10 Underrated Exercises Most People Skip

The Top 10 Exercises that people AREN'T doing, but would get a lot of benefits from! Anything I've missed? Let me know
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[@lucasfer9974]

1. Underhand Bench Press 0:33 2. High Cable Row 1:12 3. Copenhagen Plank 1:43 4. Leg Press 2:30 5. Rope Pulldown(NOT tricep pulldown. Lat Pulldown or Seated Cable Rows with a rope attachment) 4:16 6. Split Squat 4:57 7. Hyperextension 5:46 8. Prone Y Raise 6:30 9. Pushup 7:04 10. Deadhang 7:49

[@songchanpark]

Thank you👌

[@TatisRingwormCreme]

MVP

[@Mikejames1080]

Top man

[@samnakchum1496]

I love it. It's what I incorporate into my full body workout.

[@brennand933]

I think the #1 underrated upper body exercise is the Dumbbell/barbell pullover. The stretch at the bottom is simply unmatched by any other exercise in my opinion

[@lukec.9819]

Always invaluable content!!!! Thanks Uncle Eugene!!! 💪☺️

[@coacheugeneteo]

Thank you! 🙏

[@Oi-mj6dv]

Side lunges. Those if properly loaded will overwork (in a good sense) many muscles that just arent given enough attention with traditional squats variations

[@coacheddiebergersen6617]

Great vid thanks! Will try some of these that I haven’t done in a while. I think neck training is also pretty underrated, for neck health and performance

[@othonielmolina]

Hyper extensions are criminally underrated. If you use the hyper extension as a deadlift and load it up with a barbell and use form similar of that of an RDL, you will get a great workout. They will leave you sore, tired and crying.

[@LesterRobinBPe]

Thank you so much!❤️

[@123495734]

Moat underrated is the bicep curl

[@gutierrezgainz]

7:59 that man has seen the 9 circles of hell and came back to be featured on a youtube fitness video

[@coacheugeneteo]

🤣

[@NotVernelo]

PEOPLE SLEEP ON FARMER'S WALKS!!! My forearms, traps and pretty much my entire posterior chain has improved a lot since I started doing them daily. The "walk" in the name takes a lot of people by surprise because it knocks you out and gets your heart rate up quickly. Cardio + trains your muscles. Literally a perfect exercise.

[@SilverSlugs16]

Taking single leg work seriously was definitely instrumental to my performance as a D1 power athlete (t&f throws). Trained balance, strength in a compromised position, pumps my quads like nothing else and helped both knee and groin health a _lot_ . Side lunges too, along with traditional front/back and step-ups. I think another underrated benefit was injury prevention. Most sports have a lot of dynamic and unpredictable movement, and it's not something you think to guard against until you catch yourself time and time again when you stumble or fall. Getting better at single leg strength, mobility, stability work etc, definitely just helped keep my ankle and knee integrity high when I inevitably stumbled, slipped, tripped etc.

[@coacheugeneteo]

Yes!!

[@butterpecanrican_]

I'm surprised to find the leg press on this list. I just assumed everyone loved it as much as I do. It's the only reason why I still have a gym membership. I have everything else I need at home BUT a leg press. It's going to be my graduation gift to myself in 2024.

[@CanCalyx19]

The already mentioned DB pullover aside, I really find that the JM press is criminally unknown. I've been doing them for a few months now and they light up areas of my triceps that I've never felt before while also building strong elbows that aid me in all other exercises that involve them.

[@coacheugeneteo]

Oh great one!!

[@lukec.9819]

@@coacheugeneteo yes! Show us proper form on JM press, please!!!! 💪☺️

[@adammankind7266]

@@lukec.9819 With DBs too 😉!!

[@adammankind7266]

Do you use BB or DBs for JM Press? I prefer DBs and my joints too 😉😊

[@CanCalyx19]

@@adammankind7266 I personally use a barbell. I stick as close as I can to how JM himself taught the exercise on yt.

[@jplift247]

This is my underrated excercises list: Single leg hipthrusts, reverse hypers, Skater Squats (single leg squat with the resting leg behind the body), side lying hip raises for glute med, isotonic side plank with hip abduction, reverse nordics for quads, nordic leg curls, sliding leg curls, inverted rows, ring dips and close grip chin ups. I totally agree with your choice of the Copenhaguen plank and push ups.

[@adnanbosnian5051]

nice list

[@birdman4birdlegs]

So many of these!

[@saileshkadam7368]

Hyperextension was game changing for me!

