Hey everyone, it’s another great Friday and a beautiful day here in Boston. I hope that everyone has had a successful training week. If you got anywhere from 3-5 workouts in this week then congrats to you. If not, re-evaluate your week and why you did not hit your goals. After that, start fresh next week.

Every once and a while I have people ask me “what’s the best exercise for my legs?” or “what’s the best cardio exercise?” It’s hard to narrow this down completely because things are different for every person. While people have similar goals such as fat loss, lean muscle development and tone, and overall fitness and health, we call it “personal” training for a reason. Every person has different limitations and skill sets. While I have frameworks that I use for all training sessions, we do have room for adjustment and modification from one training session to the next or from one client to another.

In my repetoire of exercises there are hundreds of variations, implements that can be used, and changes that can be made such as tempo or repetitions that will make that movement a whole different animal.

With all of this said, if I had to choose my ULTIMATE exercises for several different categories; here goes…

Best Conditioning and Cardio: THE PROWLER- the prowler is hands down, the BEST conditioning exercise you will ever do. This exercise puts your elliptical, your marathon running, and your sprints to shame. Regardless of your fitness levels, it will straight up kick your butt. It takes a while to grow on you but once  you see the benefits and feel the “afterburn”, you will learn to love it.

Best Lower Body Power Exercise: BOX JUMPS- A very versatile exercise that can be used for beginners or advanced clients. This movement combines power, strength, and balance into one great exercise that can also be done laterally or on one leg.

Best Lower Body Strength Exercise: THE SQUAT- If you are looking to get strong, lose body fat, gain some lean muscle and tone, or just get a great lower body workout in a short amount of time; the squat is exactly what you need. This exercise can be manipulated with barbells, dumbbells, med balls, kettle bells, or with body weight. It can be done as a front squat, back squat, overhead squat, with one leg, or onto a box. The squat will get you in killer shape and make your butt look great too!

Best Upper Body Strength Exercise: THE CHIN UP or PULL UP- Just like the squat is the king of lower body movements, the chin up/pull up is the queen of the upper body. It’s a hard movement and you must build up with assisted pulls, body rows, and dumbbell work but once you master it, it is truely amazing. Chin ups and pull ups give your back that great cut look and nothing comes close to taxing your body and burning as many calories. Try to get that result from a nautilus compound row machine.

Best Abdominal Exercise: THE AB WHEEL (evil wheel)- This thing flat out whips your abs into shape. It’s a great tool because you can modify for beginners and progress quickly as you get stronger. It’s amazing because it targets the entire abdominal muscle and forces other muscles to work in unison as well. Skip your outdated crunches and get one of these bad boys!

Best Cardio Machine: THE STEP MILL- Crank this machine up to a high level and be prepared to sweat your butt off. You will burn a ton of calories doing intervals on this machine due to it’s “functional” style. Walking up stairs is something we all do everyday (hopefully you are not taking the elevator!) and this machine just ramps it up that much more for an amazing cardio workout.

Best Quick Conditioner: MOUNTAIN CLIMBERS- I use this exercise as a finisher for my clients or as a super set to a conditioning circuit. This movement only requires 20-30 seconds of work and your heart is pumping. It’s a great exercise for the legs, abdominals, lower back, and most importantly the heart. Try 3 sets of this one if you are looking to ramp up your conditioning.

Best “I don’t have a lot of time” Circuit: SQUATS/CHIN UPS/PUSH UPS/LUNGES- If you find yourself pressed for time but you need to get in a quick strength training routine, think circuits. Circuits will combine exercises together in a progression to decrease time, increase efficiency and overall work rate. These 4 movements one after the other will get your heart and your muscles pumping and will scorch those extra calories, even without a full hour in the gym!

So these are my favorite, and in my opinion the most effective exercises to lose fat, gain lean muscle and tone, and get in overall kick ass shape. Leave some comments about your favorite exercises!

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

This entry was posted on August 14, 2009 at 7:53 pm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Posted in Extreme Fat Loss, Fat Loss Tips, Fat Loss Workouts, Strength Training for Fat Loss, Tone The Arms by Callie | 5 Comments