Select a muscle and it provides the exercises to workout the selected muscle | Hacker News Reader

Select a muscle and it provides the exercises to workout the selected muscle

musclewiki.com

2,019 pointspunkspider329 comments

Thanks OP for sharing my website!

Please be gentle with me. This is a project website that I built out of frustration a few years ago. I know there are things that need improving and a lot of things that could be adjusted. I work full time at Brave Software (brave.com) and simply don't have time to put a ton of effort into MuslceWiki.

I do however have a big backlog of videos to add and I've slowly been working on an app. We have also re-drawn the homepage images and my long term plan is to move away from gifs to webm or MP4.

FWIW, for some reason I was unable to log into my HN account. I made a new one, but the posts seem to be limited. So looks like I'll be replying in the morning.

It's pretty handy!

Out of curiosity, are the people demonstrating friends of yours? It seems like compiling all of that footage would have taken quite some time.

Yes! I've used various friends over the years but now I'm using friends who are professionals working in a gym in LA:

https://www.instagram.com/wilfredofitness/

https://www.instagram.com/krickithodges/

You are right though, it is very time consuming process and sometimes we get it wrong and have to go back and re-film. I have a pretty big backlog to edit and upload. It's a slow going process. Seeing this on HN has motivated me to do some extra work this weekend.

While I go to the gym myself, I pay for a PT and I'm also relatively new in the grand scheme of things to the fitness world. Similarly, I rarely do self directed gym stuff so this site is actually really handy as far as what areas might be handy to focus on and just generally building an index of things to try out so thanks!

Lovely website! One thing I noticed is that https://musclewiki.com/Dumbbells/Male/Hamstrings/ returns nothing. Maybe add some dumbell romanian deadlifts? Great stuff tho :)

Yeah. Dumbbell section was added a few months ago. I have about 150 videos left to edit, upload and write instructions for. All of the dumbbell exercises being about 50 of those videos.

Awesome website! Love the radio button for equipment type, and the demo videos are really great. I also like that the videos play immediately, but also have links to youtube.

Humble suggestion: if you have "slots" where you know you have videos to upload, I wonder if you could say as much rather than show the 404 page. That way, you can simply click through to other "equipment levels" without breaking the sequence.

Thanks for building this! I love that this exists, and want to encourage you to continue.

Like a lot of people working in tech, I've had persistent neck and posture issues for years. I'd love to see you expand to cover those, focusing on the many smaller muscles in the neck like SCM/Scalenes/Occipitals/etc.

Another great area to expand is 'click where you have pain' and it would recommend certain stretches, weights, trigger points, etc. There are common pain referral patterns that most people do not know about and I imagine that would be very helpful for people who don't have easy access to physical therapy or even feel they are candidates for it.

After casually mentioning my neck issues to people over the years, I've found so many people open up about persistent pain they have but that they're not addressing because it hasn't reached a bad enough point. I think that's an ideal audience to target with online resources like musclewiki.

> Like a lot of people working in tech, I've had persistent neck and posture issues for years. I'd love to see you expand to cover those, focusing on the many smaller muscles in the neck like SCM/Scalenes/Occipitals/etc.

I did some things on-and-off for posture (mostly rear delts), but what I did consistently, and think helped the most, was heavy (for me) deadlifts.

I'm curious: how many pullups can you do? I ask because they take a lot of lat strength, and your lats do a lot of work holding up your back.

Unfortunately I'm limited in what I can do overhead due to an old neck injury, so pullups are out. Most upper body stuff causes me pain so I have to be extra careful dialing in the right movements, weight, and reps.

I've heard deadlifts are one of the best exercises, I can't wait to get back to PT and get a personal trainer so I can do those correctly. I doubt I've done enough with lats.

Lateral pulls are basically sitting pullups, and tend to be a lot easier on the neck. They're associated with a big ol' piece of gym equipment, which might be.... tough to get your hands on right now, but definitely look into them.

You're right, though, that deadlifts (performed correctly and safely!) are pretty amazing for your back in general.

> tough to get your hands on right now

If you've got something up high to tie a band to, that's something.

Have you tried archery? My neck and shoulderproblems got a lot better after I started with that.

Doesn't archery normally cause uneven muscle development between right and left side of a body?

Especially for youth yes, but there are exercises for that too.

Another vote for deadlifting here. With a desk based day job and being a keen cyclist my posterior chain muscles were under-developed compared to my quads etc - deadlifting helped strengthen my glutes, hamstrings and lower back significantly and pretty much all of my back pain has gone.

I didn't use a coach, but did study a lot of videos on deadlift form and also videoed myself to check I was doing it properly.

I hear you on this problem. You might consider checking out the articles and videos from https://mskneurology.com/. It's a superb resource.

For real, first thing I did was try and click the neck but it’s unclickable

I came to comment the same as you, I saw it in the traps muscle, it's shown as one, but it is interesting to know that it has 3 parts[1], and there are other exercises more effective for the mid section like face pull. About the "where you have the pain idea" I love it, it would be also cool to learn about the antagonist muscles.

(Disclaimer I'm not an expert). I think a common bad posture in-front of the computer is the one that rotates your shoulders forward which overloads some muscles in the chest, which are antagonist of the middle traps, middle traps get weak, and your back falls forwards, face pull is great exercise to make them stronger. Another common one for those sitting long hours, is the tightness of the psoas, which can cause hip problems, and knee problems if you try to run without stretching, I think the antagonist is the buttocks, that gets weak from sitting and you would need to exercise to correct the hip problems.

Don't trust my comments, I just wanted to put two examples of mechanism that I learned, but I don't have enough knowledge to explain it properly or be 100% sure this is correct, always consult with a pro.

[1] https://www.physio-pedia.com/File:Trapezius_animation.gif

Perhaps also add exercises which do the opposite, i.e. relax a muscle. I'm dealing with bruxism, and find it very difficult to relax my jaw.

A great niche to target would be assistance for people who have a muscle group they don't use because of long-time postural issues or simply never having learned to use it.

For an issue like this, it doesn't work to simply do an exercise that supposedly works the muscle. Even if the muscle is the limiting link in the lift, if your body isn't using it, it won't get stronger. For example, my mid-upper-back was lax because of typical nerd posture. Even though it limited my squat, years of squatting didn't force those muscles to do anything. I just had a really weak squat that relied on other muscles compensating. Then one day I ran across a suggestion to do bat wings and hold at the top for 20-30 seconds, and I became close friends with some muscles in my back that I barely knew existed.

A web site showing you how to discover each muscle or muscle group in your body (bat wings for deep mid-back, glute bridge for glutes, etc.) would be AMAZING, and I bet people would get referred there all the time from places like r/Fitness where people go for advice.

The thing is - there would not be a one-size-fit-all exercise for each muscle group; you would rather need an exercise for each combination of A, B in "muscle A is weak but surrounding muscle B is strong"

I think that there are fewer likely culprits than you might think. Most lifting coaches end up heavily relying on only a few cues per exercise, because there aren't that many common pathologies. So something like this could be useful if couched in the normal "not medical advice" sort of way. Yeah, this might not apply to you, but if you find that you e.g. squat with too much forward lean, here is a small set of exercises to augment your workout that you should try for 6 weeks and see if it helps.

