The Motor Unit

We all have limited training time and because of that, the number of exercises we can squeeze into any training session is also limited. Keeping that in mind, regardless of what sort of training style one prefers, whether it is full body, upper/lower split, or body part specific splits, a good number is 5 to 8 exercises.

How do we go about selecting those 5 to 8 exercises? Before that, I’d like to recall the foundational movement patterns again. These patterns are squatting, hip hinging, lunging, pushing or pressing, pulling, and carrying. Compound exercises with these patterns target multiple muscle groups involved in the movement and cover the whole body between them. These compound exercises can be paired with accessory exercises targeting any lagging, individual, or complementary/antagonist muscles involved in the movement.

Here’s an example, if I’m training my lower body and the main compound lift for that day is the back squat and I find that my quadricep muscles need to be worked on then I would include a few sets of knee extension exercises as an accessory. I would include Romanian deadlifts (hip hinge pattern) to balance the complementary muscle groups in the lower body. I’ll also be including calf raises since the calf muscles need isolation work and maybe throw in some core work.

An exercise session with the above idea and range of exercises in mind will make any session look a bit like this -

a. 1 to 2 main compound exercises focused on one of the push, pull, squat, or hinge pattern (examples - heavy squats, barbell rows, bench presses, shoulder presses, deadlifts)

b. 3 to 4 accessory or isolation exercises (examples - dumbbell lunges, triceps extension, bicep curls, knee extensions, hamstring curls, calf raises, face pulls, lateral raises)

c. One or two core exercises that also include loaded carries (examples - abdominal exercises, loaded carries).

This sort of structure can be used for any type of workout split, even body part splits and would help in keeping things sustainable and time efficient for both the everyday athlete and athletes in sports outside of physique or strength based sports.