Library

Exercises

What each exercise asks of the body, what it loads, and how the body adapts to it.

Neck

• Neck isometric hold

  Holds that work the neck muscles without moving the head, from a gentle nod lying down to pushing against resistance. What studies measured them loading, how strength changes, and the mixed evidence on concussion.

• Shrug

  A shoulder exercise studied mainly for the trapezius. What studies measured it loading in the trapezius and nearby shoulder-blade muscles, and what trials of programmes that included it found.

Shoulder

• Band external rotation

  A shoulder exercise that turns the arm outward against a band, cable or weight. What it loads in the rotator cuff and deltoid, how arm angle, towel and load shift the work, how training changed and progressed it, and shoulder-pain trials.

• Bench press

  A barbell pressing exercise. What studies measured it working, from the chest and triceps to the shoulder, how bench angle and grip width change that, what ten weeks of training changed, and how studies progressed it.

• Dip

  Lowering and raising the body on the arms, from a bench, bars or rings. What two small laboratory studies in men measured, the injuries case reports describe, and what one training trial found.

• Overhead press

  A pressing exercise that pushes a weight from the shoulders to overhead. What the studies measured it loading, how seat, bar and bar path shift the work, and what is and isn't known about training it.

• Pull-up

  Pulling the body up to a bar from a hang. What studies measured it loading, how grip and kipping shift the work, what changed with training, and what injury reports recorded.

• Push-up

  A bodyweight pressing exercise done face down on the hands. How much body weight studies measured on the hands, which muscles work, how hand position and unstable surfaces change that, and what training trials found.

Upper arm

• Biceps curl

  An exercise that bends the elbow against a weight. What the studies measured it loading, where they disagree about grip, and how the arm muscles changed with training.

• Triceps extension

  An exercise that straightens the elbow against a weight. What the studies measured it loading, how arm position and range change the work, and where training studies disagree.

Forearm

• Dead hang

  Hanging from the hands with the arms straight. What studies of climbers measured it loading, from the finger muscles to the back, how grip endurance changed with training, and what one bar-hang study showed about the spine.

• Wrist extension

  Lifting the back of the hand against resistance. What studies measured it working in the forearm, what one hard bout did to the muscles, and what studies of people with outer-elbow pain found.

Wrist & hand

• Wrist curl

  Bending the wrist against a load. What studies measured it working in the forearm and around the carpal tunnel, how the wrist flexors changed with training, and what studies of inner-elbow pain found.

Trunk

• Barbell row

  A pulling exercise for the back. What studies measured it working, from the lats and back of the shoulder to the lower back and the side of the trunk, and what is known about how those muscles adapt.

• Burpee

  A bodyweight move from standing to a squat, a plank and back up, often with a push-up and a jump. What studies measured of its demand, what burpee training trials found, and how thin the evidence on its muscles is.

• Dead bug

  An exercise done lying face-up, lowering an opposite arm and leg. What studies measured in the abdominal and back muscles, and what trials of programmes that included it found.

• Farmer's carry

  Walking while holding a heavy weight in each hand. What the studies measured it loading, from the back and trunk muscles to the hips and spine, and how carrying in one hand compares.

• Hollow hold

  A held bodyweight position that works the front of the trunk. What studies of similar held positions measured in the abdominal and hip muscles, and what is known about how those muscles change with training.

• Mountain climber

  A bodyweight exercise used in interval circuits and some fitness tests. The muscle measurements nearest to it come from related knee-drive moves, and the training trials tested circuits that included it. What those studies did and found.

• Plank

  A face-down hold that works the muscles of the abdomen, back, hips and shoulders. What studies measured it loading, how its versions shift the work, and what is known about how these muscles adapt.

• Side plank

  A held position that works the side of the trunk and the hip. What studies measured it loading, from the obliques and quadratus lumborum to the gluteal muscles, and what is known about training those muscles.

Spine

• Back extension

  An exercise that lifts the upper body from a face-down position, on a Roman chair, a bench or a table. What studies measured it loading, how set-up shifts the work, and what training changed.

• Bird dog

  A hold on hands and knees with one arm and the opposite leg lifted. What studies measured it loading in the back, buttock and abdominal muscles, and what training trials found.

Hip

• Copenhagen adductor plank

  A side-lying hold or lift with the top leg resting on a support, which works the inner thigh muscles. What studies measured it loading, how the lever changes the work, and what training changed.

