Guest post by Chris Stroud

Army Reserve 2010 Best Warrior Competition Army Physical Fitness Test | Photo by dvids

Simplifying your fitness routine means choosing exercises that will get the most bang for their buck. Usually these exercise will fall into the four basic movement patterns – Jump, Push, Pick up from ground, and run.

If you are trying to evaluate the merits of a exercise program or develop one your self than using most of the movements included below is a good place to start.

The exercises are a mix between body weight movements, weightlifting, and ways to move distance – i.e running, rowing, and swimming. I prefer having a mashup like this because it ensures that I have a good balance between strength and conditioning. Favoring any one to much will create other deficits in your overall fitness and make you susceptible to over use injuries (yes i’m talk to you if all you do it run).

Some of the movements below have a video with it. These videos were filmed at the gym I work at to assist people with proper technique. If you’re curious to know which one I am, I am the demo guy in the first squat video.

1. Squat. The squat is the king of all movements. No other exercise has the ability to be the only exercise you ever do and still manage to be in pretty good shape.

2. Push ups. The best movement to build upper body pushing strength while only using your own body weight.
3. Pull Ups. The best movement to build upper body pulling strength while not having to use any other weights or machines.
4. Running short distances and sprinting. Running isn’t just about stepping outside your door and running around the block a few times at a leisurely pace. Our ancestors sprinted fast and hard for hunting and escaping predators. Luckily we don’t have to do much of that these days but alternating between slow long distance runs and short 50 yard sprints is a great way to maintain and develop cardiovascular strength.
5. Dead lift. The dead lift sounds as daunting as your name. It the heaviest exercise your body can do.

6. Press. A lot of old school weightlifters believe that the measure of a mans strength is whether or not they can press their body weight with a barbell. You don’t necessarily need to be able to press your body weight but it couldn’t hurt.

7. Over Head Squat. The over head squat is not only impressive to watch but is great at developing should stability to prevent injuries and also develop core strength.

8. GHD Situp. The GHD sit up is one of the most difficult abdominal movements if you are doing full range of motion.

9. Rowing. Most gyms have a rower but no one ever uses it. It sits in the corner and collects dust. This is unfortunate because rowing is more of a total body cardiovascular workout than most other ‘cardio’ equipment.
10. Swimming. This is the most low impact exercise on the list and probably the funnest. After a hard work out one of my favorite things to do is jump in the pool and swim a few easy laps to get some circulation so I can recover faster.

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