When it comes to calisthenics, it’s important to distinguish between exercises that are popular and those that are truly effective for specific goals. Overrated doesn’t mean an exercise is bad—it just means its popularity might be overshadowing its actual effectiveness for what you’re trying to achieve. Here, we break down five overrated exercises and suggest better alternatives to help you progress more efficiently.
What you will learn in this article:
5 Overrated Exercises
Negative Muscle-Ups
Negative Muscle-Ups are often shown in Muscle-Up tutorials as one of the best ways to learn the Muscle-Up. But the truth is, they’re not that effective—at least when it comes to learning an explosive Muscle-Up with a grip switch.
When you do a Muscle-Up like this, you need a lot of explosive pulling strength to get yourself above the bar. But in this move, you actually skip the transition instead of focusing on it.
Negative Muscle-Ups, on the other hand, emphasize the transition and won’t help you build the explosive pulling strength you need to get over the bar.
But if you’re working on a Slow Muscle-Up with a false grip, it’s the opposite. In that case, you can and should work with negatives because they mimic the movement and build the strength you need.
For learning the Explosive Bar Muscle-Up, though, I suggest focusing on Explosive Pull-Ups and Band-Assisted Muscle-Ups. It sounds simple, but it works every time!
Headbanger Chin-Ups
Headbanger Chin-Ups are often referred to as a great biceps builder. But the reality is a bit different.
Yes, the biceps do get activated in this exercise, but the more you push yourself away from the bar, the less your biceps actually have to work.
At the furthest point, the Headbanger Chin-Up mostly relies on your lats and even the long head of your triceps. So these muscles will always be the limiting factor while your biceps play a smaller role.
A better alternative would be Chin-Ups with a biceps-focused execution. Use a narrower grip and focus on elbow flexion first.
Instead of closing the shoulder angle and moving your elbows back, bring them more in front of your body.
Even the Standard Chin-Up with a shoulder-width grip is a better biceps exercise than the Headbanger Chin-Up.
If you’re looking to isolate your biceps as much as possible with calisthenics, I’d suggest Bodyweight Biceps Curls or Reverse Bodyweight Biceps Curls. These exercises almost completely eliminate back involvement, so your biceps do all the work.
Ice Cream Makers
Ice Cream Makers are pretty overrated, mainly because they’re an in-between exercise.
Ice Cream Makers mix bent and straight arm movements, which means they’re not great for improving either one to its fullest potential.
If you want to improve your Front Lever, it’s better to focus on straight arm movements without wasting energy in a bent arm position.
And if you want to improve your Pull-Ups, you should focus on the pulling movement instead of adding straight arm holds.
Ice Cream Makers aren’t bad, but you need to understand that they’re more of a hybrid compound move that’s great for hitting many muscles at the same time, but not for improving a specific exercise or movement. So, adding Ice Cream Makers to an existing routine can boost your overall fitness level, but stay away from them if you want to learn the front lever as fast as possible.
Planche Push-Ups
Planche Push-Ups have the same problem as Ice Cream Makers.
They’re a hybrid movement with bent and straight arms, so they’re not great for improving the Planche Hold.
The special thing about the Planche Push-Up is its resistance curve. Unlike most push exercises, the hardest part isn’t the lower position or the push itself, but the hold on top.
That’s why many people either don’t fully extend their arms on top or do their Planche Push-Ups so fast that they don’t even have to hold the top position.
If you want to improve your Planche Hold, focus on exercises that emphasize the straight arm position instead of wasting energy on a hybrid movement that involves bent arm work.
Triceps Dips
Triceps Dips are overrated for a few reasons.
They’re technically much harder, have a limited range of motion, put a lot of strain on your elbows, and require a lot of triceps strength to do them correctly in the first place.
Better bodyweight alternatives for your triceps are Sphinx Push-Ups, Triceps Extensions, or even Diamond Push-Ups.
Also, keep in mind that regular dips are already a good triceps exercise, even if they also work your chest and delts. Long story short: The benefits of Triceps Dips don’t really outweigh the downsides. But like the other exercises on this list, they’re not totally bad and can be useful in some situations.
Conclusion
Sometimes it’s fun to try new exercises and break out of your regular training routine. But if you have specific goals, make sure to stick to the alternatives we mentioned, so you can get the most out of your workouts.
If you don’t want to waste time and want to progress as fast as possible, check out our workout programs at calimove.com. No matter your level or goal, we’ve got you covered!
Watch the video: 5 OVERRATED EXERCISES YOU SHOULD REPLACE
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