[@totallyraw1313]

How so?

[@elmerayala5366]

For what

[@vytas5584]

Yeah why

[@riceimprove]

How even

[@HeinrichTheGr8]

@@elmerayala5366 destroying my knees

[@Ninolift]

Absolute fan of Copenhagen planks! 😍😍 This exercise helped me tremendously to recover from groin pain and prevent it to say goodbye

[@edwinanthony8314]

I resonate with deadhangs. Adding active deadhangs to my workout has helped me reduce internal rotation of my shoulders and helped me build a mind muscle connection to my lats. I also love the fore arm pump I get after 3x45s of deadhangs

[@pit5102]

no upright rows ? 🙁

[@bobba515]

Dumbell pullovers are underrated to me. Works your lats, expands your rib cage, stretches your shoulders and thoracic spine. Incredible benefits.

[@coacheugeneteo]

Fair point!

[@cricke6011]

@@coacheugeneteo wouldnt "expanding" ribcage be bad? especially when still growing?

[@jakobha3768]

You are expanding your ribcage every time you breath. Why should it be bad?

[@cricke6011]

@@jakobha3768 because my breathing doesnt equal the force of a 30 kg dumbbell

[@ninjapirat4703]

@@cricke6011 If your ribcage would bust under the pull of a 30 kg dumbbell, it surely wouldn't withstand the weight of a 100 kg barbell press, when you forgot to ask a spotter and let it rest on your chest.

[@GencVeFit]

Examples are pretty misleading, likely due to lack of knowledge of anatomy. For example, re the underhand grip bench press does not make sense. Pecs originate mostly on the sternum, and insert onto the upper arm bone. It's role is to bring the arm back toward the center of the body, when they are extended out. In this respect, by keeping elbows closer to body reduces the range of motion. How's this better???? Would you do a bicep curl with lifting the weight only halfway up? Also on that example you're mainly loading your anterior delts, not your pecs, since your arm is moving parallel to your body.

[@coacheugeneteo]

That makes sense if the body was a 2D object you see in an anatomy text. Unfortunately, its 3D. Bringing the arm further into shoulder extension at roughly a 45-60degree arm path to torso will stretch the pecs back around the rib cage more than simply abducting with the arms up at 90 degrees for example - you can try it out with no weight and all and you'll see how much more motion occurs at pec with a lower versus higher elbow position

[@amaggzz1207]

Definitely have to add many of these to my training but happy to say dead hangs and push-ups are a staple for me!

[@coacheugeneteo]

Yes!

[@dome5105]

Pullovers, you can train your shoulder mobility, even lowering not only backwards but also into the antenersion of your arms with lighter weight (warm up, adding a lil spice with shoulder rotation maybe?). Also it lets you challenge your deep ab contraction paired with a "stack" (exhale, ribs connected by transversus abdominis and a little posterior pelvic tilt)! Nice inspo tho, keep it up!

[@johntiene]

Halfway through Upper Lower 2.0 Phase 1. Going to try and add in a couple of these where appropriate. Really want to add Copenhagen Planks into the mix. Learned the Rope Pulldowns from the Mountain Dog years ago. Great variation.

[@coacheugeneteo]

Nice!!

[@doncoolioswa8290]

RIP Mountain Dog, he has helped me alot.

[@BeastSkills]

Copenhagen plank is excellent! And that dynamic variation looks awesome! I'll throw lateral lunges into the mix of underrated exercises - as most people aren't challenging themselves in the frontal plane and it can really help open up the hips.

[@coacheugeneteo]

Great pick

[@radoslavstoev4550]

Single leg deadlifts should be included here. Really helped me with disk issues in my lower back.

[@coacheugeneteo]

True!

[@PoppyJr11]

Neck training!!! Still insanely overrated for balance, back pain, and sheer swoleness. 🌳

[@jumpbodyfitnessjbf870]

Maybe this dude never failed on underhand BB. I stopped doing underhand BB because one day i failed the lift and the bar fall into my face but thank god i have safety, since that day i was scared of this exercise

[@random96ify]

Inverted rows! I really struggle to feel my lats when doing bent over bb row. Always feel in my lower back trying to stabilise. Inverted row allows me to have a much stronger connection and less stress on stabilising torso.

[@coacheugeneteo]

Great one!

[@ExStylez]

I love the rope for rows/pulls. Accidentally discovered them a few weeks ago when all the other gear was taken. Feels so much better

[@coacheugeneteo]

Yes!

