What criteria an exercise should meet in order to be called a «good» one?

[Vladimir Dimitrov]

I am aware that there is no “good” or “bad” exercise in general, but there are definitely exercises that are more suitable than others, depending on the individual.

For example, if we take basic strength and hypertrophy training (with focus on hypertrophy) my criteria for choosing exercises will be:
– The exercise should give you a nice stretch at the end of the eccentric phase with good eccentric load.

– The exercise should feel stable and comfortable. Instability can limit the strength you can exert on the exercise and if you do not feel comfortable, it may be harder to control the weight. In both cases the joints, ligaments or tendons may take the hit.

– The targeted muscle should be the limiting factor in that exercise. For example, if a person is doing bodyweight squats, but their cardio is the limiting factor, not the quads or the glutes – I give them another variation where the roles will be reversed.

– The exercise should be high stimulus to low fatigue ratio. For example, if a person is learning pull-ups and can only do 1-3 reps with bodyweight – it’s high stimulus, but also high fatigue. The accumulated fatigue may decrease the overall performance during the workout. In that case, I don’t focus mainly on bodyweight pull-ups, but on adding a resistance band so that I keep the stimulus high and decrease the overall fatigue.

So what is your criteria on choosing the right exercise?

[Autor]

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