Something like that would seem useful to a lot of lower-mid weightlifters who don't have a real lifting coach.

I'm not sure if the B dimension affects exercise choice. If it does, it could be covered by providing a short list of exercises to try for activating each muscle group A. That way the user doesn't have to figure out which muscle(s) B are compensating, which could be challenging for a lot of people who need this information. In my case, I'm still not sure exactly how my body was compensating for the muscles in my back that weren't being utilized.

Do you really need exercises to target niche muscles ( can understand if you are doing rehab post injury or actually bodybuilding to enter a contest)? Most folks who want to be fit, only need to focus on compound movements ( bench/incline presses, squats, deadlifts, pushups, pullups) which target all muscle groups.

The comment you are replying to explicitly gives an example where compound movements weren't generating results, because of compensation by other muscles. This is the sort of thing a real trainer would provide (but a big-box 'trainer' might well never notice, even if they had you doing compound lifts).

In general I agree that compound movements are the best, but in my personal experience most people have postural weaknesses and habitual movement patterns that they just might not be aware of that even compound movements have a hard time addressing. When you start exercising your body may overcompensate for these weaknesses by recruiting muscles that might be less than ideal for the movement, which can lead to injury (which happened in my case).

For me personally, one of those postural imbalances turned into an injury (shoulder), and I found doing exercises that targeted a very specific muscle (infraspinatus) really helped in my recovery.

I think everyone could benefit from spending some time exploring their body by targeting muscles that may be easy to ignore in larger compound movements, if only for bringing awareness to them (which should benefit the main movements in the long run by making them more efficient).

I agree about posture, see too many people with postural issues, almost makes me want to tell them to go see a physical therapist/personal trainer. Body awareness, I realized is only possible if you have been athletic all your life, for most people that awareness is just not there. Yoga is great - it stresses strength, flexibility and balance. And the complex movements bring attention to those "weak" muscles. I do it once a week with weight training and it has improved my flexibility and kept me injury free.

Absolutely, once you start working on your own postural issues you start noticing it in everyone around you as well. I do think anyone can gain that body awareness though, it's not just for those that have been athletic all their lives. I didn't come to having a physical exercise practice until my early 30s and the amount of internal body awareness I've gained in the past few years has been amazing. It really deepened my seated meditation practice as well.

Yoga definitely is great and I practice asana 5x per week. I will say that my injury came up during an asana class, though, and it wasn't until I really targeted my weak scapular muscle groups that it got better.

I'd wager many of us need rehab despite any apparent injury, but rather due to years of abusing our bodies by sitting still for the majority of our waking hours, and sitting with poor posture. Specific targeted exercises at the start can get people into a condition where the compound movements and other exercises are even feasible (that is, sustainable or less likely to cause injury).

Can you clarify bat wings? Are they sinilar to YTWLs? When I google, all I find are Moms trying to get Michele Obama arms.

Smart people tend to overthink things, i.e. looking for exercises that isolate smaller muscles. If you have neck, back, or posture issues the chances are you will benefit greatly from just lifting weights. Before I started training I had terrible back pains and spontaneous spasms in the neck, which went away within weeks of regular training. Moreover, if I ever miss training for too long the pain returns. Focus on building up the strength to do respectable weight on the main compound lifts. Your body will thank you.

On the other hand, I spent a year ramping up my bicycling, and then went on a 7-day trip spanning 535 miles. I did some serious damage to my knees because while my main cycling muscles had the strength for the trip, some of my stabilizing muscles did not.

I couldn't get back on the bike without knee pain for months. Now I am totally out of shape. I could go to PT, as I was given a referral, but it's expensive, and I prefer self-help resources.

PT may be expensive, but a good therapist is worth it. I abused my body by basically not moving throughout my 20s, and even once I got in shape I was prone to various injuries. The PT got me through a lower back injury, a hip injury, a shoulder injury, and a leg injury. These were not caused (except for the back) by traumas (in the case of the back, trauma exacerbated an existing issue), but mostly by some combination of weak muscles, poor form, poor flexibility, or overuse (overuse for me, a person in even marginally better shape wouldn't have had issues at my activity level). I kept up a lot of the things I did/learned there and, other than the back which will be a perennial issue, have not had any recurrence.

There's a lot of benefit to finding someone that teaches you both what to do and how to do it, and is also better informed and more competent than most fitness trainers. The good ones will also walk you through a basic physiology course so you can understand the why of it all (why did I become injured, why does this prevent or reduce the risk of a future injury).

> There's a lot of benefit to finding someone that teaches you both what to do and how to do it, and is also better informed and more competent than most fitness trainers. The good ones will also walk you through a basic physiology course so you can understand the why of it all (why did I become injured, why does this prevent or reduce the risk of a future injury).

This is a big part of why I have avoided it thus far... I have a hard enough time getting a doctor that I feel like cares about my issues (rather than just getting me out the door as quick as possible) enough to listen and understand. I don't want to spend a bunch of time and money trialing different therapists. I wish there was a resource for this online.

I agree though, if I plan to continue the type of cycling I did last year, it's probably going to become a necessity.

That's a fair concern. I went on word-of-mouth reputation from coworkers (younger with sports injuries; older with age related issues, mostly knees, hips, and shoulders) to select a clinic. My first PT was decent, but not communicative, but I was there long enough to see which PTs were better than the rest and when I had to go back a couple years later was able to select who I wanted.

Cycling is not strength training. Did you do some form of resistance training prior to the trip?

I train regularly (5 days a week), back still hurts.

It is super possible to have imbalances even with regular training. Muscles that are weak will not be engaged during compound lifts unless specifically made to engage, either through isolation exercises, or through awareness. A personal trainer or physical therapist can help with either path.

IMO it goes without saying that any beginner weight lifter should start with a personal trainer such that they learn correct form, etc.

Others likely have covered this, but to add my experience I also had neck/posture issues and pain until I started doing compounds (squats, deadlifts) at least three times a week.

For me, physical therapy did nothing, and I suspect my issue was fundamental in that my musculoskeletal system was underdeveloped and working out was the only way to fix it.

Gravity boots have fixed all of my back/neck/posture problems from sitting at a computer.

Inversion is the key to decompressing the spine/hips/neck and you only need to do it a few times a week for ~10min each time. I go to a local park and hang upside down from a sturdy pull-up bar for 2-4min three times.

You could also do it at home with a pull-up bar, or get even fancier and buy an inversion table for ~$200.

I know I'm sounding like an infomercial here, but it really works.

I like the feature of being able to select what equipment you have available. Lots of us lost access to a gym with COVID and don't have the ability to put a power rack in our abode. A simple concept, but great execution!

PS: Do you know where I can download more RAM for my computer? It's been a bit laggy recently.

You're looking for https://downloadmoreram.com.

