There are a variety of reasons why the exercises you choose to do matter and you shouldn’t go into the gym without a plan. As your experience grows with anything you should become better and more efficient, weight training is no different. Adherence is a large factor with anything fitness related but as you become more advanced and conquering goals becomes prioritized exercise selection is a variable that can provide a great boost towards your accomplishments.
In general, when training a muscle we want to feel what we’re working on. I’m referring more so to feeling the muscle during your actual training sets. Contraction, stretch, blood pump are all sensations you should notice during your workout. Creating an overabundance of soreness is counterproductive but more times than not you should sense a small soreness in the area you are attempting to target the following 24-36 hours or so. I guarantee that will be felt more than likely if you are properly targeting the muscles acutely during your training sessions.
Majority of the time I will perform good mornings in the low bar position with a duffalo bar opposed to the high bar position or utilizing a safety squat bar. I can get a much better “feel” in the hamstrings in a low bar position vs high bar. The safety squat bar I use places the weight too high on my neck where it’s difficult to get the same depth effectively, for me. I also get a much better feel using a lifting belt on this exercise.
I have two bone spurs in my right shoulder along with overall deterioration and calcium buildup from playing baseball. It generally does not bother me but is more prone to flare up. Performing these with a normal bar would probably torch my shoulder over a long training cycle combined with benching and overhead pressing. By utilizing the duffalo bar opposed to a traditional straight bar I’m reducing some of the overall stress on my shoulder during an exercise that isn’t designed for shoulder stress.
The combination of my choices will allow my shoulder to stay in relative recovery mode on a leg day. Exercise selection matters and will play a large role in your longevity as a lifter. What exercises do you feel the most and which movements keep you injury free? Those are usually going to be the best ones for you. This will not require you to exclusively choose these exercises but you may want to bias your selections over the year 60% to 70% for reduced injury risk and efficiency improvements!
This is one example on one day, to maximize your potential. You can and should be making educated decisions on every exercise you opt to perform.
