#5 Hammer curls 

A Harvard study recently showed one of the most popular bicep exercises to not be as effective as it is hyped up to be. While it is not a complete waste of time— it still grows the bicep— it does not focus on the brachialis muscle, and there are better exercises to isolate that muscle. The preacher curl and classic bicep curl have been shown to have more electromyographic activation in the muscle. Specifically, the long head of the biceps brachii, stabilizing the elbow under heavy load as well as forearm supination which is the rotation of the forearm. 

We have the bicep because early primates relied on it to climb trees, needing strong grip strength and arm flexion. Later, when humans started using tools, the biceps became even more important for using tools efficiently. 

The hammer curl is not a waste of time but considering all the options, it’s easy to see more growth in other exercises. We know muscles are the only value we have as gym bros, so wasting time doing something that will not grow our arms is the worst thing we could do, second to hitting legs.

#4 Smith machine versus Free-weight 

The Smith machine keeps the bar on a 2D plane, only letting the weight move up and down. For a bench press, this isn’t much of a problem because lifters are moving the weight up and down, but free weight is better because you control the weight, not something else. This becomes a problem on a squat because your back should arch on the way down to avoid lower back injury and get a deeper stretch in the muscles. 

In a PubMed study, it was shown free weight squats showed a significant 43% increase in EMG activation in all affected muscles in a squat. A free-weight squat also helps the plantar flexors, knee flexors, and knee extensors. Doing squats helps with core stability in the hips and shoulders (Strength and Core Stability). The squat is a compound multi-joint exercise that is designed to target as much of the lower body as possible, including the hip, knee, ankle, and hamstring (Biomechanics Explained). 

Strengthening our legs is an important thing to do as they are the base of our body. Human legs evolved for bipedal movement (Human balance, the evolution of bipedalism) while also giving the ability for functional movements like the squat. Our ancestors are believed to squat to forage or make tools. The hip knees and ankles are also made to be efficient for the squat. Squats strengthen the legs providing stability to the whole body. Growing the trunk of the human body.

#3 Basic dumbbell bicep curl 

Jeff Nipperd produced a video with Jesse James West ranking different exercises. One thing they talked about is the classic bicep curl. On the classic bicep curl, when the bicep is stretched the most at the bottom of the movement, gravity is pointing the weight straight down, putting no tension on the bicep. A preacher curl fixes this problem by putting more tension on the bicep. The more horizontal the preacher curl, the more tension on the bicep and deeper stretch. We can do better, though, by taking the preacher curl to a cable, getting a deep curl, and bringing the weight up in the curl, keeping the tension on the bicep even at the top and bottom of the movement.

The bicep is responsible for flexing and outward rotation of the forearm. It also supports the deeper brachialis when lifting and lowering the forearm. As well as supporting the supinator muscle, which starts around the elbow and ends around the wrist. The small head of the bicep helps stabilize the scapula (around the shoulder blade) when holding heavy weights. The bicep is a stabilization muscle that evolved to under heavy load support other muscles like the bicep helping with a bench press with improved grip strength.

#2 Front raises

Front raises are a waste of time, a big statement that has been withheld from the past entries, but one that can be backed up. The front raise is supposed to grow the front deltoid, but all pressing motions already hammer the front delt, which makes doing an exercise for an already worked-out muscle pointless. It's like having a full leg day and then doing Bulgarian split squats. Have already worked the muscle out, why do something that would only hurt the muscle? 

A better thing to do to save time is doing lateral raises. Just raising the weight out to the sides targets the side deltoid fibers, strengthening one of the most important muscles. The deltoid is responsible for raising the arm out to the side of the body. It also compensates for lost strength in the arm, helping the arm move forward and back caused by a rotator cuff tear.

The deltoid is responsible for moving the arm in different directions. The deltoid also protects and stabilizes the shoulder joint (deltoid). The deltoid is made of elastic-like fibers so the arm can move in many different ways. Human shoulders likely first evolved as brakes when apes were climbing down trees some 20 million years ago (shoulders evolved as brakes for climbing) when humans moved out of the tree-climbing jungle days the deltoid was used for tool making and food gathering. The deltoid became stronger over time because the apes that couldn’t brake fast enough would fall off the tree, natural selection, picking which apes would survive reproduce, and grow.

#1 Progressive overload

Overloading the muscle is how it grows, so if a lifter doesn't progressively overload the muscles, the lifter won't be able to develop them. The brain sends a signal to the muscles to grow after being under load. After 8–12 reps on a non-compound lift or 6-8 on a compound lift the muscle will start to be worn out, and if it is not, then the lifter should up the weight. After those reps, the forced reps or partial reps are where the muscles tear and get a signal that they need to heal and grow. The signal is from the mTOR pathway. The mTOR pathway is linked to mammals that have longer lifespans. Activation of the mTOR pathway helps the process of protein transcription and translation, leading to increased muscle size (ScienceDirect).

In the forced reps and training to failure, the muscle fibers tear. This is not bad and completely normal— this is what the goal of training is. But over-training can lead to injuries. Muscle growth happens when the muscle fibers regenerate stronger than last time. When the muscle fibers heal, the muscle grows in size and strength. This pubmed study on bench press strength gains shows training until failure led to more growth than not. The training until failure tears the muscle fibers more for more growth, being optimal for growth.