Transcription
If someone told me I could only do five exercises for the rest of my life to build and maintain everything that matters, here's exactly what I'd pick. I have trained through special operations, through medical residency, through four kids, and not nearly enough sleep. 20 plus years of trial and error has taught me which movements actually earn a permanent spot and which ones are just noise. I'm Seth. I'm an ERO, former special ops guy, and I'm going to tell you those five. Let's get into it.
Quick context before I get into that list because the criteria matters as much as the exercises themselves. I'm not picking these because they're trendy or because some influencer mentioned them. I picked these because each one hits multiple muscle groups at once, has direct carryover into actual life, like lifting, carrying, moving, and is sustainable long term, meaning your joints will still let you do it when you're 60, not just when you're 25 and feel like you're invincible.
There's also a balance built into this list on purpose. Push and pull, upper and lower, a hip hinge, a knee dominant pattern. If you did nothing but these five for the rest of your life, you would not have a huge glaring weakness anywhere in your body. So, five movements. Here's what they are.
First up, weighted lunge, not squats. And I know that's going to bother some people. So, let me explain my reasoning rather than just asserting it. Squats are a great exercise. I've said it many times on this channel. They're one of the best exercises out there. I'm not saying otherwise, but they load your spine directly and heavily. For a lot of guys, especially past 40, especially anyone with a history of back issues, that load adds up over years of training.
Lunges distribute the work differently. Research comparing the two directly shows lunges put less direct stress on the knee joints and spine compared to squats while still loading the quads and glutes hard. For me, that trade-off, slightly less raw loading capacity in exchange for a movement I can do for the next 30 years without my back getting all pissed off, is worth it. This is a personal call, not a universal rule. If you squat heavy and your body handles it fine, that's fine. Keep squatting. I'm not telling you squats are bad. I'm telling you why for my list with my priorities, lunges wins.
What you get from this movement, strong quads, strong glutes, and genuinely better single leg stability than almost any other body exercise. And that stability piece really matters more as you age than people realize. A lot of falls and injuries later in life come down to one leg not being able to handle a sudden load by itself. Lunges train that exactly. So how do you do them? Walking lunges with dumbbells or stationary if balance is an issue starting out. Three sets, 10 to 12 per leg. Add weight as it gets too easy. That's it.
Number two, bench press. This one's pretty hard to argue with honestly. It hits your chest, your shoulders, and your triceps all at once, which makes it about as efficient as any pushing exercise can get. And being straight with you, part of the reason why this is on my list is partially aesthetic and not just functional. A strong chest and shoulders is the upper body marker most people notice first on a guy. And there's nothing wrong with wanting to look like you actually train on top of actually being functional and strong.
If you don't have access to a bench or a barbell, push-ups are a completely legitimate substitute. Same muscles, just body weight instead of external load. Don't let the lack of equipment be the excuse here. In fact, this is what I did through most of my special operations years because I didn't have access to a gym all the time, especially when you're at war.
One thing worth saying, this is a personal pick, and some people will rightly point out that overhead pressing or dips could do similar work, and that's fair. I picked bench specifically because it lets you progressively load heavier than most bodyweight pushing variations. And progressive overload over years is what actually builds muscle larger and quicker, not just the movement pattern itself. How I do it, three to four sets, six to 12 reps. Add weight slowly. Focus on controlled lowering phase every single rep. Especially as you get older, slower reps are better.
Number three, pull-ups. This is the counterbalance to the bench press, and honestly, it's the one that I think most people neglect the most. Everybody loves training what they can see in the mirror, which is the front. Almost nobody prioritizes their back the same way. Pull-ups hit your lats, your rear delts, your biceps, and your grip strength. Basically, every major pulling muscle in your upper body in one movement. They build that wide back, that V-shape that makes your whole upper body look more proportional. And unlike a lot of gym exercises, this one is also genuinely a lifetime skill. A 70-year-old who can still do a few pull-ups is a 70-year-old with a back and grip strength most people half his age don't have.
One small variation worth knowing, if you want to shift more of the work towards your mid-back specifically, that way you can hit your lats and your mid-back, try elevating your feet in front of you as you pull, almost like an L-sit. And that small chain shifts everything so that you're pulling more horizontal and it shifts it from your lats to the mid-back and rear delts more directly. This gives you something close to a horizontal row built right into the same movement without any additional equipment.
