Is Your Workout Really Working? 🤔

 It's Mother's Day, and if you'd like a Mother's Day focused newsletter, take a look at last year's. It's a hard day for some, so this year we're gonna keep it moving.

 Let's address the elephant in the gym: that person spending 40 minutes on the inner thigh machine isn't getting the same results as the one grinding through squats. Not all exercises deliver equal results, even when they target the same muscles. And yes, we're looking at you, person doing 3-pound tricep kickbacks for 67 reps.

 This week, we're diving into the harsh reality of exercise hierarchy—the science that ranks your beloved movements from "muscle-building powerhouse" to "basically active stretching." Consider this your intervention if you've been in a toxic relationship with ineffective exercises.

The Exercise Effectiveness Pyramid (Or Why Some People Actually Make Progress)

Recent analyses by evidence-based fitness experts (including Jeff Nippard's deep dives into research that probably took years off his social life) have helped classify exercises into tiers based on factors like:

• Activation patterns shown in EMG studies (fancy sensors that measure your muscles doing actual work instead of just getting pumped)

• Mechanical tension produced (the thing your muscles actually respond to, not just the "burn" you're chasing)

• Progressive overload potential (if you can't add weight or reps, you're basically doing cardio)

• Injury risk vs. reward ratio (because snap city has a population of zero gains)

• Resistance profile (whether the exercise is actually hard when it should be, not just when your form collapses)

These aren't just opinions from one guy—they're conclusions from peer-reviewed research measuring actual muscle growth.

What Makes an Exercise "Superior" (Beyond Looking Cool on Instagram)

Before diving into specific rankings, let's understand what separates the exercise elite from the movements that should be ghosted:

1. Mechanical Tension Under Control

The primary driver of muscle growth is mechanical tension—the force your muscles produce while under load.

 Research shows exercises maintaining high tension throughout the entire range of motion (especially at the stretched position) produce superior growth over tension for just part of it. This is why cable movements often outperform their machine counterparts, and why free weights with accommodating resistance (bands, chains) can be game-changers.

 2. Progressive Overload Potential

Your muscles adapt to stress fast. If an exercise doesn't allow for measurable, consistent progression, it hits a ceiling of effectiveness. The best exercises offer clear progression pathways—adding weight, reps, sets, or improving technique.

 If you've been doing the same movement with the same weight for more than a month, you're not working out—you're just doing scheduled sweating.

3. How Good Does It Feel?

Although one side effect of coming to the gym is looking good, the best part is feeling good. There's absolutely something to be said about how much you enjoy an exercise, and how it makes your body feel. A couple things that can impact this:

• Anatomical differences: Your specific limb lengths might make certain "elite" exercises feel about as natural as your cat doing taxes.

• Injury history: Previous injuries may necessitate modifications, because pride heals faster than herniated discs.

• Skill level: Some of the most effective exercises also require the most technical proficiency, similar to how the best coffee requires more than just pushing a Keurig button.

This is why cookie-cutter programs often fail—they don't account for the unique snowflake that is your biomechanical structure. The best way to know what to do and how to do it right is to work with one of our certified Personal Trainers.

 Not only will they personalize the workout around your unique body, they'll "teach you how to fish" so your muscles will be fed for a lifetime.

Tier Rankings: What The Research Shows (And Your Gym Crush Won't Tell You)

Let's look at how exercises stack up according to science, not according to what looks impressive in gym selfies. 

Based on the criteria listed above, we can start to create tiers based on preferred exercises with proven efficacy.

Best / Worst Glute Exercises

Best / Worst Biceps Exercises

Best / Worst Shoulder Exercises

Best / Worst Quad Exercises

Best / Worst Triceps Exercises

Best / Worst Chest Exercises

Best / Worst Back Exercises

Here's how to apply this research without becoming that person who critiques strangers' exercise selection:

1. Build programs around S and A Tier movements: These should form the foundation of your training, like vegetables in a diet or caffeine on Monday mornings.

2. Use B and C Tier exercises for additional volume: After hitting your primary movements, these provide effective stimulus without the prime-time commitment.

3. Apply D and F Tier as finishers or for specific purposes: These can be great for metabolic stress, targeting weak points, or when you just want to feel something.

4. Track progress: If you're not measuring your progress, you're just renting gym space to practice movement patterns.

5. Rotate intelligently: Even within the same tier, exercise rotation can prevent overuse and the psychological fatigue of doing the same thing until the heat death of the universe.

The Bottom Line

Exercise selection matters more than you might have thought. While there's no single "best" exercise for everyone, science clearly shows certain movements consistently outperform others for results.

The most successful trainees use exercise hierarchies as guidelines, not gospel. They understand the principles behind why certain movements rank higher, then adapt to their circumstances with the resilience of a cockroach after nuclear fallout.

Want help optimizing your exercise selection? Our trainers can help determine which movements will give you the best results based on your unique body—without making you do exercises that feel like medieval torture devices.

You're S Tier to us,
Your West Coast Fitness Family

PS: Amanda is back for 6 weeks of guided practice breathwork techniques followed by a soothing sound bath to relax and inspire peace of mind and spirit.

Amanda's magical instruments and will accompany throughout, with a rest/reset bath to end a lovely night

Fridays at 6:45PM in the Main Yoga Room starting May 16

PPS: Have you seen our new shirts? They're only $20! Available at the front desk.