Dads... You Need These 7 Lifts.

The 7 lifts are as follows:

• Squat
• Hinge
• Vertical push
• Vertical pull
• Horizontal push
• Horizontal pull
• Carry

Here's the problem. A lot of people see a list like this and think it only means a barbell back squat, a barbell deadlift, a barbell bench press etc. 

This is not the case. Each thing you see listed above is simply a movement pattern that can be covered by a whole bunch of different exercises in the gym. You can choose which ones you want to do based on what equipment you have available to you or simply based on which ones you prefer. 

So let's break this down a little bit further and cover what exercises you could do to cover each movement pattern. 

Squat

• Barbell back squat
• Barbell front squat
• Zercher squat
• Box squat
• Goblet squat
• Smith machine squat
• Hack squat
• Split squat

Hinge

• Barbell deadlift
• Romanian deadlift
• Good morning
• Single leg deadlift/RDL
• B-stance RDL

Vertical push

• Standing shoulder press - barbell or dumbbell
• Seated shoulder press - barbell or dumbbell
• Single arm dumbbell shoulder press - standing or seated
• Landmine press
• Half kneeling overhead press

Vertical pull

• Wide grip pull-up
• Wide grip pulldown
• Close grip pull-up
• Close grip pulldown
• Reverse grip chin-up
• Reverse grip pulldown
• Single arm pulldown
• Pullover

Horizontal push

• Bench press - dumbbell/barbell
• Incline press - dumbbell/barbell
• Dips
• Flies
• Push-ups
• Machine chest press

Horizontal pull

• Bent row - dumbbell/barbell
• Seated cable row
• Single arm row
• Incline row
• T-bar row
• Pendlay row

Carry

• Farmers carry
• Suitcase carry
• Zercher carry
• Offset carry
• Overhead carry

See what I mean? You're not just confined to 7 lifts but you've got a whole entire laundry list of things you can choose from.

The next steps here depend on how often you're lifting throughout the week but I'm going to break it down for someone that is lifting 2x per week. 

So basically you're just going to choose one from each of these categories. After that you're going to pick 3 isolation exercises so you'll have a total of 10 exercises. Isolation exercises are things like biceps, triceps, abs, calves and forearms. Things that tend to not get the same amount of love as the big stuff. It's not that these exercises aren't important or useful, but they just don't give the same bang for the buck as the 7 main ones, and when we're short on time we want to maximize the effort we put in. 

You've got your 10 exercises, now split em in half and you've got your two days of lifts. It could really be that simple. I'm going to show you how I would personally do it though, and then explain the reasoning behind it.

Day 1

• Romanian deadlift
• Neutral grip chin-up
• Seated dumbbell shoulder press
• Suitcase carry
• Overhead triceps extension

Day 2

• Barbell squat
• Incline dumbbell chest press
• Single arm dumbbell row
• Biceps curl
• Single leg calf raise

Does that look too simple? Good. That means it will be effective.

Let me break down my reasoning for some of my decisions.

First, I don't usually put a heavy squat and a heavy hinge on the same day. These exercises are the most compound exercises that we have so they demand a lot from us physically, but also mentally to make sure we're executing them properly. Having these exercises on the same day can really fry us and possibly take away from other exercises. That's not to say you can't do it, it's just my personal preference and what I've seen success with for clients.

Next, I tend to not put heavy hinges on the same day as heavy horizontal pulls. There's a lottttt of lower back activity on a heavy hinge, and when we're doing a horizontal pull we're basically holding a static hinge position while we row. If you've already fatigued the lower back from hinges you might not get as much out of the row as you otherwise could. We can mitigate this by doing something like an incline row on a bench so that there's not as much of a demand on the lower back but I digress.

When I'm programming for myself and for clients, I'm trying to absolutely maximize each exercise that we have. Everything has a reason and a purpose and there's a lot more thought that goes into it than just "oh here's a list of exercises, do em."

I could talk about this for hours, but I risk going way into the weeds and jumbling your brains all up so I think I'm just going to leave it there for today.

The main takeaways that I want you to have here are that you don't have to reinvent the wheel to effectively train your whole body, and to put some thought into what you hope to accomplish with your programming. 

Hey, do me a favour will you? If you're here reading this and you like it consider sharing it with a pal. Be a friend, tell a friend.

I know I'd sure appreciate it. 

Anyway, that's all for now.

Until next time.

- Justin

P.S. I run an online training team called The Strong Dads Club. I make you strong, jacked, athletic and give you weekly coaching feedback for less than $1 per day. You can join it at the link below.

The Strong Dads Club