Great website and kudos for making it. Noting you have limited spare time feel free to ignore but: I would love to be able to select a collection of exercises and see a visual of which muscle groups I do and don't have covered in the chosen exercises. Perhaps with some suggestions on exercises to cover those that are missing.

A problem I have with the site is I want to keep it EXTREMELY simple.

How do you envision this working, with the current UI/UX?

Yeah, very reasonable question. I suppose a somewhat simple version could be to add exercises to a 'cart' and then change the colour muscle groups on the home page based on cart contents. Would then be pretty easy to click back and forth and colour in the desired groups. If I could then look at my cart when I'm happy I have good coverage that would probably be enough for my needs of 'does my workout plan have any blind spots'.

Maybe support multi-select option by holding Shift or Ctrl key?

Thanks for making this website! It will be very useful to a number of us.

add obliques

Thank you for building the this. I'll make sure to share with my friends. I'm also starting to workout again so this would be helpful.

Great site - I love seeing easy to understand sites related to working out.

One thing to note - the exercises shown for the forearms only target the flexors, and none of them cover the extensors, which must be worked out if you are to have healthy forearms and hands. A common problem if you only work the flexors is golfer's elbow, which I am just recovering from now. for the sake of lifters, climbers, golfers, pitchers, and plenty of others, please include these.

Interesting. I believe there are some exercises listed that work extensors. Reverse curl and wrist extensions: https://musclewiki.com/Exercises/Male/Forearms/2

Perhaps I need to bring one of those to the first page.

"Please be gentle with me."

That guidance wasn't needed, really. It's refreshingly free of trendy design, and straightforward to use. And other things, like the ads not being in the way of the content. I'm sure you've got a list you're working on, but what's there looks great.

One minor suggestion...there are some paths that lead you to a "muscle not found" page, like this: https://musclewiki.com/Barbell/Female/Calves/. Some way of preventing landing there in the first place would probably be more intuitive. Like a popped hint when you hover over a calf if Female/Barbell is pre-selected. Or some semi-transparent overlay to suggest Calves can't be selected, etc.

If OP has lurked HN before, chances are they’ve seen how HN can respond to other sites. Even if it wasn’t necessary, can understand why they might think it was.

And not that all responses aren’t well intended, but they can sometimes come across a bit tough, especially if someone wasn’t looking for feedback.

Apparently they work at Brave. HN likes to tear into Brave whenever it comes up, so I can see how they might have that impression.

Thanks for the suggestion. I actually should have this solved soon. I have a backlog of videos to edit that will populate the missing pages.

+1. This is a highly functional, distraction-free site.

Extra/complimentary suggestion to that: when the mouse cursor hovers over a muscle group further to the 'red patch', have a pop-up small text box with name and brief description of the specific red-ed part. It would be fun/educating for the regular folk (like me, who doesn't know each muscle group and/or their names) to just 'browse' the human body and see the name of that muscle group and what it does.

Edit: on the parts that are not a muscle group (e.g. face, "love-handles", feer/hands, 'throat', etc.) maybe paint them grey so they are visibly distinguishable from the 'muscle groups'. I was veri curious to see if the 'love-handles' region has any use apart storing fat.

There are plenty of muscles there, they just are not shown on the simplified diagram. Transverse abdominus and obliques.

> That guidance wasn't needed

That criticism wasn't needed

It wasn't criticism. It was actually praise. I thought there was enough context there to see that, but perhaps I missed the mark.

Having to enter email to get the results of the fasting guide is unacceptable. It should be illegal to waste people's time like that, and it should be required to say something along the lines of "to get your results, you will need to enter an email address" prior to wasting precious time. I closed the site after.

Quit being dramatic, you "wasted" a few "precious" minutes on a great website that is being shared free of charge.

What fasting guide?

The only tools i see there is Calorie / Macro / One Rep Max calculators along with exercise guides. Did you click on an ad?

Also here is a quick fasting guide: "Eat less." You can word it however you want, you can spread those two words out on a 6 months program and fill-in with a bunch of newage-bullshit but it IS that simple.

We don't have a fasting guide on the site. I think you clicked an ad.

What's up with only having first-party js/css/image resources on your site? /s

that's the future, hopefully.

Just prefer to keep the site with no 3rd party dependancies. If something goes wrong/down I know where to look.

I appreciate it!

This was the first website I have used for a while that I didn't need to adjust my uMatrix to get full functionality.

Do you have a way of donating? I feel bad that ads are being blocked.

I'm curious: what was the reason for splitting out things for men and women?

Answered here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25854942

I don't know. But it could be that a female would be more inspired by seeing a female doing something hard. Whereas seeing a really pumped up dude doing it would be... well this guy is also on something. So I think it is a very good idea.

This is the feedback I've had from a lot of people. My wife being one of them.

Great idea and very useful website! Thank You.

One suggestion: A lot of folks don't go to gym, lack access to exercise equipment etc. It might be worthwhile to have a section on how to work out the specific muscles without any equipment and in minimal space using only bodyweight/calisthenics; eg. Yoga stretches, deep squats, pushups(both Normal and Hindu) etc.

There are tabs for stretching and bodyweight exercises for each muscle.

If you mean like this: https://musclewiki.com/Bodyweight/Male/Forearms/

You can see how there is still equipment required.

Forearms are quite difficult to do without equipment. Unless you include something that could be easily procured at home.

No you can easily do them at home by clasping your hands together and making your arms work against each other. It just isn’t as efficient as compound exercises (e.g. pull-ups that also exercise your back).

Decline push-ups also work on your forearms.

That sounds very inefficient. Here’s something that gets good results quickly. Tie a string/top to a filled 2L bottle. Attach the other end of the rope to the center of a short wooden pole. Wind up the bottle. Wind down the bottle. Repeat ad infinitum. Quick and easy.

Forearms are also one of the main muscles (groups?) targeted by rock climbing. Depending on where you live, you could likely find some boulders with very low traverses, which would require exactly no equipment (though climbing shoes would help immensely)

The inverted rows can be done hanging from a table or desk.

On another note: technically, for forearms you'd want to have your hands facing away from you when doing a chin-up. Hands facing towards you is better for biceps.

doorframes, tree branches?

Wow, this might be the most relevant and genuinely useful website I've come across in a while. I really appreciate the "stretches" option for those of us who don't have access to gym equipment. Thank you.

also check the "Bodyweight" option.

Drop an email to the admins at <hn@ycombinator.com> and they may be able to help, if they haven’t already, since you’re a content creator responding to a post about your own site.

They fixed it for me.

Thanks atoll. Hope you are well <3

More than could possibly be imagined :) Not very good at proactive distance social still, but if you’d like to chat, reach out any time (fox2 can reconnect us, and any of my old details still work too.)

Thank you for this!

Just FYI. Not sure if it's just me, site says it's down.

Error 521 Ray ID: 614ef97bce51190c • 2021-01-21 06:28:20 UTC Web server is down

Should be good now? Spinning up more servers as we speak. HN hug of death :)

Works now thanks. Yup HN hug of death lol. Someone should write about it. The influx of HN users and how they had to scale things up. Etc.

It'd be a useful read for beginners.

