Exercise Guide

Stand in front of a sturdy box or chair, sit back until you touch it, stand back up. No hands once you can. This is a squat with a built-in depth guide.

Hold one dumbbell vertically against your chest like a heavy cup. Sit down between your heels, chest tall, then stand up. The weight in front keeps your form honest.

Same squat, one dumbbell in each hand at your shoulders or hanging at your sides. Use it when one dumbbell is no longer heavy enough.

Bar rests on your upper back, not your neck. Brace, sit down until your thighs are near parallel, stand up tall. Learn it in a rack with the safety bars set.

One foot forward, one back, drop the back knee toward the floor, push back up. Walking lunges are the moving version. Hold dumbbells to add weight.

Step onto a bench or sturdy step, drive through the top leg to stand fully, step down with control. Do not push off the bottom leg; make the top leg do the work.

The machine version of the squat. Feet flat on the platform about shoulder width, lower with control until your knees are deeply bent but your hips stay down, press back out.

Hold a broomstick along your spine touching your head, upper back, and tailbone. Push your hips back like closing a car door with your backside, keeping all three contact points. This is the pattern every deadlift is built on.

Lie on your back, knees bent, feet flat. Squeeze your backside and lift your hips until your body is a straight line from knees to shoulders. Lower with control.

A glute bridge with your upper back on a bench and a dumbbell resting on your hips. Bigger range, more weight, same squeeze at the top.

Weight on the floor between your feet. Hinge your hips back, grip the weight, stand up tall by pushing the floor away. Your back stays proud the whole time.

Start standing, weights in hand. Push your hips back and lower the weights down the front of your legs until you feel your hamstrings stretch, then stand back up. The knees stay softly bent; the movement is all hips.

Stand inside the hexagon bar, hinge down, grip the handles, stand up tall. The friendliest heavy deadlift there is, which is why it leads the gym program.

The classic: bar on the floor, hinge down, flat back, stand up with the bar sliding up your shins and thighs. Worth learning from the videos and starting light.

A fast hinge. Hike the weight back between your legs, then snap your hips forward so the weight floats to chest height. Your hips are the engine; your arms are just rope.

Face away from a low cable, rope between your legs. Hinge forward, then stand tall by driving your hips through. Teaches the hinge with the machine doing the balancing.

Hips on the pad, ankles locked in. Lower your torso with a proud chest, then rise until your body makes one straight line. Squeeze your backside at the top, not your lower back.

Hands on a wall at shoulder height, walk your feet back, lower your chest to the wall and press away. The entry point for all pressing.

Push-up with hands on a counter, bench, or sturdy chair. The lower the surface, the harder it gets. Elbows about 45 degrees from your body, never flared wide.

The floor version. Body in one straight line, chest to the floor, press away. Raise your feet on a step once regular ones feel easy.

Lie on your back on the floor, press dumbbells from your chest to arms straight. The floor protects your shoulders by limiting the range.

On a bench set to a slope, press dumbbells from your shoulders up and slightly back until your arms are straight.

Standing or seated, dumbbells at your shoulders, press straight up until your arms are by your ears. Brace your middle so your back does not arch.

Bar at your collarbones, press it overhead in a straight line, moving your head slightly back and then through. Strict, no leg drive.

An overhead press with a small knee dip and drive, so your legs help the weight up. Used on the fast day: dip, drive, punch it up.

One end of a barbell wedged in a corner or landmine attachment. Press the free end up and forward at an angle. The friendliest press for cranky shoulders.

A push-up with your hips high in the air like an upside-down V, lowering the top of your head toward the floor. The home version of overhead pressing.

Band anchored at chest height or around your feet. Pull the handles to your ribs, squeezing your shoulder blades together, then release with control.

One hand and knee on a bench, other arm hanging with a dumbbell. Pull the weight to your hip pocket, lower with control. Your torso stays still; no twisting.

Seated at the machine, grip the bar wider than your shoulders, pull it to your collarbones while your chest stays proud, then let it rise with control.

A pull-up with the machine (or a band) taking part of your weight. Pull your chin over the bar, lower slowly. Reduce the help as you get stronger.

Seated, feet braced, pull the handle to your stomach with a tall chest, squeezing your shoulder blades, then let your arms reach forward with control.

Pick up a heavy dumbbell in each hand and walk tall, like carrying groceries you refuse to put down. Shoulders back, quick quiet steps.

The same walk with weight in one hand only, swapping sides halfway. The challenge is staying perfectly upright while the weight tries to tip you.

Rise onto your toes, then drop your heels to the floor with a firm, quick landing. That little jolt is bone-building signal. The gentlest impact exercise in the program.

Low, springy hops in place, landing softly through the balls of your feet. Quiet landings are the whole skill.

Dip your hips quickly and jump straight up, landing soft but crisp. This is the standard jump in your warm-ups and jump breaks.

The same small jumps, but forward and back, then side to side. Different directions load the bone in different ways, which is the point.

Hold a medicine ball at your chest and throw it hard against a wall (or to a partner), catch or collect it, repeat. Throw like you mean it.

Ball overhead, slam it into the floor with your whole body, pick it up, repeat. Wonderful for power and, honestly, for stress.

On hands and knees, reach one arm forward and the opposite leg back until both are level with your body, pause, return, switch. Slow and steady beats big and wobbly.

Lie on your side, prop up on your forearm, lift your hips so your body makes a straight line. Start from your knees if needed.

A lunge stepping backward instead of forward. Usually much friendlier for sore knees, which is why the knee appendix swaps it in.

Lying face down, lift your chest an inch off the floor and hold for 5 to 10 seconds. A gentle strengthener for the muscles that protect your spine.