BodyDaemon | Free Online Fitness Journal

Location: Egremont (North West, United Kingdom).

Hello one and all its Dave Little here your resident PT of Bodydaemon.

Let me kick off this forum by asking you what you all consider to be the best exercise you can perform. Some people might say deadlifts, bench press etc.... But think out of the box and give me what you consider the best whether it be for fat loss, tone and definition or muscle building.

Thanks

Posted by jim

Location: Birmingham (West Midlands, United Kingdom).

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Howdy.

Well, I can't perform them at the moment due to both a shoulder and knee injury, but if you're injury free and have the required flexibility, I'd have to say the best exercise for athleticism is the overhead squat.

They leave you sweating more than most cardio, and work pretty much every muscle in the body.

You don't need any equipment other than a barbell, which means they're great for when the gym is busy, as long as you can get the space.

Here's a video of a crossfit athlete (woman) doing 15 reps of bodyweight in the overhead squat:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=wjuULPqI-WY

I'd say if you can get to repping your BW in the overhead squat, you're going to be in damn good condition, both upper and lower body, and you're also going to have a very good lung capacity!

I guess the downside to this exercise is that it's very easy to injure yourself and form is absolutely crucial.

For overall strength, again assuming an injury-free individual, I'd say the deadlift (using a variety of grips and stances), again with form being more important than the weight lifted.

Jim

Posted by ianlenin

Location: Manchester (North West, United Kingdom).

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Good thread...

I'd have to say that Hang Clean to Push Press is my favourite; it makes me sweat buckets, hits a shed load of muscles and really works my co-ordination and balance. Add to all this that I really enjoy doing the exercise and it's a winner!

Posted by adsy

Location: canterbury (South East, Southern, United Kingdom).

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Id say power clean and press to over head squat :) cant use many more muscles than that! for muscle tone id say clean and press because you have to move a relatively big weight and can do lots of reps moving the weight the maximum distance possible against gravity. good use of muscles and taxing cv. For brute stength I prefer deadlifts, for power i like power cleans.

Posted by jim

Location: Birmingham (West Midlands, United Kingdom).

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Good call, I like power cleans.

I'm not sure, once my shoulder is better, I'll do them again though. They seem like a bad idea for someone with shoulder problems - I think any explosive upper body moves are probably out for now, I'm going to need to keep everything slow and controlled.

My one problem with them was I never had the guts to try a heavy weight... same with regular cleans, too scared of it going wrong! So the most I ever overhead squatted was 60k. I was quite happy with being able to do that, though the girl in the crossfit video puts me to shame as I was 14 stone at the time!

Interesting to see everyone's answer so far involves a 'standing up' exercise... I think the best workouts definately involve being on your feet.

Jim

Posted by Duncan Cassidy

Location: Perth, Australia.

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8 Count (Burpee) + Full squat + Heave (Chin up) combo.

For a body weight exercise this will leave your head spinning. Perform the 8 count, then instead of jumping once standing up, do a full squat, on the way back up really power it so you jump up to the bar then perform a heave.

Requires a beam of some sort and that's about it. You start off thinking, hey these are pretty easy, then it just goes downhill really quick. Don't eat before doing these...

Posted by Ibn Saeed

Location: United Arab Emirates.

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For beginners,I would say "Squat Thrust" and for regulars "Burpees".

Also, with the dumbbell:
Dumbbell Swing
Dumbbell Snatch
Dumbbell Burpee
Dumbbell Clean Push and Press

Posted by DSLFITNESS

Location: Egremont (North West, United Kingdom).

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I'm liking all the replies so far, heres a few of mine.

Drop Setting. Simply put this will create huge amounts of muscle across the whole body. Drop setting dumbbell curls got me the best size ever on my biceps.

Versaclimber. This is the best piece of cardio equipment on the market. Burns a shed load of calories and works every muscle group in the body.

Powerbag. The best piece of home equipment ever. Clean and press and running up hills with a 30kg power bag gives you amazing tone and definition.

Ab Roller. One of the best ad workouts out there. Ross Enamait does standing ab roller exercise but to be fair that guy is as hardcore as anybody I've seen.

Flat Bench Flyes. Forget about bench pressing this is the best chest exercise out there.

Keep posting.

Posted by Ibn Saeed

Location: United Arab Emirates.

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Thanks David

I am looking into Dropset, Powerbag exercises.

I dont have access to Versaclimber

Can the powerbag be replaced by homemade Sandbag ?

Posted by SERAPH

Location: London, United Kingdom.

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Well I only work out at home with me dumbbell kit. Iv'e only stared seeing results when i started focusing on squats, deadlifts, benchpresses and rows.