There are optional exercises and then there are exercises that everyone should have in their program. In this video I am going to go over the 12 exercises that EVERYONE should have in their program in order to build the most muscle and a strong body that is injury resistant. You may find that you are doing a lot of these exercises, but are you doing all of them? Unless there is a physical limitation that prevents you from performing them, I believe that they are must-do movements that should be included in your training plan. Even in the event that persistent pain is getting in the way that you perform the exercise, I am going to show you a variation that should help you overcome this problem and get you back on track to doing each of these twelve exercises. When putting together an exercise list like this, it is important to not only select the movements that are most effective for building bigger, stronger bodies, but also to make sure that these exercises complement each other. There is no need to select five different versions of a bench press, as doing so will only lead to major muscle imbalances and unbalanced muscle development. Here we cover all three planes of motion as well as all the important corrective exercises to make sure no stone is left unturned on the way to achieving the best exercise selections. We start with the king of all lower body exercises, the squat. There is nothing more fundamental when it comes to leg, hip, and glute movement patterns than the squat. That being said, sometimes people can experience an aggravation in their lower back and knee pain with this exercise. Beyond learning proper squat mechanics, you have the option to switch to an alternate version to alleviate your discomfort. The alternating Bulgarian squat will help offset that back pain, while the squat on a box will dramatically decrease stress on the knees. The deadlift is the twin king of the lower body, this time targeting the posterior chain muscles more effectively. Again, the movement pattern is far more critical than the exact version of the exercise you perform. The hinge movement is one of the most fundamental to all human performance. Learning it will protect your lower back. However, if pulling from the floor is still too difficult, simply switch to a mat or hex bar variation to keep the gains, but without the pain. The bench press is the primary upper body pushing exercise you should be doing, at least in the horizontal plane. It works the chest, shoulders, and triceps heavily and gives you the opportunity to load and build not only the size of your muscles, but their strength as well. However, the exercise can be problematic for some people with shoulder issues. If this is the case for you, switch to a slower dumbbell press and most of your issues will diminish significantly as that stability on the press is regained. Pull-ups are not only one of my favorite bodyweight back exercises, they are one of my favorite back exercises, period. Of course, here again the loading options are many. If you find that you can do a lot of reps with your own bodyweight, you can easily load some weight around your waist and make this a weighted pull-up for more gains. Likewise, using a band can help unload some of your body weight making an assisted pull-up possible for everyone. Face pulldowns and banded external rotation are two critical exercises that are sometimes bypassed in a common workout routine. Don’t make this mistake. They are very important for the overall health of your joints while also strengthening the weak points that undermine your performance on the bigger compound lifts. Push-ups belong on this list. Period. Just make sure you’re doing the right type of push-up. What I mean is, make sure you’re doing a variation that you find challenging. Continuing to do 30, 40, or even 50 reps in a single set isn’t enough to increase your strength on the exercise since you can already do that many reps. Choose a harder version to challenge your body and force that new growth. Of course, other exercises belong on this list as well. Lunges, rows, and direct arm exercises like barbell curls and triceps extensions are key exercises that should be included in every program. Build athletic, defined muscles here: https://athleanx.com/espanol Subscribe to this channel here: /athleanxespañol