Why You Should Do Exercises You Hate
So you hate tricep kickbacks and the hip abduction machine because they’re stupid, huh?
Okay, don’t do ’em!
But squats?
Deadlifts?
Burpees?
Whatever the exercise is, do you hate it only because it’s hard, either due to it challenging you or making you feel uncomfortable?
Then don’t don’t do ’em!1That’s a double negative, which makes the statement positive!
What?!
You should do the exercises you hate that are uncomfortable or challenge you?
Why the fuck would you do that?!?!
Well, if you hate an exercise because it’s challenging, then it’s more than likely hard for you because the stabilizer and/or primary muscle(s) involved in the lift are weak, especially when moving in that pattern. So rather than doing the exercise every so often, if even at all, you need to perform it more frequently to develop that weak area that the exercise is kindly pointing out.
If you hate an exercise because it’s uncomfortable, then it’s a sign that (a) your technique sucks and you need to work on your lifting form to execute the movement correctly; (b) you don’t do it frequently enough and need to do it more often to get more at ease with it; or (c) it’s mental and you need to stop being a pussy.
With that now out of the way…
If the reason for hating an exercise is pain when performing it and there’s no way to alleviate it, then by all means skip the exercise.
That’s right, don’t fucking do it!
And if an exercise isn’t beneficial to your specific goal, skip it too.
Yup, don’t fucking do it either!
While almost every facet of our lives is slowly being controlled, there’s no law that states you HAVE to squat, deadlift, do burpees, whatever — at least not to my knowledge! So if an exercise isn’t conducive to your goal or it’s causing more physical harm, then fuck it. But if you want to ditch an exercise just because you don’t enjoy it, then that’s not a good enough reason.
You should do the exercise.
Not only should you do it, but you should do it every chance you get.
You’ll be better off for it.
How do I know with such confidence?
Because early in my lifting career, I used to hate — HATE!!! — the hack squat machine. I didn’t like the way it felt on my knees. It just felt weird using it. In hindsight, that was nothing but an excuse. What I really didn’t have was the intestinal fortitude to hack squat, which is a pretty hard exercise movement. Rather than dumping hack squats from my routine, I dedicated myself to doing them every leg day. Over time, the movement became much more fluid and I slowly began adding more and more weight. Today, I now dominate the hack squat machine.
That’s just my own experience, but whatever.
Like usual, I’m only speaking out of my ass here!
Glossary: deadlift, exercise, leg day, lifting form, routine, squats
