If you’re going to lift, then you’re probably wondering what exercises to do. There are thousands of exercises to choose from and it can be hard to pick the best. First, let’s just acknowledge that “best” is completely dependent on a number of things (how banged up you are, what your goal is, which phase the moon is in, what equipment you have access to, etc.) Now that that’s out of the way, you’re probably wondering, gun to my head, what I would recommend for a not-too-banged-up, average Joe or Jane who’s looking to get stronger and healthier, maybe even put on a little muscle to give a less I’ve-been-sitting-on-my-hindquarters-since-covid-joined-the-party look. Well, dear reader, you’re in luck. Below are the big six exercises that I would have you make the meat and potatoes of your training.

Front Squat. Here come the powerlifters and their disciples with their pitchforks, torches, and tar and feathers. “The back squat is the king of exercises!” they bellow, spittle flying forth from their scarlet faces. Yes, it’s true that the squat is an incredible exercise worthy of all the praise it gets. However, there are a few reasons you might want to do the front squat instead. 1) It’s easier on the lower back. By putting the bar on the front of your body, you’re making it so your spine is more upright. This means you’re less likely to round out because the pressure of the weight is pushing more or less evenly down instead of pushing your upper body forward. 2) It’s self-limiting. If it’s too heavy, you’ll simply drop the weight in front of you. This means you won’t get stapled to the ground and look like a cartoon character whose limbs are flailing while their torso is pinned. 3) It has a larger range of motion for the quads and glutes, which is great if you’re trying to build the bum and legs.

Sumo Deadlifts. I’ve already gone into great detail as to why they should be your go-to, but I’ll briefly recap here. Much like the front squat, sumo deadlifts also keep your spine more upright and make it gentler on your back. The movement itself is intuitive because you’ve definitely picked things up off the floor before. As if that weren’t enough, they’re great for opening up the hips, something that pretty much anybody who sits down a lot in a chair needs desperately.

Overhead Press. You read that right, the bench press is not my pressing movement of choice (cue powerlifting mob returning.) I still prescribe it a lot, but it’s more because I work with lots of men and men are going to bench press no matter what, so they might as well learn to do it right from me than go off and get themselves injured. Kind of like how some parents might let their kids drink while they’re home so they don’t do anything completely insane and can be helped if need be. The reason I prefer the overhead press to the bench press is simple: it builds pressing strength while undoing a lot of the hideous posture that people who sit at computers and steering wheels put themselves into. Bench pressing often reinforces this posture. When you bench press, you finish the movement with your arms in front of you and your palms facing down. When you sit at your steering wheel or computer, guess what position your shoulders turned in. Why would I have you do more of that? The overhead press has you finish with arms overhead and shoulders turning out as you press. How’s that for balance?

Pull-ups. Pull-ups and all their variations are just awesome for a variety of reasons. One of the biggest ones is that it hits a lot of muscle at once. As if that wasn’t good enough, the muscles it hits are the ones that keep your posture looking good and prevent you from resembling Quasimodo going through a low door frame. Another is that it can double as a stretching exercise. Don’t believe me? Try this. Hang from the pull-up bar, don’t pull, just hang. Now squeeze your shoulder blades together and try to open up your chest. Hold it for 30 seconds. Your shoulders and back should have loosened up a bit and you might have even cracked your back like a knuckle. If you want to have some fun, hang for 30 seconds, then do a pull-up, then hang for another 30 seconds, do another pull-up, repeat until you can’t do any more. If you last more than three minutes, I’ll be impressed.

Suitcase Carries. I almost wrote “ab work” but as soon as you see that the first thing that’ll come to mind is probably sit-ups. I don’t like sit-ups for most people because they use a lot of hip flexors (the muscles that bring your knee toward your chest.) What you need to learn to use are your obliques. Those are the muscles on the left and right of your six pack (or Buddha belly.) If these are weak, you’ll end up keeping your spine stable by using your low back. Not good. While the low back should be involved in keeping your spine stable, it shouldn’t be doing the bulk of the work. If it does this over the long-term, you’ll most likely end up with back pain. The other reason you need strong abs is to be able to lift heavier weights and deal with more force. If your legs can push 400lbs but your abs can only support 200lbs, guess how much weight you can squat. If you said 200lbs, you’re correct. If you said 600lbs, you might want to pursue a career in science fiction writing.

Split Squat. I almost didn’t include it on the list because of how similar it can be to squatting and deadlifting, but it’s different and important enough to get its own spot. What you need these for is to help prevent imbalances between your left and right sides. The bigger the imbalance there is, the more likely you are to get injured. This doesn’t mean that you must be perfectly balanced or your ligaments will tear like a piñata at a birthday party where the children are on meth. Perfect balance is impossible. Doing these, however, will keep you in a safe range and make your big lifts stronger.

If you’re a normal, healthy person looking to get stronger and healthier, these six exercises will provide for 80% of your needs. And if you get strong in these, you should also stay injury-free as well. Obviously, there are lots of other exercises you can do that have tremendous value. If you're a competitive athlete, powerlifter, or a person with special needs (injuries) then some of these will need to change. If not, now you know what to do. Get after it.