The Best Exercise for Hypertrophy (Why It Makes Little Sense)
A research overview on whether there truly exist the best exercise for building muscle
It’s far from uncommon to run across content claiming to detail the best exercises or best workout programs for hypertrophy.
For example, you might have heard certain compound exercises such as back squats or conventional deadlifts being described as the most effective for building muscle. Other times, they are called the “king of all exercises”.
However, I want to describe why I think when overviewing the current exercise selection literature, as well as the literature on muscle hypertrophy stimuli, the concept of there being the best exercise, or the best couple of exercises, for hypertrophy makes little sense.
Optimal Exercise Modality?
For one, there does not appear to be an optimal exercise modality for hypertrophy.
A recent meta-analysis by Heidel et al. established free weights and machine exercises were comparably effective for hypertrophy.
Adding some extra detail, one study by Schwanbeck et al. compared an exclusive free weight program (consisting of exercises such as back squats and e-z bar curls) to an exclusive…