Now, I'll acknowledge the obvious pushback here, too. And that is people saying pull-ups are hard, and a lot of people simply can't do one yet, and that's fine. This list isn't about where you start. It's about where the movement takes you over time. So, if you can't do a full pull-up by yourself yet, use a band for resistance or do negatives, slowly lowering yourself down from the top. Basically, get on a bench where you can hold yourself up and then slowly lower yourself down. Over time, you will build up to being able to do pull-ups. Work towards doing them unassisted. Three to four sets as close to failure as you can safely get.
Number four is Romanian deadlifts. Every other exercise here is either a push or pull or any dominant squat pattern. None of them properly train the hip hinge. And the hip hinge is arguably the single most protective movement you can do for your lower back long term. Think about how most people actually hurt their back in real life. It's really from heavy squats. It's from bending over wrong to pick something up off the floor. Or it's usually something light, a suitcase, a kid, a bag of dog food, a diaper, a pair of panties, I don't know. That's a hinge movement done badly under load with zero preparation.
The Romanian deadlift trains your body to do that same motion correctly, loading your hamstrings and your glutes instead of your spine. It also happens to be one of the best exercises that exists for building a strong muscular posterior chain, hamstring, glutes, lower back, which is the part of the body most people's training completely ignores in favor of what they can see in the mirror.
So, how to do it? Dumbbells or a barbell. Slight bend in the knees. Hinge at the hips while keeping your back flat. Lower until you feel a deep stretch in your hamstrings. And then drive your hips forward to standing back up. Three sets of eight to 10. Controlled this way. Controlled on the way down. This is a technique-first movement. Start lighter than your ego wants and get the pattern right before you load it heavy.
And number five and final, standing overhead press. This one builds genuinely big shoulders, but the reason it makes my list isn't really aesthetics necessarily. It's the skill underneath the movement. Pressing weight overhead while standing forces your core and your lower back to brace and stabilize the entire time. Which means you're not just training your shoulders, you're training your whole body's ability to handle load overhead without falling apart. And that skill shows up constantly in our real lives. Lifting a suitcase into an overhead bay on an airplane, putting something heavy onto a top shelf, lifting your kid over your head for the 11th time today because apparently that's the only acceptable way to greet you. Now, those are all the same movement pattern.
One genuine caution here, and I want to be very clear about this. Shoulders become more injury-prone as you get older, particularly the rotator cuff. This is not an exercise to ego lift on. You don't need to go super heavy to get the benefits. Moderate weight, strict form, nice and easy, full range of motion every single time. If your shoulders ever feel off during this movement, back off immediately. Just put the weight down and move on to something else. That is not weakness. That is just being smart about a joint that has very little room for forgiveness.
So, how do I do it? Three sets of eight to 10. Controlled tempo, never to failure on this one specifically because as you get closer to failure, you get poor form and that's how your shoulder joints give out.
Okay. Now, five strength movements covers your push, pull, hinge, and squat patterns pretty effectively. But if you pushed me to add just one more thing, a sixth non-negotiable extra, it would be cardio. And for me, that is the assault bike. The assault bike or fan bike or whatever you want to call it is my favorite. None of the five above really address cardiovascular health. And that's genuinely one of the strongest predictors of how long you live and how well you live.
The assault bike works your arms and your legs simultaneously. So you get a full body cardio stimulus in one machine. It's very versatile. Easy zone 2 pace for 30 minutes or 20 seconds all out and 40 seconds easy for a you know, 10 rounds is absolutely brutal. Same equipment, completely different training effect. It also takes up very little floor space and is significantly easier on your joints than running. Nothing wrong with running. It's just what I prefer. If you've got a rower or you love to swim, that works just as well. The principle matters more than this specific machine. But if cardio has been the piece that you've been skipping, that's probably right to start.
All right, so lunges, bench, pull-ups, Romanian deadlifts, overhead press, and sixth one would be the assault bike. Push, pull, hinge, squat, and overhead press. Every major pattern your body actually needs covered. You could build a complete sustainable training program around just these for the rest of your life and never have a huge glaring weakness.
Now, I know some of you are already typing out your comments about why something else should be on there instead, and that's fair. This is my list built around my priorities, longevity, joint health, and real-life carryover and crossover. Yours might look completely different. Might look a little different. Maybe it'll look the same, but it probably should because it's meant for you and what works for you and what your goals are. The point isn't that this is the only correct answer. The point is picking a small number of high-return movements, actually doing them consistently for years instead of chasing a new program every six weeks. If you want help building a complete plan around movements like these or whatever movements are best for you, check the links below for how we can work together. Until next time, keep moving.