If you could only do three exercises, what would they be?
A physician that I work with posed this to me a few days ago. I thought it was a fascinating question. For a geek like myself, the idea of being limited to three exercises makes my chest tighten. But in reality, on same days this is all that time will allow. And in these trying economic times, I’ll pay tribute to our local automakers and limit myself to just three.
For the sake of the discussion, I’ve left out some great general conditioning drills like sprints, squat thrusts, kettlebell swings, etc. My three choices are limited to strength building exercises only.
The Detroit Strength “Big Three”
- Squat: Is this king of all exercises? It might be—when done properly (and I see it butchered on a daily basis) 30 different muscles are activated. There are a million variations, but for starters, the basic “as many reps as possible” with just your bodyweight will suffice.
Video of Squat Exercise - Deadlift: How important is the deadlift? It’s lifting a heavy weight from the floor—as functional as it gets. A great exercise for building the musculature that supports the spine, as well as developing the posterior chain.
Video of Deadlift w/ Dumbells - Pullup: The pullup builds the back, arms, shoulders and grip. It’s also a great measure of relative fitness. Don’t believe it? See how many you can bang out, pause for 60 seconds then do it again. Your heart rate will soar and your muscles will burn. Best of all, you can do this with your kids at the local playground and they’ll think you are a superhero.