Have you considered moving the whole thing to Cloudflare Workers? It would make it hug-of-death proof.

Edit: Your site is awesome, I'm going to start using it.

just wanted you to know that I found your site about a year ago (somehow?) and have always loved it. Nice work!

I like it. I would embrace your humanoid muscle map fully, and try to show it with every exercise with colored in all the muscles you are working on. For example Incline Barbell Bench Press and Barbell Bench Press are both for chests muscles primarily, but work with different muscle groups.

Are you able to share the traffic and revenue this project generates?

Lovely website, thanks a million for making this!

Just a quick bug report: At https://musclewiki.com/Exercises/Male/Traps_middle/ when you want to go next page it directs you https://musclewiki.com/Exercises/Male/Traps%20(mid-back)/2 which causes 404. It should direct to https://musclewiki.com/Exercises/Male/Traps_middle/2 . I assume root cause of this is that you are getting next page link from title.

Wow nice find. I'll fix this soon.

Your design is very clear, I wish more websites were like this, thanks again!

Great site. Such a great idea. Gonna check it out more when I have time. I know everything there is to know about shoulder/rotator cuff muscle exercises due to my shoulder dislocation injuries over the years, so I'll gladly contribute with that if some exercises are missing.

Great stuff you made here. Can't tell you the amount of time I've spent trying to find the right exercises for this/that muscle group

I just wanted to say this looks like a fantastic resource. Thank you so much for developing it.

is this you in the videos?? btw great work, I will be using this in gym for sure.

Hello, I saw you use Google traduction for providing non English support. Please drop the feature. It made non sense for French right off the bat :

> There is far more to the trapezius muscle than meets the eye. The traps are not just the muscle that sits on top of your shoulders.

> Il y a bien plus dans le muscle trapèze qu'il n'y paraît. Les pièges ne sont pas seulement le muscle qui repose sur vos épaules.

You could also use more medical terms all the time since Google autotrad seems to handle them better

Could the best be asking the community for translation proofing ?

It would be nice to add benchmarks to the exercises. E.g. how many push ups in a row (in a specific timespan, at a certain pace) a healthy person is expected to be able to do.

I suspect there is no really useful number to give for most such benchmarks due to the massive variance within "healthy people" an in fact how "healthy" is defined.

Look how many different figures/calculations are banded around for questions like "how many calories do I burn running X distance or Y minutes" for instance.

Could we start off by sourcing numbers from various physical training programs and fitness exams? e.g. policemen, firefighters, the military, professional athletes.

FYI McAfee Web Gateway is flagging it as a parked domain, a lot of corporate users won't be able to access it.

Nice project and I love it for planning my workout. Any plans to monetize it?

Hey w0ts0n, I remember working on the initial version of this :)) Glad to see it's still around!

Great site! I daydreamed about creating a similar site about ten years ago, after I started exercising seriously, but I never went beyond daydreaming. Congratulations on actually doing it.

When I was daydreaming, I thought of demonstrating the exercises with human-like animated figures rather than videos of real people. I had the impression that the well-built, athlete-type people who often appear in exercise videos can discourage beginners and people with body-image issues. I may have been wrong, though. In any case, your videos look good to me now.

your site gonna explode

well done! back to benches

Thank you for building it! I have been using it since last April during lockdown when gyms were closed!

Echoing other comments: this is a great clean site and I’d like to see smaller muscles as well.

But my main comment is why not turn it in to an actual wiki? Maybe even put it on github and let people submit pull requests. With a submitter agreement you’d still be free to make an app and profit, but it might help remove you as the bottleneck

> out of frustration

Seems to be a major driver for small-scale innovation in computing-related fields.

Nice job with this.

Fantastic website! My GF is using it right now at the gym. Just wanted to report a bug; when you click on “more” in the female abdominals, you get a server 500 response. Anyways, really good job and very user friendly.

Thanks for building this. Interestingly simple and Amazingly useful. Never found a user intuitive way to access muscle group and find stretches. Please don't change the home page.

Pretty slick well done!

Two points of feedback in case it helps:

I'm recovering from a hand injury and doing grip exercises to strengthen the forearm muscles responsible for finger movement - when I clicked forearm it listed wrist exercises rather than grip strength. Maybe clicking the hands can lead to grip strength exercises?

Since the purpose seems for workouts rather than rehab work, I wanted to check if it had rotator cuff exercises similar to this:

https://fdlc.com.au/sites/default/files/imce/Strengthening%2...

But the shoulder blades aren't clickable.

to second this, I have a recurring shoulder tendonitis from weak scapular mobility so I would also hope to find similar exercises. The site is a great concept though!

Third this, re: rotator cuff rehab being a likely necessity, as with detailed hand exercises for typists. :)

This is really, really awesome. Well done. There are sooo many things you could do with this idea. I could totally see this becoming a huge thing, keep working on it!

If you're looking to move away from videos entirely, it would be really cool to see the models in 3D, and then when you select a muscle, the 3D figure animates and shows you the exercises. Then the videos could be supplemental. That would be so neat lol.

What is it with Brave staffers and workout websites?

https://random.training/ (from @bcrypt!)

Your website is a great resource and fantastic!I've been using it for a year!! I was looking to replace all the movements I did in the gym but at home with kettlebells ( after covid, I lost access to the gym).

You made a great thing. It's so simple and effective.

I've read a handful of workout plans, considered hiring personal trainers, and sifted through YouTube videos without ever being able to establish a good workout routine. This is EXACTLY what I needed.

Thanks for creating this.

Just an idea for the photomarking to add a small white border around the logo so the site of origin is more clear

Very appreciative of the site. thank you :). reminds me of exrx.net but much easier to navigate

ExRx is much more extensive, it covers nutrition, pharmacology, etc.

Thank you for creating this. Due to lack of access to my gym, I am moving exclusively to kettlebell routines at home. It’s new to me and this is very helpful.

Only category missing is yoga.

It's in my favorites. Great resource, thanks!

what about opensourcing the project and let people contribute it will help growing the wiki :)

Echoing the much-deserved praise you've received here, this is very nicely done. It embodies everything that's right with the web, and none of what isn't.

One small request: a persistent dark mode toggle would be a nice addition.

Well done site. I have a little mixed feelings about the target audience. Working out for many years (gym and calisthenics) I know a lot of exercises. Beginners might be tempted to approach their fitness by asking that question:

what muscle I want to grow today?

That is not the way to go. If you start out or especially during a pandemic where you need to work with everything you can get go for composite exercises that hit more muscles and are the opposite of isolation exercises you might be tempted to choose from a page like this. Beginners: full body workouts. Advanced: 2 to 3 day split. Expert: you know your drill. and will do whatever works for you.

So who should be using this site? Beginners and advanced should use a plan that is preconfigured. Pros know what exercises they want to configure into their routines.

Don’t get me wrong: It’s nice to have for reference but do yourself a favor and use some preconfigured workouts if you’re starting out.

You won’t get a sixpack by only working out abs. Train your whole body and reduce body fat. That’s the way to go.

Can you share a good resource for beginners to find some pre-configured plans? Thanks!

