Top 10 exercises to do in 2023 for beauty and strength
There are no “best” exercises, because everyone has different goals, and different bodies, and different abilities. Duh.
The best exercise, above all else, is to do what you love. Any sport or movement that gets you excited and active is the correct exercise for you.
BUT…
If I had to compress the last 2.5 years of Pointman into a single post, these are the top 10 exercises to do in 2023 for beauty and strength. This is a general recommendation, you are a unique person, please adapt accordingly.
TLDR
Hills
Pullups & Dips
Face pulls
Lunges
Swings
Carries & Sled
Raises
MMA
Cock pushups
Gratitude
Hills
Hills are one of the greatest training tools of all time. Walk up hills. Sprint up hills. Do power hikes. Put some weight in a backpack and go for an overland adventure, also called rucking. Hills are brilliant because you can produce a super high power output, like a very fast sprint, but with significantly lower ground speed, and thus less risk of injury. Hills are an especially great starting point for people who are lazy and out of shape. Just do multiple sessions per week to stop being a fat ass. Everything you do on hills can also be done on big staircases as well.
Pullups & Dips
After 20 years of working out, I still can’t find a better and more complete upper body workout than pullups and dips. Getting too easy? Just add weight. You can never stop gaining and progressing, and you don’t need special equipment.
Face pulls
Do you want to know what makes you look really old and decrepit and pathetic? Your shitty posture. Working at a computer all day and overtraining the mirror muscles makes this so much worse. Face pulls are the antidote, and they can be done every day in different formats.
Lunges
Lunges are the most underrated lower body movement, and can be done every day in some format. Life and sports are spent in motion, which means your legs are offset, obviously. Lunges train your legs in the offset position. Traditional squats and deadlifts don’t! (In fact, you could argue squats are a subcategory of lunges). Lunges are super diverse and include but are not limited to: walking lunges, jumping lunges, reverse lunges, pistol squats, Bulgarian split squats, cossack squats, isometric lunges, front to back lunges etc.
Swings
Swings are the other lower body super movement. Swings are a very rapid hip extension, which is the foundation of all running, jumping, throwing, and sex. Hip extension is also the foundation of all deadlifts, cleans, and snatches.
Carries & Sled
Pick up heavy shit and carry it around. Try it with offset weight too. Push heavy shit and/or pull heavy shit. It doesn’t get any more simple, accessible, or effective, and it builds cardio as well. Sleds have the additional benefit of being very helpful for knee rehab. I haven’t yet, but I’m considering buying this sled soon.
Raises
If you want girls to say you have “nice arms” and you want to look good in a tank top, you need to do shoulder raises. I’d rather not have an isolation movement on this list, but nothing builds boulder shoulders better than raises. Raise to the front, side, and rear. You don’t need much weight to see progress, so if you don’t have dumbells/kettlebells, you can even use objects like heavy books and water bottles.
MMA
Hand to hand combat teaches you things that no weight ever will. It builds strength in planes and dimensions that are impossible to appreciate, until you study and practice it. Hand to hand combat shows you how to respect your own body and other people. It humbles you. Cannot recommend this enough. Striking and grappling should be prioritized. Everything else is just theory.
Cock pushups
Can you do more than one? But real talk, your need to prioritize your man health. Your dick is a really big blood vessel and, if you’re having trouble getting hard, that means the blood isn’t flowing properly. There are two big causes of this. 1) Obstructed blood flow, which could mean clogged arteries, which is an early risk indicator of heart attack and stroke. 2) Insufficient stimulation to the brain, which could mean low testosterone or libido. Both are bad, and the little blue pill is not the answer. If your piece doesn’t get hard, consider it an early warning sign for something more serious. Get your shit checked. Disclosure: I’m not a doctor, this isn’t medical advice, please research this for yourself.
Gratitude
Gratitude is the path of peace, but it requires practice. When unsettling feelings arise, realize that you cannot and must not control them. However, you can decide how to interpret your feelings, how to communicate your feelings, and how to take action based on your feelings. Choose gratitude first and foremost as your position, and you will be filled with equanimity, which is the goal of pretty much all the traditional religions and philosophical practices.
No man has the right to be an amateur in the matter of physical training. It is a shame for a man to grow old without seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable. - Socrates
I am grateful for you! Happy holidays.
Nate