[@theIdlecrane]

I do both ATG and Bulgarian split squats as my main for leg training, mainly for knee rehabilitation, but the gains are insane!

[@ukestudio3002]

Really like your form on most exercises . Used to do reverse grip benches but can drop barbell on face as weight goes up . On hyperextensions I look up, not down and arch back slightly.

[@keithhopkins1346]

How about doing a series like this for each body part? Great content.

[@coacheugeneteo]

Great idea

[@TorBoy9]

I rarely see people at my gym practice balance. I stand on a stiff medicine ball for 30 secs x 3 at the end of my workout. It takes very little muscle strength, but trains the inner ear and proprioception skills for balance. Beginners can start with a single leg balancing. These exercises are really important for older adults and seniors, as they will help with preventing falls.

[@WideAwakeHuman]

Surprised you mentioned rope pull-down - I do these all the time and love the back, forearm and bicep thrashing they give me depending on how I focus when doing them

[@bloczek91]

My personal favorite underrated excercise is scap pull up (pull ups using only scap shrug). It gives similiar benefits as dead hang, plus it strengthen traps. I was doing this excercise to unlock full pullups and it did, plus it ulocked my dips which was for me big suprise and i also noticed my bench press become much more stable. I was doing pullups for some time, but i noticed pull ups are frying my CNS too much, for my back program. So i stick just to scap pullups, which are quite easy for nervous system- we can do them almost everyday. Scap pullups are beneficial to many other excercises.

[@advocacyrl8017]

This is a great video! While I already incorporate some of these into my current routine (split squats, hyperextension, leg press, push-up, dead hang) I will be incorporating the others from now on. I'm excited to see if the supinated bench press will keep my anterior delts from jumping in and overriding my chest. I'd love to do a few sessions with this trainer! An exercise that I hardly see anyone doing is the overhead trunk rotation and landmines.

[@chris_johns]

First thing I do when I walk in the gym is dead hangs, help my banged up shoulder stretch out as well as my back, and they feel great

[@robertrosenfeld7458]

Mixed grip & width dead hangs were the game-changer for me

[@kozmo7]

Was taught by old school guys over 13 years ago, they had me doing diagonal pulls using a lat pulldown either kneeling on the ground or putting your leg up on the seat and pulling that way. Just make sure to test the length of the lat pulldoen cable first to ensure it’ll let you get the full range

[@harrymiles2652]

On the subject of underrated exercises, I discovered the snatch grip deadlift from Eugene, and despite being usually confident when I go to hit some deadlifts, today I tried it for the first time and was humbled to say the least 😂😂🤓 Very effective though 👌🏻 I’ll be keeping it up - Uncle Eugene will be proud one day

[@coacheugeneteo]

Proud today 🤝🤝

[@harrymiles2652]

Getting the hang of it and now at 100kg+ for sets of 5 which I’m well happy with 😁 working on a 150kg 1RM on my regular deadlift 👌🏻. I also put a green on each side of a 15kg bar and tried gripping onto the plates themselves for shits and giggles with WAY more success than I projected

[@xhelios3820]

When i do these type of "strange" exercises people look at me like "Bro, this guy wtf is he doing?", but i do it no matter their opinions are hahaha

[@jonharper4967]

Good to see you reintroduced the tea,hmm tastes good!

[@patrickjulius7352]

Love the lying Y raise and weighted push up variations are one of my main go to presses every week. I see the value of single leg work but often lack the patience to do it. takes a lot more time in the gym feels like.

[@NAVEENCHAURASIYAA]

These are the video i want from an influencer tried and tested yips

[@evankalis]

Head supported rows, whether dumbbell or otherwise are lots of fun and were used by the great Ed Coan. One of the few free weight excercises that puts the neck under a reasonable load that also loads other parts of the body. Work up to it slowly though.

[@coacheugeneteo]

Nice!!

[@petergause1760]

Neck exercises and gymnastics rings

[@Advcrazy]

Pro tip for the Y raises: I get all my shoulder patients to press in external rotation of the shoulder as they raise their arm up. ie, thumbs up, but also contracting into external rotation. Don’t relax that external rotation until the set is finished. This increases lower trapezius activation. Weak or poorly coordinated lower trapz are often a contributing factor to shoulder and neck problems.

[@guydayoff7830]

Sabbath, tool, rush. Now this guy has got my respect. Great taste in music and great videos and knowledge!

