3 Little Know Lifts You Should Include In Your Routine For Added Strength & Development

Alright so you’re overhead pressing, squatting, deadlifting, and doing all the tried and true mainstays of every successful lifter. That’s great, the fundamentals are the most important. However every now and then it can be good to change it up a bit and try something new…without going overboard. Obviously there are principles that you are going to want to keep in mind at all times and follow. But as long as you are following those principles you will do just fine.

Below are three different exercises that I have included in my routine from time to time to do something a little different or add in some extra work for a weakness or body part that I though needed it. These lifts can be some that’s done in replacement of a main lift (for a short amount of time) or they can be tacked on at the end of the workout for some added work if needed. It’s up to you how you use them and I would highly encourage using them all.

The One Arm Barbell Press

I have no idea what the proper name for this is, it’s something that I tried out when I was bored one time and been using it ever since. This is obviously a barbell press that is great for your shoulders, as far as I can tell it’s a good strength builder as well as good for aesthetic purposes. Alright so here’s what you do. Rack the barbell like you were going to be doing a squat or overhead press. Then you stand to the side of the barbell and wrap your first around the middle part of the barbell.

From there you simply press up and extend your arm overhead. Do for whatever amount of repetitions you desire and then turn around and do it on the other side. The length of the barbell really messes with you, so start with just the barbell and then add weight from there. I would imagine that this is also great for stability and helps with building strength in your core because of the balance component of it. I generally don’t switch this out with the overhead press but rather do them at the end of my workout.

The Sumo Deadlift

Alright so no doubt this is the most widely known of these exercises but I wanted to include it in here because of how useful I think it is. Here’s what you do with the sumo deadlift. You are going to take a much wider (wider than shoulder length) stance and then grip the bar close together. Your hands will only be a couple on inches or so apart while your feet will be planted almost to where the weights touch the ground. Then you proceed to do a deadlift just like you normally would.

This is great for working the hips and glutes more than the regular deadlift. It’s great for athletes (at least I found it useful for me) to help develop power. It also provides a nice break from deadlifting constantly. I do replace the deadlift with the sumo deadlift from time to time. It keeps the main movement pattern but provides enough differentiation to change it up enough. Whenever I need a switch up from the deadlift this is what I replace it with. It’s just as taxing.

The Guillotine Press

This is without compare the best exercise for chest develop that there is. It blows the conventional bench press out of the water along with every other exercise designed to give you big pecs out there. From what I can tell this was first pioneered by Vince Gironda back in the day who used to include it in his routine so he’d get that extra “pop” in his chest muscles to really stand out. It worked for him and it can work for you. Matter of fact is you train for aesthetic purposes only (not something I recommend) you could completely replace the bench press with this.

So here’s what you do. You set up just like you would for a normal bench press (though less weight should be used). You are going to take a wide grip (wider than shoulder width) and unrack the bar. Then you are going to bring it down to above your clavicle (your neck) and then press it back up. Simple as that. If I’m going for overall upper body strength I stick with the bench press but if it’s for pure chest development then I’m going to go with the guillotine press every time.

Summary

Don’t ignore the tried and true in place of the weird or different. Rather supplement the tried and true with the new and different. Be open to trying new exercises and workouts. Sometimes they are just what you need to get out of a rut, prevent boredom from taking over, or just to try something new. Highly recommend you give all of the exercises above a try and see how they work for you. They’ve all worked for me and I’m going to be they’re going to do the same for you.

If you have any questions you would like to see answered in a future post send them to me at charlessledge001 (at) gmail (dot) com. If you found value in this post then I would encourage you to share this site with someone who may need it as well as check out my books here. I appreciate it. You can follow me on Twitter here.

-Charles Sledge