The top 10 best exercises
What exercises are best for each part of your body
Make the best use of your limited exercise
time by using our guide to the best exercises for 10 of the major body
parts to ensure you get the most out of a workout.
The body parts covered in this
exercise guide include the Chest, Glutes, Abs, Back, Hamstrings, Upper
arms, Thighs, Waist, Hips and Shoulders.Best for chest exercise: the push-up exercise
The push-up wins hands down (if you’ll excuse the pun!). While the bench press is a great alternative, most of us don't lift as much weight in the bench press as we do in the push-up. In one study, researchers found that 66.4 per cent of total body weight is lifted in a full push-up. So if you weigh, say, 65kg, that means you’ll be lifting 43kg, which is probably more than you would normally attempt in a bench press. Also, you will get added challenge for the core stabilisers in the face-down position of a push-up. A quick research fact for you: Truman State University found no difference between dumbbell or barbell chest press efficacy, but recorded less muscle activity in the major chest muscles in a pec fly exercise.Best alternative exercise: bench press.
Best exercise for glutes: the squat
You are spoilt for choice when it comes to exercises that work the glutes (i.e. your buttocks) – but according to research by the American Council on Exercise, the squat always wins out. The research recorded that the most muscle activity in the gluteus maximus – the main muscle of the glutes – occurred during squats, but only when testers went to 90 degrees or lower. This is because the deeper a squat is, the more muscle fibres it fires in the gluteus maximus. However, when you’re doing squats you should only go as low as you can comfortably – and you should also start with light weights.Best alternative exercise: The ACE study also found remarkably high muscle activation in the glutes in an aerobics class favourite, the quadruped. This is the exercise where you start on all fours and then raise one leg, keeping the knee bent, so that the lower leg points directly up at the ceiling.
Best exercise for abs: the bicycle manoeuvre
Those nice folk at ACE got together with San Diego State University to put ab exercises under the spotlight. Their combined study compared an array of popular tummy-trimming moves – including crunches, reverse crunches and the plank – and the results were surprising, given that many exercise classes devote the entire ab section to crunch-type moves. The results showed that the most muscle activity in the obliques and rectus abodminis – i.e. the six-pack and the muscles of the waist – occurred during the bicycle manoeuvre, in which a person extends each leg alternately and twists the opposite shoulder towards the knee as the leg comes back in.Best alternative exercise: Crunch on a stability ball. This is far more effective than any floor-based crunch or curl exercise.
