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What Exercises Should New Gym Goers Avoid? Ask a PT

In last week’s article, we talked about finding the perfect gym for your needs. My belief is that the vibe of the gym is as important as price, location, hours, and equipment. This week, we’re talking about what exercises should new gym goers avoid?

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What Exercises Should New Gym Goers Avoid?

Question: My current training program feels a little long, are there any exercises that I should not bother with?

Answer: There are very few truly useless exercises out there, but there are many exercises that are useful to some and useless to others.

For example, if you are a bodybuilder looking to create a perfect physique, then spending 2 hours per week training your calves makes sense. If you are a 40 year old dad who is overweight and only have 2 hours per week to dedicate to the gym, then training your calves is basically pointless.

My advice for all new gym goers is to focus on compound movements. These are exercises that work multiple muscle groups at the same time, rather than single muscle groups.

Examples of compound movements include:

Bench press (pectorals, deltoids, triceps)
Chest press (pectorals, deltoids, triceps)
Push ups (pectorals, deltoids, triceps)
Lat Pulldown (trapezius, latissimus dorsi, biceps)
Pull ups (trapezius, latissimus dorsi, biceps)
Barbell squats (quadriceps, glutes, hamstrings, trapezius)

Examples of isolation movements include:

Chest flyes (pectorals)
Bicep curls (biceps)
Leg extensions (quadriceps)

However, I strongly believe that many isolation movements (such as the ones listed above) are incredibly useful for gym goers. Your biceps, pectorals, and quadriceps are good muscles to train.

So what are examples of useless exercises that new gym goers should avoid?

Exercises to Avoid as a Beginner

Forearm isolation exercises

There are so many regular exercises that incorporate the forearms (shrugs, bench press, hammer curls, rows, deadlifts), most new gym goers will get more than enough of a forearm workout without spending time focusing on them exclusively.

Calf isolation exercises

I like calf exercises, but I feel that most people who are new to the gym have bigger things to focus on. Calves are very hard to train, and muscle soreness can be a big issue. If you are limited on time, then cut them out entirely.

Adduction/Abduction machines

I don’t really like these machines anyway, but for new gym goers I really feel that they are a waste of time. Training your inner and outer thighs can be done with regular squats using wider or narrower stances. Add in lunges, lateral lunges, and step ups for even better results.

Olympic lifting

This is kind of a catch-all section for any exercise that requires a lot of coaching. Olympic lifting can be incredibly useful for athletes, but it needs to be taught by a professional. And the benefits for non-athletes are less obvious.

Any exercise that requires a lot of skill and coordination may not be suitable for beginners. It could take you a month to learn how to properly perform a barbell snatch, but in that time you could have made some amazing progress with regular barbell squats (for example).

What Program Should You Follow as a Beginner?

A good program for beginners will be full-body and will be based around the following movements:

Chest – Bench press, chest press, push-ups, incline bench press
Back – Pull ups, assisted pull ups, lat pulldown
Back (rows) – DB row, barbell row, low-row machine, cable row
Shoulders – Overhead press, seated press, shoulder press machine
Hip/Hinge – Deadlift, rack pull, kettlebell swing, Romanian deadlift
Legs – Squat, leg press, DB squat, leg extension, lunges, leg curl
Arms – Bicep curl, Tricep press, close-grip bench press, underhand grip pull-ups/lat pulldown

Pick one exercise from each bullet point and you’ve got yourself a decent beginner’s program. Train 3-4 times per week, use 3 sets of 8-12 reps per exercise, and give yourself 1-3 minutes rest between sets.