Exercise Library

Ab Wheel Rollout

Rolling a wheel out in front of you and dragging it back. One of the hardest things you can ask the abs to do: resist the spine extending under a long lever.

Active Hang

A hang with the shoulders pulled down and engaged, rather than relaxed. Builds the position every pull-up starts from.

Archer Push-up

A push-up that shifts almost all the load onto one arm by straightening the other out to the side. The usual step on the way to a one-arm push-up.

Assault Bike

The fan bike, where arms and legs both drive and the resistance rises with your effort. Notorious, and unbeatable for short intervals.

Assisted Chin-up

The underhand chin-up on a counterweighted machine. Same dial as the assisted pull-up, with the grip that gives the biceps more of the work.

Assisted Dip

The parallel bar dip on a counterweighted machine. Same role as the assisted pull-up: full range now, less assistance later.

Assisted Pistol Squat

A pistol squat holding a rack or strap for balance. Lets you train the full single-leg range long before you can balance it unaided.

Assisted Pull-up

The pull-up on a counterweighted machine, where the stack cancels out part of your bodyweight. The dial that lets someone train pull-ups before they have one.

Banded Clamshell

The clamshell with a band above the knees. The obvious progression once bodyweight clamshells stop registering.

Banded Dead Bug

A dead bug while pressing a band overhead. The band pulls your ribs up, so the abs have to work harder to keep the back flat.

Banded Donkey Kick

A donkey kick driving against a band looped around the foot. Keeps tension on the glute at the top, where bodyweight has none.

Banded Face Pull

A face pull against a band at head height. Rear delt and upper back work that costs nothing and is worth doing most days.

Banded Fire Hydrant

A fire hydrant against a band above the knees, loading the upper glute through the whole lift.

Banded Frog Pump

A frog pump with a band above the knees. Soles together already isolates the glutes; the band makes a high-rep set genuinely hard.

Banded Glute Bridge

A glute bridge with a band around the knees, so the glutes have to press out as well as up. The band answers the usual complaint that bodyweight bridges stop being hard.

Banded Hip Thrust

A bench-supported hip thrust with a band around the knees. More range than a floor bridge, plus the abduction demand the band adds.

Banded Kickback

A standing glute kickback against a band anchored in front of you. The cable kickback without a cable machine.

Banded Lat Pulldown

A pulldown against a band anchored overhead. Trains the vertical pull for anyone without a pulldown machine or a pull-up.

Banded Lateral Walk

Stepping sideways in a half-squat with a band around the legs. A staple warm-up that wakes the glute medius before squatting.

Banded Pallof Press

Pressing a band straight out from your chest while it tries to twist you. Anti-rotation work with no machine needed.

Banded Row

A seated or standing row against a band anchored in front. The whole back workout that fits in a suitcase.

Banded Seated Hip Abduction

Seated with a band above the knees, pressing them apart. The hip abduction machine, done anywhere.

Banded Squat

A bodyweight squat with a band above the knees. The band punishes the knees caving in, which is exactly the fault most people squat with.

Banded Standing Hip Abduction

Sweeping one leg out to the side against a band, standing. The cable version without the cable.

Banded Woodchop

A diagonal chop across the body against a band. Trains rotation under load, which almost nothing else in a normal session does.

Bear Crawl

Crawling on hands and toes with the knees hovering. Full-body conditioning that hammers the shoulders and the anti-rotation muscles at once.

Bear Plank

A plank on hands and toes with the knees hovering an inch off the floor. Shorter lever than a full plank, far more demanding than it looks.

Belt Squat

A squat loaded from a belt at the hips instead of a bar on the back. The spine carries none of it, which makes it the go-to squat for a sore lower back.

Bird Dog

From all fours, extending one arm and the opposite leg while the torso stays still. A staple of lower-back rehab and a genuinely useful warm-up.

Bulgarian Split Squat

A split squat with the rear foot up on a bench. Puts nearly all the load on the front leg and reaches a deeper stretch than any two-legged squat.

Burpee

Drop to the floor, push up, jump the feet in, jump up. The whole body and the entire cardiovascular system in one unloved rep.

Butterfly Stretch

Seated with the soles of the feet together and knees dropping out to the sides. A basic groin and inner-thigh stretch that pairs well with squatting.

Cable Pallof Hold

The Pallof press held at full extension for time instead of pressed for reps. Pure anti-rotation, and the version that exposes how long you can actually hold the position.

Cable Standing Hip Abduction

Sweeping one leg out to the side against a low cable. Trains the glute medius standing up, which is how it works in life.

Calf Raise

Rising onto the toes and lowering again. No equipment, no setup, and it can be done for high reps anywhere.

Cat-Cow Stretch

Arching and rounding the spine on all fours. Moves every segment of the back through its range and is the standard opener for a warm-up.

Chair Dip

A dip with your hands behind you on a chair and your feet on the floor. The triceps exercise available in any room with furniture.

Chest Supported Row

A row done face-down on an inclined pad. The chest support removes the lower back and hips entirely, so every rep is the mid back and nothing else.

Clamshell

Lying on your side with knees bent, opening the top knee while the feet stay together. Small, unglamorous, and one of the best glute medius exercises there is.

Commando Pull-up

A pull-up done side-on to the bar with one hand in front of the other, coming up alongside it. Loads each side unevenly and asks a lot of the core.

Copenhagen Plank

A side plank with the top leg resting on a bench and the bottom leg held in the air. Brutal adductor work, and well known for keeping groins healthy.

Cossack Squat

A deep squat over one leg with the other extended straight out to the side. Equal parts strength and hip mobility, and a fine test of both.

Crab Walk

Walking on hands and feet with your chest facing the ceiling. A conditioning drill that leaves the triceps and glutes burning.

Cross-Body Shoulder Stretch

Pulling one straight arm across the chest with the other. Thirty seconds of rear delt and upper back relief after a pressing day.

Curtsy Lunge

A lunge stepped diagonally behind the standing leg. The crossed position reaches the upper and outer glute in a way a straight lunge does not.

Cycling

Riding a bike, indoors or out. Steady aerobic work that leaves the legs fresh enough to lift the next day.

Dead Hang

Hanging from a bar for time. Builds the grip that limits everyone's heavy pulling, and decompresses the shoulders while it does it.

Decline Sit-Up

A sit-up on a decline bench with the feet anchored above the head. The angle keeps the abs loaded through the part of the range a floor sit-up gives away.