Exercise Guides: How To's and Comparisons

Any gym-goer on a quest to build bigger and stronger legs will inevitably wonder which exercise is better, leg press or squats?

Some claim that the squat is the king of all exercises, and it’s the only movement necessary to build your legs. Leg press critics believe that the leg press is cheating and a lazy way to train your legs.

Others pride themselves on building massive legs without ever performing a traditional barbell back squat. More often than not, those that don’t squat utilize the leg press in order to grow their legs. These people also brag about how many plates they can leg press.

The good news is that both exercises are extremely effective at growing your legs, especially the quadriceps. Most would argue that both exercises should be included in your workout routine for maximal leg development.

However, if you had to choose just one, which would it be?

The answer depends on your biomechanics, goals, preferences, history of injury, and equipment availability.

This article will help you decide which one to incorporate into your routine by highlighting the differences between the leg press and squat, the pros and cons, how to perform each exercise correctly, and what muscles are primarily targeted.

Keep reading to see which exercise reigns supreme!

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Anyone looking to build a bigger and stronger chest will incorporate some sort of press into their routine. Two of the most effective pressing movements you can do are the flat bench press and incline bench press.

Both exercises are great for targeting the chest, shoulders, and triceps. However, some key differences between the flat and incline bench press will help you determine which one is better for your goals.

More specifically, we will be going over the pros and cons of each, when and how to do each exercise correctly, and answering the following questions:

Which one is better for aesthetics?

Which one is better for strength?

How about performance?

Is it beneficial to do both?

What are the major differences between these two exercises?

Does one have a higher injury risk than the other?

Keep reading to see which bench press variation will get you closer to achieving your health and fitness goals!

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Squats are often considered the king of all exercises because they work the entire body, are extremely effective at adding size and strength to the lower body, and are a very functional movement. 

Anyone with impressive legs regularly performs some type of squat, whether that’s back squats, front squats, goblet squats, split squats, or hack squats. Machines versus free weights is a popular debate in the fitness industry. Within this debate, two exercises that are commonly compared are back squats and hack squats.

Which exercise is better will depend on the individual. This article will help you decide whether back squats or hack squats will get you closer to your goals. We will discuss the key differences between the two exercises, the pros and cons of each, which one is better for strength, aesthetics, and performance, and when/how to perform them to get the best results.

This article will settle the debate once and for all!

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Whether you’re a powerlifter, strongman, bodybuilder, or average joe that wants to build a stronger and more impressive back, having a hip hinge movement in your routine is crucial.

There are several exercises that fall into the hip hinge movement category. Two of the most popular are the rack pull and deadlift.

As the name suggests, in order to do a rack pull, you must have a squat rack because the bar is positioned just below knee height. Rack pulls are very popular in the bodybuilding space because they are great for growing your traps, lats, and upper back. However, rack pulls are also utilized in strength sports since they help improve the lockout on a deadlift.

Deadlifts start from the ground, are more difficult to perform, and engage more muscles. Along with bench press and squats, deadlifts are one of the primary ways people test their strength, especially in competitions.

The deadlift places a lot of stress on the spine, which drastically increases injury risk, especially to the lower back. Not to mention, there’s a shorter range of motion with rack pulls, which allows people to lift more weight.

Although deadlifts and rack pulls have a similar movement pattern and even target some of the same muscles, which one is better for strength and which is better for hypertrophy?

Should you do rack pulls if you already deadlift?

Are rack pulls a better alternative?

All of these questions and more will be discussed in this article! More specifically, we will be covering the main differences between rack pulls and deadlifts, the pros and cons of each exercise, and when and how to do them properly.

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Whether you love or hate them, there is no denying that squats are a crucial part of any lifter’s leg day. Whether you want to build the size of your quads, strengthen your glutes and hamstrings, or simply build overall functional strength in the lower body – there’s a squat variation to do just that.

The type of squatting exercise that works best for you will be influenced by your goals, experience level, access to equipment, and biomechanics. 

The most common squat variation is the standard barbell back squat, which boasts an impressive amount of muscle activation in the lower body and the torso. But some lifters find that their back fails in a standard barbell back squat before their legs do, in which case they may want to consider an alternative: the belt squat.

We’ll go over the main differences between a belt squat and a back squat, the pros and cons of each, and which one you should be doing to meet your goals.

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Are you looking for a bicep isolation exercise that will fire up your muscle fibers and help to build strong, thick biceps? 

Choosing the right type of bicep curl can be challenging with so much conflicting information and advice available online.

Today, we’ll compare two popular variations of the standard bicep curl: the preacher curl and the concentration curl. We’ll explain the main technical differences, the pros and cons of each exercise, and how to perform each type of curl with the proper technique.

Let’s get into these two types of bicep curls to help you figure out which one is best for you

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Learning to do a deadlift with proper technique is a rite of passage for any serious lifter. Deadlifts are a staple exercise for improving your full body strength, and they carry over well to other exercises like the clean and snatch and the barbell row. The traditional deadlift is performed with a standard barbell.

 Some lifters replace the deadlift with a variation known as the trap bar deadlift. Below, we’ll go over both the barbell and the trap bar deadlift, the pros and cons of each, and help you determine if one is better than the other for reaching your strength and hypertrophy goals.

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What’s the first thing that comes to mind when someone asks, “what’s the best exercise for building a bigger and stronger chest?” More often than not, the barbell bench press will be the answer. However, there are countless exercises you can use to achieve this goal.

One of the most underrated chest-building exercises is the dip. Depending on how the dip is performed, you can target more of the chest or more of the triceps. Either way, it’s a great compound exercise to perform if you want to develop an impressive upper body.

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If you want strong, muscular-looking arms that look great and perform well, it’s important to focus on the triceps.

Although often neglected in favor of shoulder and bicep exercises, the triceps actually make up around two-thirds of your arm musculature. The main purpose of the tricep is to support the extension of the elbow joint.

To strengthen and build your triceps, you need equipment that extends the elbow joint under mechanical tension such as dumbbells or a barbell.  These movements are broadly categorized as tricep extensions.s.

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Bicep curls are one of the most well-known upper body exercises. If you’ve been lifting for a while, chances are you have tried at least one type of curling exercise.

But with so many different variations, it can be difficult to know which type is best suited for your needs and goals. Should you use dumbbells, a straight barbell, or an EZ bar to get the most out of your session and maximize bicep growth?

Below, we’ll go over two common types of barbell bicep curl variations: the straight bar curl and the EZ bar curl to help you decide which exercise is right for you. 

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The biceps are often referred to as “show muscles” because anytime you ask someone “show me your muscles”, they almost always flex their arms. Getting muscular arms is an essential part of nearly every bodybuilding program. 

The biceps are primarily responsible for flexing your arms at the elbow. For increasing biceps strength, shape and size, we add resistance by using weights or bands.

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If you want to build a strong and muscular back,  you should consider making rows a staple in your training regimen. Rows help add thickness to your upper back, mid-back, and lats, whereas pulldowns create more width. This is why most bodybuilders perform some type of row along with a pulldown variation on a consistent basis to get the best possible results from their training. 

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Do you want to maximize your bicep growth and strength but aren’t sure which exercises to choose?

Have you been training your upper body for years without seeing the bicep growth and definition you would like?

Are you wondering whether bicep curls using a barbell or dumbbell will be most effective at helping you reach your muscle-building and strength goals?

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Building strong, powerful hamstrings is a great way to improve the strength and musculature of your leg. Not only do big, round, hamstrings look great, they also form an essential part of the posterior chain. Strengthening the hamstrings can help you perform better in other lifts and translates well to everyday functional fitness.

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