7 Overrated Bodybuilding Exercises—And What to Do Instead

According to many fitness experts, there are several “must-do” exercises that every lifter needs to build muscle and strength. These movements are often described as compulsory, and not doing them is seen as a mistake that will undermine your bodybuilding progress.

Heck, entire programs have been written around many of these exercises—they’re that popular.

However, as a veteran personal trainer with more than 30 years of experience, I have learned that there is no such thing as an essential exercise, and many of the movements that are considered indispensable are often overhyped.

That’s not to say they’re bad exercises. In fact, some of the movements discussed in this article are awesome. However, they’re not essential, and there are often better exercises for bodybuilding.

Your time and energy are precious, so it makes sense to spend them wisely. That means picking the best exercises for your goals. Like a skillful craftsperson, you must choose the right tool for the job, and sometimes that means ignoring the obvious and choosing something less widely known.

In this article, I discuss seven of the most overrated bodybuilding exercises and provide some more effective alternatives.

7 Overrated Bodybuilding Exercises:

#1: The Barbell Bench Press

Purpose: To build a bigger, stronger, more muscular chest.  

As a former powerlifter, I’ve done more than my fair share of barbell bench pressing. It was the cornerstone of my upper body workouts for many years, and I spent a lot of time and energy improving my performance in this exercise.

However, all that benching taught me one thing—while the bench press is a fantastic strength builder, it’s not the best exercise for sculpting bigger, more muscular pecs.

The bench press can cause numerous shoulder issues, and the range of motion is often quite short, especially if you have a deep chest or short arms. Studies suggest that getting a full stretch at the bottom of your reps optimizes hypertrophy (1).

Better Alternatives:

Dumbbell bench presses are a better chest builder than the barbell variation. They allow for a deeper stretch, and the movement is more shoulder-friendly. Sure, you won’t be able to lift as much weight, but that’s okay—you’re a bodybuilder, not a weightlifter.

Related: Dumbbell Bench Press: Build Chest, Shoulders, and Arms Fast

#2: Barbell Upright Rows

Purpose: To build the deltoids and upper trapezius.

The barbell upright row is a popular exercise. It hits two major muscle groups at once—the upper trapezius and deltoids. When well-developed, these muscles add a lot to your physique, making you look powerful and strong.

Unfortunately, like the bench press, the upright row is another potential shoulder-wrecker. In chats with several physical therapists and orthopedic surgeons, I’ve learned that they’re responsible for more severe bodybuilding shoulder injuries than almost any other exercise.

The main problem with upright rows is that the movement involves simultaneous medial rotation and joint compression, which stresses the rotator cuff muscles. This issue is compounded by lifting heavy weights and can cause impingement syndrome and other debilitating injuries.

Better Alternatives:

It’s generally safer and more effective to train your deltoids and trapezius separately. For example, you can do side lateral raises for your shoulders and dumbbell shrugs for your upper traps. This eliminates the risk of impingement. But, if you must train your traps and delts together, the dumbbell victory raise is a much safer alternative.

#3: The Barbell Back Squat

Purpose: To develop bigger, stronger legs—especially the quadriceps.

I have a love/hate relationship with barbell back squats. On the one hand, they’re one of my favorite powerlifting exercises, and arguably the best way to build strong, powerful legs. However, like a lot of lifters, I have found them less than effective for building muscle.

They’re a very intense exercise—there is no such thing as an easy set of barbell back squats—but the juice is seldom worth the squeeze.

The main issue with barbell back squats is the position of the bar. Resting and holding a weight high on your shoulders creates a very long lever, putting tremendous pressure on your spine. This spinal load can limit your ability to train close to failure, taking focus away from the muscles you actually want to target.

I’m not alone in this opinion—Golden-era bodybuilding coach Vince Gironda also thought squats were best left to weightlifters and avoided by bodybuilders. According to the “Iron Guru,” barbell back squats just make your butt bigger, and do very little for your legs.

Of course, there are exceptions. For example, legendary bodybuilder Tom Platz used squats to build arguably the most muscular legs in the history of the sport. But he’s one of the exceptions, and a lot of top bodybuilders avoid squats and still manage to build massive wheels.

Better Alternatives:

There are several exercises that you can do instead of barbell back squats that load your legs without hammering your spine. Good options include leg presses, front squats, trap bar squats, goblet squats, and Bulgarian split squats. Despite being more back-friendly, these exercises overload your legs allowing you to focus on the muscles you want to build.  

#4: Behind-the-Neck Shoulder Press

Purpose: To build stronger, more muscular shoulders.

The behind-the-neck shoulder press was a staple for many golden-era bodybuilders. They did this exercise hard and heavy with no complaints, building amazing mass and strength without performance-enhancing drugs.

However, those same lifters didn’t spend a lot of time—none, actually—hunched over a keyboard or smartphone. Instead, they sat and stood in good posture, and had much more mobile, healthier shoulders than most modern-day folk.

So, while lifters in the 50s and 60s could press barbells behind their necks without developing shoulder problems, very few of today’s bodybuilders are sufficiently mobile to do this movement without compromising their joints.

Watch an inflexible lifter attempt behind-the-neck presses and you’ll see a whole host of form mistakes, including craning the head forward. This means the bar isn’t even going behind the neck. Rather, it’s their head that’s doing all the moving!