Take a look at some of the recommended routines from thefitness.wiki https://thefitness.wiki/routines/ .. it's the wiki from sidebar of r/fitness, which is also a great place to hangout incase you have questions

I liked “You are your own gym” by Mark Lauren when I started out with body weight training back around 2010. There is a companion app that is free and still updated called Bodyweight Training by Mark Lauren. There are many offerings around this area. Try a few out and let us know what works for you :)

I got convinced by and fell in love with the r/bodyweightlifting Recommended Routine - I now advertise it left and right, for a quick link see: https://tinyurl.com/bodyweightrr I found it soothing and empowering how they calmly yet persistently insist on starting small and not overworking yourself, and explain a lot with science. They describe how to scale the exercises depending on your fitness level (or lack thereof), they also list amazingly many ways how to do exercises with minimal or no equipment (I started with only a door bar, though even that can be worked around if really needed; some year later I decided to add gymnastic rings to that, and I don't expect to need more for long time, if ever).

+1 For the RR

I actually almost immediately modified it because I have dumbbells and lack a pull up bar at home, but even so it was very helpful for figuring out what a proper workout is supposed to feel like and look like.

I thought I was missing out on a community! But I assume you mean /r/bodyweightfitness? I am also a big fan, but I moved on from it and do my own programming based on reading Overcoming Gravity (2ed) - fantastic book if you want to get into the nitty gritty on body-weight programming.

/r/bodyweightfitness have just started rolling out a new series of plans to replace the RR. So if you haven't popped by in a while it's worth a look.

The one thing that always bugged me about the RR was the videos were just a random mismatch and some weren't even the bodyweight variant - they just told you to ignore the barbell or whatever. It's a bit of work to film and edit but there are a finite number of exercises in the RR so I always felt it made sense to make a consistent set for people to reference.

That is one thing I really like about this website - the demonstrations are clear and consistent with what is being described. .

I don't know if Overcoming Gravity was named with this in mind but I've always loved its title: what is it that always keeps you down in life? Do something about it!

Uhhh, I wrote the subreddit name from memory, sorry for getting it wrong :/

As to the RR, I just recently internalized the last new RR, and you say they are gonna roll out a new one again? Huh I wonder why they change it so often o_O

edit: Hmm, IIUC this seems to be some "Primer Routine", so I assume this to be something new, and given the different name, probably not obsoleting the RR, no?

The usual advice is to do Starting Strength (little bit more technical, is a book) or StrongLifts. (little easier, is a website)

Both are focused on barbell compound lifts. There are many many strong opinions on what type of weight is best in what schedule, with many persuasive arguments backing them up. This is because you will get stronger and gain muscle mass if you eat at a surplus and do basically anything involving picking up a weight.

Meat doesn't actually care about the routine! Your triceps can't tell if you did six reps or seven. Just doing some kind of heavy lift is enough.

> Meat doesn't actually care about the routine! Your triceps can't tell if you did six reps or seven. Just doing some kind of heavy lift is enough.

Kind of... the most important thing for any beginner is to just start doing something; but, there are a lot of nuance on maximizing muscle growth that do mean different reps / weight ranges do make a difference. A couple of reps difference either side are going to make little difference but when you have drastically different ranges like 5 to 20 or something then you start training your body for different things.

Stick to low reps and high weight and keep progressively overloading and you will be good to go! As you said - for beginners something like SS or SL are great for starting with core lifts and give you a solid program to kick off from.

This. You probably don't need to focus on specific muscles unless you're a bodybuilder (in which case you should already know what you're doing.)

Bodyweight exercise at the park or backyard while listening to your favorite podcast or audiobook. That way you focus on developing a habit without complicating it with gyms, weights, and "plans".

Compounds lifts. Often people get confused about what program to use or how to optimize. If you're just getting started - anything will work. Make going to the gym a routine and the rest will follow. You can ignore the noise (much like programming! You could get lost in learning some niche flavor-of-the-month framework and never build anything).

Do squats, bench, ohp, and deadlift. You'll grow.

The /fit/ sticky is actually a pretty good overview: http://liamrosen.com/fitness.html

/fit/ is a crap board most of the time, but sometimes golden nuggets of information crop up. That sticky is one such gold nugget (permanently pinned to the top)

Agreed, most boards there are a total cesspit. However the stickies and the wikis often have good information (installgentoo.com for instance).

Popular beginner, intermediate and advanced barbell routines are typically structured around the concept of Main lifts (most often: Squat, Bench Press, Deadlift and Overhead Press) and accessory lifts. (I'm not trying to explain this to you, an experienced lifter, but to others reading this post with less experience)

The program typically tells you how to structure and progression of the main lifts, e.g. when, how many sets, the rules of increasing/decreasing the weight etc.. However, many of those programs give the user freedom in choosing their accessory exercises according to some rules. Example: Do your main lifts, then perform x sets, y reps of an accessory lift targeting $muscle_group. The plan will typically make some recommendations for accessory exercises to choose from, of course, but the emphasis most often lies on the fact that they can be changed. The modification and individualisation is built into the routine. Popular examples for this style of programming in beginner/intermediate plans are 5/3/1 variants or Greg Nuckols' programs.

So in short, I don't agree with a site like this in general lacking a target audience, I would consider myself advanced (~7 years of continuous strength training) and I still look up exercises from time to time nonetheless for multiple reasons, and I don't hold encyclopedic knowledge of every exercise for every muscle group. I agree that it is bad advice for a beginner to go to such a site and just pick exercises "at random", but as far as I can see that isn't how the site advertises itself.

This [1] was posted two days ago on HN, but didn't get visibility but is great to explain HN beginners how they should lift

[1] https://www.julian.com/guide/muscle/intro

Relevant thread https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12618223

So I like to work out and I use some app which tells me how much % of what muscle I have worked out, also my personal trained told me to vary things up. I could use this website, to understand better on how to train my weakest muscle or how to add variance to my already made plan if I'm plateauing somewhere or some of my muscles are behind.

IMO, the easiest way to get a full body workout is alternating rowing with push-ups. Rowing alone works almost everything, plus cardio and push-ups largely gets the rest.

Great advice. There are more complex variations of this (essentially, the reddit "bodyweightfitness" recommended routine mentioned in other threads) but these two basic motions are really the meat of it all.

If you just want to get started, this "one weird trick" of doing body weight rows and push ups really will work. Both exercises have numerous variations to increase load, as well. Then you can use something like the OP's site to find other body weight exercises to sprinkle in.

Surprised that EXRX exercise database[1] has not been mentioned as a page with similar goals. They have been around since 1999, and the site is a gold mine for everything exercise related

Darebee video library is good as well [2], and the site contains a lot of useful material. And the visual design is really good.

[1] https://exrx.net/Lists/WtMale

[2] https://darebee.com/video.html

EXRX is a true gem. Not only do they have a super comprehensive database of exercises and muscles, but they also have some good research and explanations on there.

Also, you can get a license to use their database on your platform.

Thank you for these wonderful resources. I had no clue.

