holding your wrist with that other hand," says Casselman, laughing. "I don't know if that's even possible, but I'm sure some animals out there could do that."
Calf-Machine Shoulder Shrug
Contributor: Larry Scott, Mr. Olympia 1965-66.
Genesis: "If I trained like everybody else did, I'd never have made any progress," explains Scott. "I had to be a real technician and try different things. I'd stack benches up one way and another, and I even got a welding set and started attaching things together to find better ways to do exercises.
"A former client named Dave Dondero actually turned me onto this. He noted that heavy shrugs with dumbbells or barbells can be awkward, so he suggested using the standing calf-raise machine, where you don't have to hold weights and there's no drag on the thighs. I went out and tried it, and, sure enough, the guy was right on the money. Nothing gets tired but the traps. The hands don't give out, the thighs don't wear out, but the traps get wiped out."
Targets: Primary muscle: trapezius; secondary muscle: rhomboids.
Execution: Position yourself on the machine under the shoulder pads and stand up straight with your hands on your hips. Raise your shoulders up toward your ears, squeeze for a second at full contraction, and slowly return to the starting position. Repeat for reps.
Footnotes: "By changing the position of your shoulders, you can work the traps from different angles," Scott notes. "By standing erect, you hit the upper traps, right around the neck. By bending over slightly, you can hit more of the middle traps. If you bend over even farther, you can work not only the traps but also the rear delts."
Reverse-Incline Dumbbell Rear-Delt Raise Contributor: Jimmy Peņa, MS, CSCS
Genesis: "This is the best rear-delt move I've ever done, because unless you start bending your elbows, it's all rear delts - there's nothing else moving the weight," says Peņa.
Targets: Primary muscle: rear delts; stabilising muscles: rhomboids, trapezius.
Execution: Position yourself on an incline bench with your chest against the long pad and your knees on the seat pad, ankles crossed. Hold dumbbells at arms' length, palms facing forward. Keeping your arms as straight and as close to your body as possible, move them behind you, mimicking a swimmer beginning to bring his or her arms back for a butterfly stroke. Once your rear delts are fully contracted, lower the dumbbells back down. Stop just short of the starting position and repeat.
Footnote: "You can vary the incline, but I recommend a medium setting," Peņa advises.
Dumbbell Squat Under Upright Row
Contributor: Istvan Javorek, all-sports conditioning coach at Johnson County Community College (Overland Park, Kansas, USA) and coach emeritus of Romania.
Genesis: "This exercise, which I developed, requires co-ordination of many different muscle groups, particularly arms and legs," states Javorek, who has coached numerous Olympic medalists in the United States and Romania. "It's also amazing for developing balance, as your arms are moving up as your body is moving down."
Targets: Primary muscles: trapezius, deltoids (front and middle head), glutes, quads; secondary muscles: rectus abdominis, spinal erectors, hamstrings, forearms.
Execution: Stand holding a pair of dumbbells at arms' length in front of your thighs. Bend your knees and hips to begin lowering your torso, and as you descend into a squat, raise the dumbbells to perform an upright row. By the time you reach bottom, your thighs should be just below parallel to the floor, your elbows at either side of your head, and the weights at your collarbone. Reverse the movement and repeat for reps. During this exercise, the dumbbells are theoretically not moving, so the squatting and bending of elbows must be done in perfect harmony.
Footnotes: "The pace should be pretty fast - this is an explosive movement," Javorek points out.
Source: UK M&F February
Photography: Robert Reiff |
 Full-Range-of-Motion Lat Pulldown  |
