Which Exercise is Supreme by Activating the Most Muscles?

I'm finding weight training useful.

Oh! This is fun! Okay, if I could only do three exercises for the rest of my life I'd pick the following:

1. Low bar back squat - For all the same reasons as you chose the deadlift but it's a bit less taxing on the CNS so you can train it more often.

2. Strict muscle up - For all the same reasons as you chose the pull up but with the added fun of a deep dip after the pull up so you get both a pulling and a pushing movement.

3. Sled drags springs - Same idea only it's more fun dragging something heavy behind you. :)

Ooh, only three? I'd have to go with running/sprint intervals as well--there is nothing better for getting my HR up in a hurry and totally kicking my butt. #2 would have to be pushups--you can vary them enough to get a total body workout from them. I swear they give you the best arms and abs ever. And #3 would be biking...it gets your legs/butt in shape and you can do it for a long period of time so it builds endurance. Plus, it's low impact and doubles as transportation. If I could pick ONE more, I'd agree with you on the pullups. Those are insane for your upper body.

1. Plie Squats w/ Lateral Raises
2. Squat Pushpress
3. Balance yourself in a push up position with hands on the bosu (soft side down) and feet on a big ball, then do some pikes, or pull your knees to your chest, or lift one leg & bring it to your chest and twist it across to your body so the knee/tibia are pointing parallel to a wall. I hope you guys can picture that and I explained it well. Or side plank with feet on a small squishy ball and arms resting on an upside down bosu. All hard awesome exercises.

I prefer bicycling as well, since it can conveniently fit into my life by serving as a transportation source. I also think for weight control there needs to be both duration AND intensity as well as frequency. I don't buy the idea that just fidgeting or pacing is a great way to burn a lot of calories and thus lose weight and mainly because these don't raise the heartrate. However, I would not go to the other extreme and say that if a person really raises their heartrate, that 5 minutes a day of exercise is really sufficient. I seem to get the best results from long bike rides where I also push myself up hills. When there are hills on the ride, that adds some intervals to the ride and really raises my heartrate. Doing something like leisurely walks, even for a long time, has not usually helped me lose weight, but longer bike rides with some intervals seems to work better than a very short ride that is intense. I would also think that long runs are effective for weight loss, because running by its very nature is intense, but longer runs burn more calories.

Bench presses, pull-ups, and squats. The 3 exercises that I'd pick if I could only do 3.

If I had to choose just 3 exercises:
1. squats, using dumbbells, is a great exercise for firming up my butt.
2. running. I find my legs benefit from this and its also great for the butt. Also good for cardio. I try to run 3 x a week.
3. tricep extensions for firming up my arms.

I do more exercise than these but reckon these ones could be classed as my basic essentials!

1. Squats on my Total Gym - do this for both cardio (because I can do this for 20-30 minutes even at a sharp angle) as well as all the standard squat benefits.

2. Several 3-minute rounds of boxing using some kind of punching bag (hubby not included!). The bag I use has numbers printed on it so I will pick, say, the number 10 and do reps that total 10 (eg jab 3 and 7, or punch 5 and 2 and 3, or 2,2,3,3 etc). Full body workout.

3. Stationary or cross country bike with max effort sprint intervals to the get HR going.

Geez, I wish I did this routine more often - sounds great :)

Here's a question: what are the only three you would do if you could NOT use any additional equipment (running shoes are okay)?

1. running
2. pullups (varying grips)
3. squats

What uses the largest muscles in your body that can raise your heart rate and secrete growth hormone the fastest?

1. Squats or Dead lifts (if you can do them)
2. Interval Sprints (burst training)
3. Pulls ups

My three exercises would be barbell squats, pullups, and pushups. I love reading this article and all the comments. Thanks for sharing

Inspired by bodyrock.tv I must say

Burpees.

Dan

Dead lift
Push ups
Lat Pull-down

I admit I do love my mountain bike too :)
Joe

Joe-Cannon.com

For gym, these are the top 3 accepted by a lot of trainers:

1) bench press
2) squats
3) deadlifts

total body work outs. For overall, I would add running to this this list (and cheat / go to 4)