Couple quotes for those that don't enjoy spending hours in the gym:

> “You do not need to do many different exercises to get strong - you need to get strong on a very few important exercises, movements that train the whole body as a system, not as a collection of separate body parts. The problem with the programs advocated by all the national exercise organizations is that they fail to recognize this basic principle: the body best adapts as a whole organism to stress applied to the whole organism. The more stress that can be applied to as much of the body at one time as possible, the more effective and productive the adaptation will be.”

> “There is simply no other exercise, and certainly no machine, that produces the level of central nervous system activity, improved balance and coordination, skeletal loading and bone density enhancement, muscular stimulation and growth, connective tissue stress and strength, psychological demand and toughness, and overall systemic conditioning than the correctly performed full squat.”

― Mark Rippetoe, Starting Strength: Basic Barbell Training

Praise be to Rip

I think that those "silly" annoying small exercises targeting different muscle groups definitely have a role in later allowing you to perform more complex moves without injury. I hate them, but since my back is a bit deformed since birth I have no choice and I suggest others talk to a physio before breaking their backs, pelvises or whatever. I have seen multiple people messing themselves up because their bodies weren't properly "prepared" for those exercises. I guess what I'm saying is there are no shortcuts. Hard work, time and diligence.

I get what you're saying (and I'm a low-key fan of Rippetoe, if not quite a disciple), but if you dig into this guy’s project, you’ll see that most of the results are "systematic basics" — bench press, dips, the almighty squat — and not spot training.

Yes follow the Rippletoe routine and get big legs and tiny upper body, this is exactly what every guy who enters the gym is looking for.

I don't know why I always see strength focused routines being promoted when probably 95% of dudes who start working out do so because they want to be ripped.

Do a push/pull/legs routine (I like https://www.themuscleprogram.com/push-pull-legs-workout/ but I do deadlifts on pull day instead of legs day) and eat a massive amount of healthy food (protein, fruits/veggies, good carbs) til you build up that muscle, then do something like intermittent fasting/caloric deficit to drop the fat once you've put on the muscle.

Or go the Rippetoe route and wonder why the dude at the gym next to you is getting more swole even though you're picking up more weight. Your choice!

Lately I've been following a lot of YouTube fitness trainers (mostly Greg Doucette, who's quite a character but has good advice, but also Sean Nalewanyj, Scott Herman and others).

The consensus seems to be that it's not important, and probably a mistake, to eat a massive amount of food - you don't really need to be in a caloric surplus to put on muscle, though it does make it easier. But then you end up with a lot of weight you need to lose, which is not fun.

And besides, for most guys, I think losing weight is actually more important than gaining muscle if trying to look better. Obviously this depends on the person, but being at a low body fat percentage with a regular-ish amount of muscle is a look that's closer to what most people find appealing, as opposed to being heavier but with more muscle (and probably as opposed to having too much muscle, which is also a negative for most people).

Do people on SS get particularly narrow upper bodies? It's not very obvious from SS presenters, videos, etc. With alternated bench press and overhead press, are there groups of muscles that it misses completely?

https://exrx.net/ is another amazing exercise "database" which I've used for a long time!

And it already has such an exercise body map: https://exrx.net/Lists/WtMale / https://exrx.net/Lists/WtFemale

I've been referencing that site for years. It's an amazing resource.

Is there any way to select the core "pelvic floor" muscles (or whatever their technical name is)?

Beyond anything to do with incontinence, my understanding is that they are intimately involved with back pain and are one of the most important muscle groups to strengthen, as flexing them (or not) influences the position of most other parts of the body. (When people say "walk tall", what they really mean is "turn your pelvic floor muscles on".)

Maybe it's just assumed that you must use your pelvic floor / core to do any exercise with good form?

Not specifically for pelvic floor. However, I think you work the pelvic floor with most glute based exercises.

Things like glute bridge, hip thrusts and of course deadlifts.

Look up for hollow body hold, there are a lot of variation depending of your level.

Yeah if there was one major improvement to that page I would suggest, it would be to add smaller muscles; you mentioned pelvic floor, I've heard about things like the rotator cuff (big source of injury!), etc etc.

Mind you, that's probably entering into the realm of physical therapy as opposed to fitness / weight lifting.

By definition, "good form" would include pelvic floor and core activation for squats and deadlifts. However, you can get pretty far with those lifts without efficiently activating those muscles. Physical therapy or Pilates type exercises can be necessary to develop the ability to activate them properly, but these kinds of exercises aren't usually included in this kind of database, and can be much more particular about technique, or be part of a sequence or group of complementary exercises.

Low bar squats allegedly do wonders. I believe there's a lot of dialogue in fitness circles from the perspective of postpartum muscle rehab already.

Isolating specific muscles can be useful in limited circumstances. But most of us will get better health and fitness results with compound functional movements that engage multiple muscle groups.

Have you... looked at the site? I clicked "Quads" and was immediately shown a video about squats.

I can't think of an exercise that is more representative of "compound functional movements" than a back squat.

The exercises featured are actually good.

The problem with all of these exercise sites is that people have different weaknesses, need specific programming and learning how to do complex movements from watching videos is suspect at best.

most people don't have different weaknesses or special needs. in order to have a pronounced weak point, you need to have strong points, and untrained people aren't strong.

highly individualized beginner training is like making minor corrections to a lump of clay. you don't even have a sculpture yet - there's nothing to correct.

People have muscle imbalances just from bad posture, sitting too much, and exercising with poor form (if they do exercise). Not to mention overall inflexibility that again lends to bad form.

Watching videos and doing general exercises will not address these issues. They may actually make them worse.

This is as much nonsense as the people saying to check with your doctor before doing literally anything in life.

People with bad posture and weak bodies just need one thing: start exercising today. Start with weak weights / body weight. Ignore the hand wringing online unless you're 70+.

I certainly have no personal investment in some folks who are complete novices at exercise to spin their wheels for another few years or decades. The point is, hiring a trainer for 5-10 sessions to teach people how to address their specific deficits and to teach them how to train will pay immense dividends.

again: how will someone have a muscle imbalance if they don't even have much muscle to begin with?

I answered your question. Are you a specialist in the field? I have done extensive physical therapy and rehab, this is what they taught me.

> Are you a specialist in the field?

yes, I have huge quads. what are your credentials?

I already mentioned them. I have worked extensively with both trainers and physical therapists.

I really wonder how many people are so quick to give advice on things they have no real world experience dealing with.

TIL on HN: doing a little bit of physical activity will make you deformed.

That's not what I said. I thought trolling was frowned upon on HN.

> Watching videos and doing general exercises ... may actually make them worse.

That’s what you said, and I stand by my paraphrased assessment. Essentially watching a workout tape is bad for you is what you said whether that is what was intended.

If you do not know what you are doing and exercising with bad form, especially weight training, you will either a) get no where or b) injure yourself.

a) if you are not making progress. b) if you are.

This isn't a controversial statement. I'd love to know how many snark responses are coming from people who actually have experience training.

Seems to be this modern disease of the internet era where everyone assumes they know everything just by reading about it on their computers, with no respect given to actual experience doing the work.