• Deadlift

  A lift driven by the muscles that straighten the hip, knee and back. What the studies measured it loading, from the back and thigh muscles to the lower spine, and what is known about how the body adapts.

• Glute bridge hold

  Lying on the back and holding the pelvis up off the floor. What studies measured it working, from the buttock and back of the thigh to the back and abdominal muscles, and how variations shift the work.

• Good morning

  A barbell exercise that bends the body forward at the hips with the bar across the upper back. What small studies measured it loading with straighter and more bent knees, and what models estimate for the lower spine.

• Hip thrust

  A bridging lift with the upper back on a bench and a barbell across the hips. What studies measured it loading, how it compares with the squat and deadlift, and what changed with training.

• Kettlebell swing

  A hip-driven swing of a kettlebell between the legs and up to the chest or overhead. What small studies measured it loading, how style and bell weight change it, and what swing-only training trials found.

• Lunge

  The forward, reverse and walking lunge. What studies measured them loading at the hip and knee, how step length, trunk lean and added weight shift the work, and what training studies found.

• Power clean

  A barbell lift pulled fast from low down to the shoulders. What studies measured it loading, which loads gave the most power, how training with it changed people, and what weightlifting injury studies report.

• Side-lying hip abduction

  An exercise that moves the thigh out to the side while lying on one side. What studies measured it working, from the gluteus medius and minimus to the muscles that share the work, and how the clamshell compares.

• Single-leg Romanian deadlift

  A hip hinge done standing on one leg. What the studies measured it working, from the buttock and hamstring muscles to the small muscles that keep the body balanced.

• Split squat

  A squat with the feet fixed in a stride, often with the rear foot raised on a bench. What studies measured at the hip, knee and thigh muscles, how each leg shares the work, and what short training trials found.

Thigh

• Back squat

  A barbell squat. What the studies measured it loading, how bar position, stance and depth shift the work, and how muscles changed with training.

• Nordic hamstring curl

  A partner exercise that works the hamstrings as they lengthen. What it loads, how the muscles changed with training, how studies varied and dosed it, and what injury trials found, including a reanalysis that disagreed.

• Sled push

  Driving a weighted sled forward by its handles. What the few pushing studies measured, how pushing differs from towing a sled, and what sled-training studies found on load, surface and speed.

• Sprinting

  Running as fast as possible. How a sprint unfolds, which muscles studies found doing the work, what sprint programmes changed, and what studies of sprint exposure and hamstring injury found.

• Step-up

  Stepping up onto a box or bench, one leg at a time. What studies measured it loading, how step height and added weight change the work, and what training with it changed.

• Wall sit

  A squat position held still, also studied as the wall squat. What studies measured it working, from thigh and buttock muscles to a knee ligament, and how blood pressure studies progressed it by knee angle, holds and sessions.

Knee

• Box jump

  A jump up and forward onto a box. What the few box jump studies measured at take-off and landing, what jumps from the ground show about the muscles and tendons, and what injury surveys reported.

• Decline squat

  A squat, most often on one leg, done on a sloped board. What studies measured it loading, from the patellar tendon to the thigh and calf muscles, and what training and trials in people with patellar tendon pain found.

• Drop landing

  Stepping off a platform and landing, as in drop landings and drop jumps. What studies measured it loading, from the thigh muscles to the knee and ankle ligaments, and what landing tests have and have not predicted.

• Single-leg squat

  A squat on one leg. What studies measured it loading, from the buttock muscles to the kneecap joint and the ACL, and what it showed when used as a test of how the knee moves.

Lower leg

• Calf raise

  An exercise that works the muscles at the back of the lower leg. What the studies measured it loading, from the calf muscles to the Achilles tendon, and what is known about how tendons adapt.

• Eccentric heel drop

  A calf exercise built around lowering the heel. What studies measured it loading in the Achilles tendon and calf muscles, how knee angle changes the picture, and what one session does to the tendon.

• Pogo hops

  Repeated two-legged hops with nearly straight knees and short ground contacts. What hopping studies measured at the ankle, calf muscles, Achilles tendon and foot, and what hopping programmes changed.

• Running

  Steady distance running. Which muscles studies found doing the work, what models estimate it loads from the foot to the knee, and what reviews found on foot strike, shoes, training load, progression and injury.

• Tibialis raise

  Lifting the front of the foot toward the shin, called dorsiflexion. What lab studies of dorsiflexion training measured, since none tested the wall-supported tibialis raise itself.