Please BOOKMARK this post!

You will need to come back to it often when you want to change an exercise between THT cycles. Or perhaps you’re just bored with an exercise and need a change for psychological reasons.

There are thousands of exercises out there, many of them are terrible; these ones get the THT seal of approval!

We’re talking about FULL
muscle fiber recruitment, natural movements, and the ability to work both large and small muscle groups to 100% of their full strength ability thereby stimulating MAXIMUM growth in all the muscles of the body.

As any good trainer knows, this necessitates the inclusion of both compound and isolation exercises.

If I find or invent more movements, I will add to this list. This article will become CENTRAL to your workouts for years to come!

Compound exercises are listed first for each body part and are highlighted in green.

IMPORTANT! You are to replace a compound movement with another compound movement, or an isolation exercise with another isolation exercise. For example, NEVER take out your sets of squats for leg extensions, or deadlifts for hyper-extensions. You get the idea.

Here’s the list…

LEGS (upper)

• Squats (overall – compound)
• Leg Press (overall – compound)
• Barbell or Machine Hack Squat (overall – compound)
• Barbell/Dumbbell Lunges (overall – compound)
• Stiff-Legged Deadlifts (hams – compound)
• Leg Curls (hams)
• Leg Extensions (quads)

LEGS (Calves)

• Standing Calf Raises
• Seated Calf Raises
• Hack-Squat Machine Calf Raises
• Calf Raises On Leg Press Machine (use only if the other options aren’t available to you)

BICEPS

• Chin-ups (compound, underhand grip)
• Close-grip palms-up pulldowns (compound, underhand grip)
• Cable Preacher Curls (or machine preacher curls)
• Standing Barbell Curls
• Standing Dumbbell Curls (alternating)
• EZ bar curls (use infrequently as they don’t fully supinate the hand)
• Seated Incline Dumbbell Curls

TRICEPS

• Decline Tricep Extension (barbell or EZ bar) (compound – allow movement of the shoulder joint so that the bar comes BEHIND your head – this is not a typical isolation skull crusher movement –see link)
• Decline Cable Tricep Extension (low cable) (compound – allow movement of the shoulder joint so that the attachment comes BEHIND your head – this is not a typical skull crusher movement -see above)
• Dips (weighted) (compound)
• Close-grip Bench Press (compound)
• Cable Bent-Over Triceps Extensions (because of the form I recommend, this is a compound movement. However, for purposes of substituting exercises, treat it like an isolation exercise. See the article here for more).
• Cable Pushdowns
• Low Cable Kickbacks (or dumbbell kickbacks)
• Behind-the-head Dumbbell Tricep Extensions (one arm at a time)
• Pinwheel Curls or One-Arm Reverse Pushdowns (only to be used as a finisher to the workout, not to replace any other exercise)

CHEST

• Flat Bench Press (compound)
• Incline Bench Press (compound) – you can use dumbbells or a barbell here
• Decline Bench Press (compound)
• Dips (compound – chest version. Lean forward and have your elbows come out a little wider from your body to involve the pecs more)
• Pec Deck
• Cable Crossovers
• Flat Lying Cable Flies (lay perpendicular between 2 low pulleys. Dumbbell flies are pretty ineffective as there is no resistance throughout the top half of the movement)

BACK

• Deadlift (compound overall)
• Lat Pulldowns (compound, overhand grip)
• Pull-Ups (compound, weighted, overhand grip)
• Bent Over Barbell Rows (compound)
• Seated Cable Rows (compound)
• One-arm Dumbbell Rows (compound)
• Pullover Machine
• Kneeling Cable Bent-Over Pullovers
• Decline Cable Pullovers
• Hyperextensions

SHOULDERS

• Standing or Seated Overhead Barbell Press (compound – a smith machine is fine for the seated version)
• Standing or Seated Overhead Dumbbell Presses (compound)
• Dumbbell Lateral Raises
• Lateral Raise Machine
• Cable Lateral Raises (between 2 low pulleys with stirrup attachments)
• Barbell, Dumbbell, or Low-Cable Front Raises

(rear delts get all the work they need from any rowing movement you do during the week)

TRAPS

• Barbell/Smith Machine Shrugs
• Cable Shrugs
• Trap Bar Shrugs (trap bar like this)
• Dumbbell Shrugs
• Calf Raise Machine Shrugs
• Barbell or Dumbbell Upright Rows (use infrequently or in addition to above, never as your only trap exercise)

ABS

• Knee/Hip Leg Raises (compound. Weighted, captain’s chair/parallel bars works best, bent knees, holding dumbbell between feet)
• Hanging Leg Raises
• Decline sit-ups (or regular if you aren’t strong enough)
• Kneeling Cable Crunches
• Reverse Crunches
• Machine Crunches
• Machine Lying Hip Raises

(absolutely no stability/swiss ball exercises)

note: No amount of abdominal exercise will get you a six-pack – no matter how effective the exercise is! You have to TORCH fat and get your body fat percentage down. On top of this you must preserve all your hard-won muscle gains with a fat-stripping, muscle-feeding diet and weight training program. “Total Six Pack Abs” is the full Diet, Weight-Training, and Cardio package for getting ripped in record time while preserving, if not building, your lean muscle tissue. Backed by science. Includes PRECISE mathematical formulas to tailor the program to YOUR individual make-up.

FOREARMS

• Barbell Wrist Curls (forearms resting on legs or a bench)
• Dumbbell Wrist Curls (forearms resting on legs or a bench)
• Low Cable Wrist Curls (forearms resting on legs or a bench – ensure the attachment can swivel)
• Reverse Wrist Curls (barbell or dumbbell)
• Wrist Roller with Wrist/Forearms Developer

This list of exercises will allow you to keep training INDEFINITELY – no plateaus, no boredom! Just continuous gains in muscle size and strength! It can’t be any other way!

If you’ve never tried THT training before and haven’t downloaded the free book yet, do that now!

You could also consider starting your first cycle of THT right now by getting all the juice on what it is and what you have to do here (this is just one cycle. THT is a bodybuilding program made up of different cycles). The other cycles are in the FREE book available at the top right of this page.

Whatever you do, just get started ASAP. Another day not training optimally is another day of lost gains you can’t get back!

Train With Passion!

Mark McManus