[@ST3FF3]

Ring and/or band face pulls are seriously underrated as a rear and side delt builder. Many people rarely even use these and when they do, they use them as a "bulletproofing" exercise for shoulder health and don't take them that seriously. If you treat these seriously and apply progressive overload, your rear and side delts will blow up!

[@MostlyCloudy]

The man knows good music. 🤗

[@voxpopuli6405]

Eugene, would love to hear your opinion on something. With the rope pull-downs, do you need to protract and have upwards rotation of the scapula? To me, it makes sense not to do this as lats don't connect to the scapulae. Thoughts?

[@favvrek]

The cossack squat I think is enormously underrated.

[@coacheugeneteo]

Good one!

[@jamesostendorf1518]

2:47 holy shit its dr mike

[@zwryy7622]

Reverse Hypers, 45/90° Hypers, Ring/Deficit Push-ups, Nordics, Lu Raises are all great shouts imo

[@coacheugeneteo]

Great picks!

[@oscarortiz1429]

Old timer, former IFBB champion here reporting: Pullovers on a half moon bench, Seated Lateral Raises with trap contraction at the bottom -like a most muscular pose-, Straight Barbell Reversed Curls, Top Deadlifts, Russian Twists on a Roman Chair holding a plate at arms length…

[@bg147]

I was hoping you would include hyper or back extensions. I had back pain for going too deep on leg presses and saw doctors, chiropractors and therapists. Nothing worked until I decided to do something on my own..... heavy back extensions. They did the trick. My primary compound move is the lunge/split legged squat. Yet, it has been hurting my one knee.... sort of had an unfortunate accident with a chainsaw, a ladder, and beer some years back. So, yea. Anyways, I am not turning my knees inward to gain leverage, so, I am not really sure what is going on.

[@beewalk34]

The pushup is so neglected, speaking from experience. However, if you go to any level bodybuilding show on the planet it's one of the first exercises the neglectors do backstage. Weird how that works

[@universe2906]

Training for 10+ years the only exercise on this list I don’t agree with is the Leg Press. I could do 10 plates on each side and felt good. But ever since I quit my hips feel so much better. Leg press is overrated and as to your point nobody cares about the numbers so why should you? Glute bridges > Leg press all day baby! Thanks for the awesome video Eugene. You are a major inspiration to us local corporate trainers. Hope to be like you one day brother!

[@shaungregory1827]

Resistance training with trunk rotation. Most people who lift weights are using motions that pull and push either forwards or backwards, or up or down. In fact - with the exception of the ab machine that you kneel on and perform a trunk twist, most gyms have little to no equipment that is made for trunk rotations under load ....... or so it would seem. I like to make sure I fit Kettlebell, Clubbell or Macebell routines into my training - with routines with the club and mace being very focused on trunk rotations. In the gym, I like to use cable machine exercises with a trunk twist either at the front or the end of the motion. "But that's cheating as you're not engaging the bicep, tricep, lat, etc, etc" - not cheating if the focus of that exercise is the rotational element and any other activation of other muscles is a bonus by-product to get an added squeeze. So many people are stiff and have little to no flexibility, which makes performing daily tasks miserable. As somebody who suffered a back injury at a very young age, I've stuck to maintaining rotational elements in my routines and found that this keeps my back pain to a minimum.

[@johnrobinson4445]

I do the upper cable row one-handed and it is the ONLY exercise I have that gives me immediate results every time. Why? Intensity, I think. Even when I got fatter, doing this exercise for several sets once per week added reps to my pull-up on the other day per week I did back work. Fatter but still more reps? Utterly unheard of for me, except when I do this one.

[@nieczerwony]

I would include pullover but not traditional DB. I just lay on flat bench with top of my head on the edge of it. Now you need barbell which you grip like for biceps curl (bend the elbows and undergrip). Now keeping elbows bent get the barbell as far as possible behind your head. Remember as a teenage this was shown to me by old school gym maniac and I couldn't believe how it helped me with my rib cage and chest+ shoulders width.

[@abechung4738]

Uncle Eugene posts, I watch! :D

[@leviefrauim1425]

There is no reason to ever do a reverse grip bench press. It's an unnatural movement that doesn't simulate any natural lifting, pressing, throwing, punching movement of the human body.. Sorry, but I disagree with you on this one and find it a supremely dumb exercise.

[@shortycareface9678]

Don't see a lot of people doing farmer's walks. They make everything in your upper body burn.

[@JesseGilbride]

Face pulls (properly done), hill sprints, and tibialis work (concentric and eccentric).

