Five exercises I love to hate (a meme)

There’s a meme going round the fitness/training blog world – “Five exercises you love to hate”.

Today is day one: heavy leg session and an interval session*. So, I’m tired. So, a blog post based around a meme sounds like an easy thing to do 😉

(*Then a fantastic leg and glute massage from my friend Jo – thank you so much, Jo! 🙂 )

Truly and honestly, I don’t “hate” any exercise. (I try not to “hate” anything but that’s another discussion). There are, however, some exercises which I kind of dread seeing on my programmes. They’re typically the ones which are best for me – either because they’re the big-hitters, recruiting lots of muscles in one go and leaving me very knackered, or because they work my weaker or less-balanced muscles.

Here are my “Five exercises I love to hate” (and why).

Shoulder press
I don’t know why, maybe it’s simply that it’s pretty hard to press something overhead. But barbell or dumbbell overhead/shoulder presses…hurt. And I always want to stop one or two reps short of my target.

Squat jumps
Ouch! Wide or narrow squat jumps are killer. I know they’re good for me, so I do them, but…really. As part of a “finisher” complex after leg weights, or as part of an interval session, I kind of dread them.

Curtsey lunges
I’m not sure if this is their official name. I mean a lunge where your front leg is slightly across like a curtsey. I like these because I can literally see the good they’re doing for me, but ooooh they hurt. I do these with a weighted Olympic bar and can feel it getting right into my glutes.

Dumbbell flyes
I love doing flyes but “love to hate” them because I think the way they pull on the muscle attachments is so intense and direct (at least, that’s how it feels to me!)

Barbell single leg deadlifts
Did these this morning. Ugh. I do these with a weighted Olympic bar and can really feel every bit of the movement! Great exercise…but tough, and I’ve had enough of them by the end of the final set! And I definitely feel them the next day (or two days later)!

I was going to add burpees to the list but….everyone ‘loves to hate’ those, don’t they? Or just plain hates them! 😉

Which weights exercises, cardio training or specific skills sessions do you “love to hate”? Does that make you do them (more often?), or avoid them?

Five exercises I love to hate (a meme) is a post from The Fit Writer blog.