This here is the quality “well actually” comments I come to HN to read. /s

You are right of course in that exercising just a single muscle and neglecting the rest isn’t ideal. But as one of the trainers I’ve worked with told me, first you work on large muscle groups with free weights which has the benefit of exercising small stabilizer muscles as well, but then you if you want to take it further you will need to exercise more specific muscle groups or even individual muscles.

Also as others pointed out, this website seems full of exercises that target large muscle groups. I actually struggled to find a more targeted exercise for a couple of specific muscles I am interested in exercising, which isn’t to say the site isn’t useful to me, just that I need to do more research.

Your statement is correct. But, after poking around the site, none of the exercises demonstrated ‘isolate’ specific muscles. They are all free weight and body weight moves.

These moves will never isolate specific muscles, and do precisely what you suggest. They work many groups, and smaller stabilization muscles at the same time.

The only way you can really isolate specific muscles is to use static machines. Still better than not working out, but not optimal.

So fear not, these are all great moves to learn! Just be careful to take it slow, and practice good technique. Not worth getting injured from being careless.

This seems to be more of, pick muscle I want to improve, and learn a few moves that involve those muscles. As you would expect, a lot of moves apply to multiple muscles.

Edit: I found a few machine workouts on there, mostly leg stuff. The large majority are free weight moves though.

Yes, you say the same thing everyone else said before looking at the site!

I'd point out that the site also lets you target areas for stretches, which for me is awesome.

Citation needed.

Isolation work is great for people with injuries and imbalances and requires less coordination and skill than compound "functional" movements.

There is a time and place for both, and you should let a professional recommend which is best.

You can't just throw 5x5/starting strength/stronglifts at everyone.

180 comments and not a single one that mentions proper diet and calories intake balance along with needed amount of proteins to build these muscles ... that does not promise good results not matter how many hours you will spend making these exercises ...

Also 7-8 hours of good quality sleep is needed every day for regeneration.

Of course if you currently do nothing at all and will start doing these then you will grow 'some' muscles but forget about looking like the ones on Men's Health cover ...

It would be great if this MuscleWiki will also include a calculator/generator for current age/weight a diet that will help build and sustain these muscles :)

Reminds me a bit of this older site's https://exrx.net/Lists/Directory . That was a great place to use as reference when planning your exercises. This site had a whole lot more other information too. It's good to see competition.

This is incredible. I’m so tired of shitty nutrition and fitness websites full of bros trynna sell me shit, total BS and unproven stuff and half baked truths. Along with the Audiophile industry, fitness and nutrition are the biggest and worst ecosystem of companies out there.

Doesn't seem to do anything when you select the hands. For those of us stuck to a computer most of the day I would think that hand and wrist exercises would be critical.

Actually I think things to do with sitting long periods of time are the biggest issue for us computer workers.

Things with posture, the neck and spine, shoulders rounding forward, glute weakness, etc.

I’d think the best thing for those small overused muscles would be rest. Especially the wrist which I believe is not a muscle.

Rock climbing fixed my hand pain so I’m not so sure that rest is always best.

Yea, i'm a believe that exercise is the answer to most problems. Especially in the desk environment. The challenge for me has been introducing exercise when a problem is present. As the increased stress seems problematic in my experience.

Going off the rock climbing theme: getting better at bouldering (or any other style, really) requires strengthening the muscles in your fingers. It would really be handy to have some exercises linked here for improving those muscles' firepower.

Those are tendons in fingers that respond to hypertrophy for climbing, or more specifically the tendon collagen, not muscles. But that's only one strength component of climbing, probably more so for bouldering specifically, but hand grip endurance and power also require forearm strength as well. I am not sure if that would be helpful for sitting in front of a computer.

I returned to climbing after a long hiatus, and my issues with discomfort and kinks in my back while sitting for long periods sorted themselves out in a couple weeks.

I don't climb much these days (but I used to enjoy a spot of overhang crack climbing), but I've always been under the impression that there aren't muscles in the fingers. I just double-checked, and there are some muscles in the fingers... but it looks like they're only good for opening the hand. Are kids these days using some esoteric hand-splaying moves I don't know about, or do you mean the muscles in your forearms?

I was thinking of the finger muscles themselves--if you're trying to do a static move on a crimpy hold, finger strength really helps.

There are tons of resources for climbing specific training. Here's a good primer on finger strength training:

https://www.trainingbeta.com/comparing-hangboard-protocols/

https://chestofbooks.com/health/anatomy/Human-Body-Construct...

https://blog.codinghorror.com/programming-your-hands/

https://selfcare.tech/

Select forearms.

Deadlifts & farmer carries - both have been incredible for my hands

Buy a wrist roller and a few 5lb plates.

At first I upvoted this site because I was impressed by the concept.

But then I thought about it a bit more... and I have to say that it's not really a good piece of information for beginners. When I saw that under the "shoulders" section the Overhead Press was never mentioned, I was stunned! And the deadlift form [1] is wrong. Your head shouldn't be looking straight forward, you should be looking at a slight angle down to the floor in order to keep your spine in better form. [2]

For one, beginners should begin with routines revolving around the main 4 lifts (Overhead press, Bench press, Squat, Deadlift). They should not begin by doing a fuckarounditis (yes it's a real term that's used) routine they make themselves by thinking "what muscle do I want to grow today?".

Secondly, beginners need to understand the importance of sleep, diet and protein intake. These are vital factors that aren't immediately addressed by this website.

There's already lots of good advice here about how to get into weightlifting (/r/fitness, /fit/ sticky, Starting Strength, etc.). I highly recommend you buy the book Starting Strength and read it cover to cover. It goes into detail about everything.

[1]: https://musclewiki.com/Exercises/Male/Lowerback/#Deadlift

[2]: https://startingstrength.com/training/looking-up-in-the-dead...

I am having flashbacks to all of the “muscles I didn’t know I had” experiences in tai chi class that turned out to be actual muscles and not figures of speech.

For this audience you might do us a service by looking at muscle diagrams used by PTs rather than gym rats. Particularly for the hips and calves, but the abdominals and spinal muscles are myriad, and addressing back problems involves addressing them.

ExRx.net has better information and more of it.

https://exrx.net/Lists/Directory

Also, OP, the squat is not a major driver of hamstring hypertrophy.

The addition of band work would be great; most homes have spots where they could be anchored and it's a smaller outlay in both money and space.

That's on my hit list next.

This is pretty cool, but missing the ever crucial tibialis anterior muscle!

Another similar website is: https://exrx.net/Lists/Directory

This is fantastic! I often workout specific muscle groups and cycle through different exercises to target each, so this tool very nicely aligns with that. The videos are a great touch to help me make sure I have proper form. And overall seems to entirely avoid "broscience."

One feature request: list what complementary muscles each exercise targets (e.g. list "triceps" when displaying dips as a chest exercise). This would help me plan my workout when targeting multiple muscle groups, like a chest/tri or back/bi day.

Not as charming and comprehensive as exrx but pretty decent complication to send to newbies.