There is no advantage to trying to lower the bar behind your neck during shoulder presses. And rather than being better than other pressing exercises, it increases your risk of severe joint and neck injury. Unless, of course, you have very mobile shoulders.

Better Alternatives:

Seated or standing dumbbell presses are much more joint-friendly than behind-the-neck barbell presses. They let your limbs follow a more natural path while allowing for a larger range of motion, which may help maximize hypertrophy. Plus, lifting two weights instead of one makes it far easier to identify and fix left-to-right strength imbalances.

#5: Barbell Preacher Curls

Purpose: To build bigger, more “peaked” biceps.

Barbell preacher curls were a favorite of bodybuilder Larry Scott, winner of the first-ever Mr. Olympia trophy.

Scott was so synonymous with this exercise that it was often called “Scott curls.” However, it’s unlikely that this exercise is the only reason Larry Scott’s biceps were so massive. And while he definitely enjoyed this exercise, he was clearly blessed with favorable genetics for awesome arms.

With preacher curls, you rest your upper arms on an angled pad. This makes it look like you are praying, which is where the exercise gets its name. While this helps eliminate momentum and cheating—which is good—it means there is a huge amount of stress on your elbows at the bottom of each rep and very little muscle tension at the top.

This makes preacher curls a) a potential source of injury and b) a less effective muscle builder. Most lifters either curl the weight too high, which unloads the biceps, or keep the tension on their muscles by using a short range of motion. Either way, there are safer, more efficient ways to build your biceps.

Better Alternatives:

If you find it hard to avoid cheating during your biceps workouts, try doing curls with your back against a wall. This so-called strict curl eliminates momentum and ensures your biceps are doing all the work. Alternatively, cable and machine preacher curls fix what’s wrong with the conventional barbell version.

#6: Barbell Deadlifts

Purpose: To develop the glutes, hamstrings, and upper and lower back.

Let’s get one thing straight from the start—deadlifts are an incredible strength builder. Working just about every muscle in your body, doing deadlifts will have a huge impact on your functional strength and athletic performance. This is why it’s a must-do exercise for many lifters.

However, for bodybuilders, it’s not as useful as it’s hyped.

The problem with deadlifts is that they spread all the weight you are lifting across many joints and muscles. So, while they’ll make you stronger, they don’t provide the localized muscle tension and metabolic stress necessary for hypertrophy (2).

If deadlifts were a tool, they’d be a sledgehammer. However, building and sculpting muscle often requires a more precise approach, like a fine chisel or a scalpel.

So, yes, deadlifts will make you stronger, but as a bodybuilder, that’s not your priority, and there are more effective ways to target your back, glutes, and hamstrings.

Better Alternatives:

Instead of using deadlifts as a cure-all for building muscle all over your body, a better approach is to target those muscles with direct exercises. So, if you want to build your back, put your energy into lat pulldowns, pull-ups, and rows. Meanwhile, leg curls, hip extensions, and Romanian deadlifts are a better option on leg training days.

#7: Planks

Purpose: To develop the abs and improve core stability.

Planks are often promoted as an essential core and abs exercise. After all, they are straightforward, require no equipment, and yes—you’ll definitely feel them working. Plus, as a static exercise, they’re easy to photograph for your Instagram feed!

However, if your goal is to build a cast-iron midsection or sculpted six-pack, the plank is not your best option.

The problem with planks is that they’re too easy for most exercisers. If you’ve graduated from plank school and can do them for more than a minute or two, they’re not intense enough to build muscle and strength. Sure, you can do longer sets, e.g., 3-5 minutes, but that is not an efficient use of your time and energy.

If you could build a six-pack by holding a plank for time, Pilates and yoga practitioners would all have six-packs. But muscles respond best to movement and resistance, not just duration.

Better Alternatives:

The best way to sculpt the abs of your dreams is with exercises that put your muscles through a full range of motion under load. Weighted crunches, cable crunches, hanging leg raises, and ab rollouts are all more effective for hypertrophy. These moves maximize muscle tension, allow for progression, and challenge your abs in ways that planks can’t.

Related: 14 Best Weighted Abs Exercises and Workouts     

Closing Thoughts

If you enjoy these overrated exercises and they’re delivering results, there’s no reason to stop doing them. But if you’ve been grinding away at these popular movements and your progress has stalled—or you’ve never really seen much payoff—they might be holding you back more than helping you.

Sometimes, building a better physique means breaking away from the pack and rethinking what’s essential. There are smarter, safer, and often more effective ways to train. So don’t be afraid to ditch what’s not working—try the alternatives, see how your body responds, and get the results you deserve.

Ready to level up your training? Replace one of these overrated moves with a better alternative and feel the difference.

References:

1. Warneke K, Lohmann LH, Lima CD, Hollander K, Konrad A, Zech A, Nakamura M, Wirth K, Keiner M, Behm DG. Physiology of Stretch-Mediated Hypertrophy and Strength Increases: A Narrative Review. Sports Med. 2023 Nov;53(11):2055-2075. doi: 10.1007/s40279-023-01898-x. Epub 2023 Aug 9. PMID: 37556026; PMCID: PMC10587333.
2. Schoenfeld BJ. The mechanisms of muscle hypertrophy and their application to resistance training. J Strength Cond Res. 2010 Oct;24(10):2857-72. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0b013e3181e840f3. PMID: 20847704.

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