Your topic Yoga | was interesting when I found it on Tuesday searching for human body muscles…

I really wish that I had put more context around this article. I should have titled it “Some Exercises are a Waste of Time, for Most of You”. Like I’ve said in my previous replies, if you have a specialized need to concentrate on certain muscle groups, then you need to do what you need to do.

But in a general sense – for the majority of people who are looking to get fit or strong (and I’m not talking about hypertrophy here – if you’re a serious body builder, every little muscle counts and you devote a huge part of your time to making sure you hit every single muscle) I’m still honestly not convinced.

Bench presses, cleans, deadlifts, any heavy weight lifting, pullups, muscle-ups, kettle bell work, farmer walks, all those things are going to increase your grip strength. Perhaps not as much as specialized grip strength exercises, but the added bonus is that with these other exercises there is a power involved that works a large group of muscles at the same time. And more muscles in shorter durations is going to significantly be a better approach than sitting and performing wrist curls. Besides, we aren’t all looking to use our fists as weapons. And even if we were, one’s fist is only going to be as effective as the body its attached to.

I guess one could also look at this from an 80/20 rule. There are only so many hours in the day, so much time to work out. What will give you the most bang for the buck? 80 percent of your gains are going to come from only 20 percent of your training. Cut the fat and unless you have a specialized need for doing these things, then focus on exercises that have a significant effect.

If my Mom comes up to me and says, “hey Jamie, I saw some guy doing behind the back wrist curls in the gym today and was wondering if I should start doing them”, I’d respond with a resounding “Hell No”. And 99 out of 100 people who come up to me with the same question, I’d respond with the same thing.

But all that said, I am interested in the Dinosaur Training method you pointed out. I’m up for trying anything and if it’s as effective as clean and jerks and muscle-ups, then I’ll buy in and add aspects of that method to my regimen no problem. If you have a link or something, I’d definitely be interested.

Thanks!
ps. the passion you guys have about this stuff blows my mind. Very impressed. Keep the comments coming!

I’ll make it clear, I am interested in turning my weapon into a body in order to compete in mixed martial arts. For this purpose, grip and forearm work is the most important part of strength training, alongside low back and leg work. This is not conjecture or theory, this is something that’s been proven OVER and OVER. Wrestling and all forms of grappling boil down to the grip, low back and legs/hips, and as such all forms of combat or self defense require it.

And as far as aesthetics, the shrug is an incredibly useful tool. Not only that, but it has all those shiny endorsements because if you really shrug heavy your back is loaded to an incredible level isometrically. On top of that, keeping the rest times down will make your traps grow, which is a major aesthetic goal. (This is because hypertrophy works like this: training load>time, basically if your training load is heavy and you rest less you will get bigger.)

Also you apparently have never heard of abbreviated training programs of the sort Dinosaur Training laid out, where-in you can hit every single muscle group in your body in less than even an hour and fourty five minutes every week.

If you are going for all out strength – to be one of the strongest in the world, or you want to build forearms and grip strength so you can rip a phone book in half, then by all means, you will need to specialize – work those specific muscles. If, on the other hand, your goal is to be fit, or lose weight, get ripped or increase your general athleticism, and not spend your life in the gym, each day focusing on a specific muscle group, then I stand by what I’m saying here and shoulder shrugs and behind the back wrist curls are a waste of time.

Bosu balls and clocking hour after hour on the treadmill are also likely not the greatest use of your time.

If you have 20 minutes during your lunch breaks to hit the gym and you spend any amount of that time doing wrist curls and your goal is to lose body fat, then you are uninformed and should do some research or talk to a trainer.

For the majority of people, these things are not necessary. The majority of people are not going to be World’s Strongest Man competitors. For the overwhelming majority, getting fit is less specialized. It is functional and practical. It’s gaining overall mass or losing weight or improving athleticism and although the strongest people in the world do specialized exercises to focus on particular muscle groups, it’s because they really need to in order to reach their particular goals.

However, if you have a goal and are convinced that these things are the road to reaching that goal, then follow the plan you need to get there. If you are unsure of your goals or do these exercises purely because you saw someone else do them or simply because someone told you it was one of the best exercises to do (without, themselves, knowing what you would like to achieve), then at least take a moment to consider your goals and if these exercises will help you get there.

If you want to look at exercises that are a waste of time why not target long bout of aerobics, the so-called “functional” exercises, or the lame exercise gimmicks offered on infomercials? Considering that some of the strongest men in history have used some or all of those exercises you mentioned, I would tend to agree with them.

Thank you very much for your consideration

Shawn