5 foolproof strength exercises
By Michael Beck, Outside
You’re in a slump, reading these words hunched over a keyboard or your smartphone. It’s habit that’s throwing your body out of whack and resulting in a musculoskeletal system that’s about as architecturally sound as that 1950s-era Springbar tent gramps left you.
“Our bodies adapt to the positions we put them in the most,” says James Wilson, owner of MTB Strength Training Systems. “When you sit hunched over a desk all day a lot of areas become tight, off kilter, and weak.”
If you’re the kind of athlete who supplements outdoor sports with strength work in the gym, performing some of the most popular and oft-prescribed exercises—like barbell back squats, conventional deadlifts, and military presses—can set you up for injury. “Classic barbell exercises are great if you can do them right,” says Ben Bruno, C.S.C.S., a Los Angeles-based trainer. “But they’re the most commonly butchered because they’re highly technical and require a lot of mobility.”