Most people stick to the classics: squats, deadlifts, bench, rows. All solid. But if you want to level up your fitness, shake up your routine, and train muscles you’ve been ignoring for years, it’s time to step outside the usual playbook.
These seven unconventional exercises deliver ridiculous bang for your buck — strength, conditioning, muscle, mobility, the lot.
1. Prowler Push
If you want explosive leg power without battering your joints, the prowler is your new best mate. It trains everything, has little to no technique to learn, and offers huge physical benefits. In terms of bang for your buck, it has few rivals.
Why it’s a good exercise:
Develops leg drive and acceleration — ideal for athletes
Builds power without impact, making it great if you’re managing injuries
Can be used for strength, speed, or conditioning, depending on weight and distance
It’s basically the gym version of pushing a broken-down car… but much more fun.
2. Kettlebell Long Cycle
A criminally underrated kettlebell movement that blends strength, stamina, and technique. There are few exercises that will give you a more complete upper body workout in such a simple combination of moves. Tip with this - start light. Leave your ego out of it.
Why it’s good:
Builds huge upper body strength and endurance
Hits shoulders, traps, arms, and lungs at the same time
Simple enough to learn but brutally effective
Brilliant for improving work capacity
Expect to feel muscles you didn’t know existed — and lungs burning in a good way.
3. Stiff-Legged Deadlift
Everyone goes straight for the conventional deadlift, but the stiff-legged version deserves far more attention. Hamstrings are criminally neglected amongst many gym goers, and in athletic populations, this can lead to injury. Stiff-legged deadlifts also train the glutes and lower back as well.
Why it’s good:
Targets the hamstrings and lower back like nothing else
Strengthens the entire posterior chain — crucial for posture and athleticism
Helps improve your conventional deadlift and sprint power
If your hamstrings aren’t on speaking terms with you the next day, you did them right.
4. Manmaker
The name doesn’t lie — this dumbbell combo move is a full-body gut-punch. Whilst there’s a level of complexity involved in this exercise, it’s a really high return on investment. A workout of 100 Manmakers for time would be a great session!
Why it’s good:
Hits almost every muscle group in one fluid sequence
Sky-high conditioning without needing any machines
Great for burning calories and building resilience
Perfect when you want a full workout in minimal time
You’ll question your life decisions halfway through the set — which means it’s working.
5. Farmer’s Walks
Everyone’s heard of them. Almost nobody actually does them. Big mistake. Farmer’s walks build core strength, grip strength, back strength, leg strength, lower back strength and balance. They’re an excellent addition to almost any programme, and they help make you injury-resistant in ways you wouldn’t expect. Overall, a great exercise.
Why it’s good:
Builds incredible grip strength
Develops core stability under load
Improves general conditioning and posture
Highly functional — carries over to sport and everyday life
Pick up heavy weights. Walk. Try not to swear.
6. Hyperextension Holds
Simple, controlled, brutally effective — especially for people who sit all day or suffer with lower back niggles. If you’ve ever tweaked your back, you’ll want to make sure you’re doing what you can to strengthen the lower back muscles. It’ll help prevent injury, and make exercise safer in general.
Why it’s good:
Strengthens the lower back safely
Helps prevent injury by improving posterior-chain endurance
Easy to learn and load progressively
Perfect as part of a warm-up or cool-down
Not glamorous, but massively beneficial.
7. Burpee Pull-Ups
For when your conditioning needs a wake-up call — or you just feel like suffering, these are an amazing duo. Take two tough exercises, burpees and pull-ups, and add them together into a nasty combo. Ideal as a finisher or a way to add extra calorie-burning into a session!
Why it’s good:
Full-body conditioning at its nastiest
Blends strength, power, coordination, and stamina
Forces upper and lower body to work together under fatigue
Brilliant for advanced trainees who want a serious challenge
Approach with respect… and maybe a bucket nearby.
Want to improve your health and fitness? Let the AdMac Fitness Personal Trainers help…
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We help people using tried and tested fitness approaches. Our expert team of personal trainers, based in both Bow and South Woodford can help you get a grip of your health forever. With our guidance and experience, you can relax knowing that your fitness journey is going to be guided by some of the best personal trainers in East London.
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