5 exercises every fit guy must do
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What does it mean to be a “fit guy?” Do you have to bench 300 lbs? Do you have to run a five-minute mile? Do you have to have a six-pack while standing?
If it did, I wouldn’t make the cut. Fitness, to me, is being strong enough for whatever you want to do. If you want to rock climb like a boss, you can; if you want to do better at your underground bare-knuckle fight club, you can too. Sure, you have a good foundation in strength, speed, power, and endurance, but you can always specialize in one area.
RELATED: Why You Need to Do More Cardio
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But building the strength for real fitness involves five essential exercise that all fit guys should commit to.
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1. Single-Leg Romanian Deadlift
If an exercise is named after an Eastern Bloc nation, it will suck. The deadlift is already hard, but in Romania, you can’t set the barbell down.
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Doing a Romanian Deadlift with just one leg makes it masterful. Not only do you blast your hamstrings and back, but you also strengthen your glutes and hip stabilizers more than a regular deadlift. This will help you with any physical activity.
Watch: How to Do a Single-Leg Romanian Deadlift
2. Lateral Squat
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Leg exercises are mandatory for fit guys: I’ve never met an athlete who said, “Leg exercises? What the hell are those? By the way, are you using that squat rack? I need to do some bicep curls.”
But most leg exercises have the same limitation: They only move front-to-back, which is called your “sagittal plane.” Instead, if you move side-to-side—your “frontal plane”—you can emphasize different muscles in your legs and unlock a new plane of movement for athletics.
With the lateral squat, you’ll increase your hip mobility (which is good) and your hip strength (also good).
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Watch: How to Do a Lateral Squat
3. Bear Crawl
Most guys haven’t crawled since they were two (or in a fraternity, possibly). But the crawl is a fundamental movement pattern with tremendous benefits: it targets the muscles deep inside your core, builds total-body stability, and improves your movement patterns and cross-body linkage.
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Use the bear crawl as a gentle warm-up exercise or wear a weighted vest and use it as a conditioning exercise.
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4. Weighted Carries
This is pretty easy:
Step 1: Grab something heavy. Step 2: Walk with it. Step 3: Put it down when you’re tired. Step 4: Repeat as necessary.
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Carries build everything: strength, powerful forearms, a strong core, joint stability, and, uh, mental fortitude. The two main variations are the appropriately named “Farmer’s Carry” (where you hold a weight in your hands and keep your arms at your sides) and “Waiter’s Walks” (where you hold a weight straight above your head).
Watch: How to Do a Suitcase Carry
5. Turkish Get Up
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There’s no core exercise like it: it’s 7-exercises-in-1, moving from supine to standing while holding a weight above your head the entire time. Specifically, it increases your total-body stability, improves your movement patterns, and blasts your entire core (not just your six-pack).
Start with no weight. Instead, make a fist and balance your shoe on top of your knuckles throughout. Then, progress to a kettlebell.