ATHLEAN-X founder Jeff Cavaliere is taking the guesswork out of making exercise selections. On April 8, 2025, he ranked his best and worst exercises for each body part, taking benefits and safety into consideration.
Jeff Cavaliere is an established strength and conditioning coach. He’s even helped players on the New York Mets baseball team. With a rapidly growing YouTube channel of over 14 million subscribers, his science-backed advice continues to help lifters, regardless of their skill level.
Jeff Cavaliere’s Criteria for Ranking Best & Worst Exercises
First, he laid out his criteria before ranking exercises:
- Providing a Benefit
- Biomechanically Safe
The Worst:
- Lying Hamstring Curl
- Hip Adduction Machine
- Side Lateral Machine
- Preacher Curls
- Chest Fly Machine
Hamstrings
Cavaliere ranked the lying hamstring curl one of the worst due to the lower back issues people often incur from using this machine.
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“Lying hamstring curl, which is probably the most popular. The issue I have with this machine as a physical therapist, I believe it leads to the most low back issues when you perform it because you’re performing it from a hip flex position.”
He also ranked hip adductors as one of his worst.
“We do want to talk about the science of how we’re trying to build muscle when we do these exercises. If anyone is telling you that they are trying to build their glute max, then they are focusing on the wrong exercise,” he shares about hip adductors. “This is actually targeting abduction which is more of a glute medius function.”
Shoulders
He explained why the side lateral machine didn’t live up to his criteria.
“It messes with the biomechanics of the exercise. We’re talking about the fixed hand placement not allowing for external rotation at the shoulder.”
Arms
He also put preacher curls in this group because it puts the bicep in a vulnerable position, which could lead to injury.
“The preacher curl puts your bicep in a very vulnerable position when the pad is angled pretty flat like this because the elbow because the fulcrum and the overload can quickly surpass what you’re capable of lifting.”
Chest
For chest, he explained why the chest fly machine didn’t meet the mark.
“What would I say about a chest fly machine? Well, ironically, it may not be the worst thing that you can do, but it’s definitely not the right thing for everybody,” he explains. “It’s not the worst thing if it fits your body type but it still deserves that red X.”
He provided a list of ‘better’ exercises, but still not the absolute best, which you can find below:
- Shoulder Press
- Pec Dec
- Humbler
- Chest Press
- Reverse Hack Squat
- Leg Extension
Then, revealed his ‘almost best’ category, which included the following movements:
- Functional Trainer (Cable exercises)
- Viking Press
- Seated Cable Row
- Hack Squat
The Best:
- Belt Squat
- Seated Hamstring Curl
- Standing Calf Raise
- Cable Crossover
- Lat Pulldown
- Reverse Hyperextension
- Hip Thrust Machine
He shared that the belt squat is one of his favorite leg exercises.
“The reason for that is that it allows everybody to experience the benefits of the king of all exercises, the squat. With the belt squat, even if you have back issues, you can free yourself from those because you don’t have to deal with the compression you might get from the bar on your back.”
With regard to the hamstrings, he justified why the seated hamstring met his criteria.
“The big difference here as you can imagine is we’re decreasing the involvement of those hip flexors, allowing us to focus on that knee flexion component of the hamstring function without having to have those hip flexors warp our low back.”
He ranked the standing calf raise as his best movement for building the calves.
“It does what it does really good. In other words, if you want to do heavy calf raises, you’re going to have to load up that bar. Rather than performing it with a free-standing rack, this just puts you in the perfect position to do this.”
Cavaliere favors the cable crossover for its versatility and effectiveness.
“What’s nice is you don’t have to do this in the typical horizontal position, if you want to target more of your lower chest then go from a high to low crossover. If you want to target more of your upper chest go from a low to high crossover.”
Then, the fitness expert defended the lat pulldown machine as the best exercise for back development.
“I think it’s the best way to train your back,” he adds.
He shared why back hyperextension also ranked the best.
“If you have access to this hidden gem, by all means you should do it. It certainly belongs in the top of the list here in the best of the best,” he said.
Lastly, he ranked the hip thrust machine as one of his most useful for building the glutes.
“Even if a squat doesn’t provide resistance when that hip is fully extended at the top,” he shared. “It’s really simple, as long as your gym has one, it belongs in the best of the best category.”
From his perfect chest, biceps, and triceps workouts to his deep dive into the benefits of using creatine, Cavaliere is always bringing insightful information to the table, helping others make more informed decisions about fitness and exercise.
Cavaliere believes muscle-building benefits and biomechanical safety are paramount when deciding on exercises. He believes his list of the best movements can provide lifters with the framework needed to build bigger and better physiques.
RELATED: Jeff Cavaliere Discusses If You Can Build Muscle Over the Age of 40 Without TRT
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