[@census9487]

Thanks for reminding me of push ups I was training my chest pretty hard (like 3x a week) and then I went to an airbnb for half a week and had no gym equipment so I did push ups and that part of the chest you mentioned got sore in a way that I never felt from doing alot of incline and flat pressing and from surprisingly low volume I usually do like 10 sets of chest and then from pretty low reps from low sets of push ups it blew up that wing area. This was a few months ago, good reminder I need to put push ups back in my training.

[@johnnyfox8934]

I’ve been seeing the barbell hyper more recently. I haven’t tried it yet but it looks like just what I need to strengthen my lower back. I gonna also superset with reverse hypers to get that posterior chain firing!

[@Livesinashack]

My gym bought four new leg presses with a ridiculously short range of motion, making them pretty useless.

[@TheCyclingCardio]

All this time I have intuitively bend foward on my seated cable row to achieve more stretch, mimicking the diagonal pull cable row

[@user-zc2ks7pd3d]

I may get cancelled for this but I feel like tricep kickbacks are actually underrated. Everyone says they are trash bc of time under tension and stuff, but when I try them, I feel them very good on my triceps, yes I only feel them at full extension but it burns like crazy

[@johnjhope]

Farmers carry

[@joshlarge8131]

Much difference between high Cable diagonal row...feet high or feet like normal ?

[@AntoineBecaglia]

Definitely missing a neck exercise! Beefing up your neck is important and there are too many guys with skinny turtle necks!😂

[@kettlebellcoachmiki]

EZ bar Bent arm Pullover and narrow press combo. It works entire upper body, even traps.

[@Usiris23]

I’ve been finishing my workouts with a deadhang of at least a minute and man do my arms feel insanely pumped, from my hands to my shoulders. Gotta love that shit

[@magickittenz]

For me, it was always kicking backwards that was underrated, as a ballet ice skater, I practiced these almost every day growing up and noone else training these muscles thinking that front arm raises are the gym style other than cardio confused me.

[@arijitchaudhuri7714]

Tibialis anterior raises while standing or if the gym has a dedicated machine for that then we should use. My gym has one plate loaded one but I guess I’m the only one who uses it. I also like to target the tibia wrapping a cuff around my foot and attaching it to a cable or using a band to mimic the movement. Or I even sometimes just do toe taps or foot taps while sitting that also mimics movement somewhat.

[@robinferdous9164]

It's very rare to see weighted pull-ups. Best back exercise for me!

[@mx_nana_banana]

another underrated exercise are goblet squats, they’re great for beginners because they force your back into proper form.

[@RoidfreeSenior]

I have to try some of those single leg lifts, have never really done

[@g.o.6379]

always have a copenhagen in while doin the plank just don't forget the cup

[@legolindirteso9430]

About the copenhagen plank, doesn't the leg raises that sumo do in their training have the same effect?

[@obi-wancanoweme855]

Any recommendations to mitigate my wrists from getting sharp pan during push ups?

[@charleswhite9242]

I gotta say, your voice is quite ASMR inducing

[@dustinsage4755]

what shorts are you wearing during that Copenhagen plank ??

[@Mr-mopar]

Weighted Carry’s would be one…so many ways to do it.

[@kylestaker9279]

Would love to see a video on groin injury rehabilitation or how to prevent further injuries

[@madmaxiemartialartsnerd485]

2:54 Eugene your becoming part of the problem xD

[@lucas82]

So weird hearing an Asian man speak with a thick Australian accent.

[@eXistanCial]

Forgot to add 11. Photoshop thumbnail raises

[@venom999333]

Single leg stiff leg deadlift. Dumbell/barbell/cable

[@alec2630]

When you’re already doing these because you’re a Ganbaru member 😤

[@coacheugeneteo]

🤘🤘🤘

[@grasshopperdad1479]

I thought leg press put more stress on your lower back than squat?

[@steve_santiago]

Why not just add the beat to Decks verse? It was fuego

[@rafaelprieto9550]

ring push ups are one of the best chest excersice i´ve discover this years.

[@DKREALFEEL]

Never thought it was a good idea to listen to someone who is small about what to do to get big

[@blinder5250]

I'm missing out on the gym in entirely unless home gym counts

[@goggins6121]

nobody is doing pull ups or chinups in the gym that im going

[@isaacperrigo8267]

Did high cable rows today and were awesome

[@Explorshon123]

I have started doing deadhangs a couple of days a week recently and they are much harder than they look. I feel like when I was a little kid I could hang effortlessly for a long time... not any more.