Would be interesting to be able to select multiple body parts by order of importance and then filtering relevant exercises. Useful for finding compound bang for buck movements. That said, really all the useful variations most people needs fit on a business card. Once you're at the point of picking specific isolation movements, it's useful to have all the extra info like on exrx to really understand what is being targetted.

Thanks - hadn't heard of exrx before... It seems to contain a lot of useful info.

I thought I was missing a stylesheet though. I appreciate simplicity (like OPs website) but exrx was bare bones enough in the layout department to be a bit tedious to use.

This is a great website... favourited.

I think tech workers (office workers in general) definitely should be exercising more and increasing strength, but it is so easy to do so in an inefficient or dangerous way. Targeting a single muscle group, or set of muscles on their own can cause body imbalances that lead to injuries.

I've blogged mostly about tech for 10 years now, but the last 1.5 years I decided to go off tangent to write about fitness. My goal was to help anyone with limited time who wanted to get fit, providing them a concrete, manageable set of lessons that would help guide them to doing so sensibly, and enable long term (lifelong) beneficial changes. You can read the full blog post series here https://lifebeyondfife.com/fitness, which I've since compiled into an ebook https://www.amazon.co.uk/Route-Fitness-Before-Setting-Foot-e...

Looks great.

https://exrx.net/Lists/Directory is also amazing.

Why do they distinguish between genders? Pretty sure curls are going to work the biceps if you are a male or female.

My guess is to be inclusive to both genders. Showing only a guy's body would be implicitly biased.

but wouldn't the be better to have videos of men and women for the same exercise, without separating the same muscle/exercise for men/women?

Yea, it's a bit odd. There are only a handful of gender-specific exercises in the directory[0], but that seems to be down to having a video for it.

[0]https://musclewiki.com/Directory

Yeah, I actually have a big backlog of videos to edit.

When I first made the site, my wife asked me if I had videos of women doing the exercises. So I added them. Simple as that.

It's probably a losing battle.

I shared the same thought as the OP and went clicking around to see if there were differences in the suggested exercises based on sex. If you intermix the videos you're going to have people wondering if the exercises demonstrated by a specific sex are recommended for that sex.

To put things in perspective, I think the fact that the muscle models had hair and the male was pigeon toed from behind bothered me more than anything else.

I've found this website a while ago - it is a good one. And i do work out a lot, with plenty equipment / in different scenarios. I like to get some new inspiration every once in a while. It's important to not get stuck with your 'favourite' exercise movements.

Aww, I wanted to find about that little shin muscle that makes the quads and hamstrings looked balanced in comparison, and which is absolutely needed for the base drum and hardly remarked upon for anything else, but it didn't show up.

That exercise you are looking for is called "Make a Chris Adler cover" but if you don't have a bass drum nearby you should:

Find something elevated to stand on. Like a box or a street curb. Stand on the "front palms" of your foot and lower/raise yourself so your heels go as far down they can, and up! Im not sure what they are called, but i will refer to them as chris adler squats.

Do you mean the tibialis anterior? the shin muscle on the front of the shin? I'm not sure how it balances quads and hamstrings, but anyway best way to train that is to sit on a bench, put a weight plate on the foot and lift the plate.

What's the data source for this?

I've used exrx for ages, but I've become increasingly frustrated over lack of exercises that have been developed since it came out (like landmine exercises) or form suggestions that are out of date.

You're out of your mind if you think exrx has form suggestions that are "out of date". I can understand the lack of exercises, even though they continuously update their exercise database.

Exrx is bar none the best one stop ship for fitness, nutrition, and athletic performance out there. The only reason it hasn't exploded in popularity is because the site looks straight out of the 90s

This is really cool, looks good, and I love the idea. I understand the amount of time required in adding quality content, but as somehow who is more into training, those are the features I think will take it to the next level: 1. breaking down muscle groups or at least adding information for the videos of what exactly it's working on (especially for posterior/medial/anterior deltoids, abs breakdown). 2. Adding muscles - especially obliques, maybe also serratus. 3. Adding info for videos which other muscles it targets, dos and don'ts, and optional progressions/regressions.

This is a lovely set of videos, thank you very much!

I'm missing some facilities for "orthogonal" searches. For example, I want to see all the beginner dumbbell exercises on the same page, or all the advanced stretches, etc.

Btw, just tried the "nordic hamstring curl" which was new for me... never thought calisthenics could be so scary!

EDIT: I have one question: why are female/male videos separate? We all have the same muscles and can do the same exercises, can't we? It would be slightly more "inclusive" if you could select different models without necessarily specifying their sex.

I like that the website is very user friendly and has a good flow of information that is easy and quick to digest.

One thing I would suggest is adding citations and sources for the information given. Perhaps tucked away at the bottom or have it hidden until some event trigger. I'm extremely hesitant of believe information at face value.

For sources, I would recommend scholarly articles and research published in peer-reviewed journals, since the people who care enough to check the sources will probably also want them to have academic standards and not just be a random blog post or news article.

Great website!

Quick suggestion o biceps: all exercises there are upright, and have a horrible resistance curve - they provide almost no effort at the top of the movement. Try maybe seated dumbbell curls (leaning 45 degrees towards the back). Also cable curls, leaning slightly forward, with a low pulley.

For triceps, the overhead triceps extension (again with a low pulley) is a great exercise, very underrated - and one of the very few that works all three heads of the muscle.

For chest, cable flies also offer a very good resistance curve.

This one is cool too: https://homegym-exercises.com/

There's plenty of exercises there.

Wow that's really good. Nice job!

This is something I was thinking about doing a few years ago. The serious fitness space is dying to be taken away from TNation and other operators that are basically still at forum or webcam + chat levels of tech adoption.

Something like Starting Strength with this level of tech production starts to look like a really powerful fitness tool. I think that's why TrainHeroic is doing pretty well as an app (and now your contribution!)

Great job.

Pretty cool.

Just launched our beta version of https://impossiblefitness.com/exercises after getting a bunch of requests like this.

I think this type of thing is super useful and very underrated.

Next step for us is building out the training programs so people have specific training methods for whatever their goals are.

Good luck with all this!

Nice website!

I'd really like something reverse: select an exercise (running, cycling, etc) and show on a picture which muscles that exercise works.

DON'T FORGET WARM-UP Advice from a fool who skipped warmup and now it's been three days and i still cant move my legs.

Feature suggestion: stretchwiki its very hard finding simple stretches I like your ui and clickable pictures

I’d recommend the movr app :)

You can click the stretch option at the top.

It's a great start, but lacks important detail about the particular muscles in each group and what is worked by what exercise. For example, there's some explanation that the rear delt head is important, but then it's left to the reader to figure out how to target them.

Thanks OP for building this! looks really great

Could you add a back button to bring me back to the muscle body diagram. Once I'm a few clicks into a muscle group and then equipment type, I can't easily back out to the main diagram again. I had to resort to clicking the homepage

Missing functionality: send the user to a lmgtfy search for books when the user clicks on the head

Nice site. I prefer your body visualization over the Exrx.net implementation (https://exrx.net/Lists/WtMale).

This is such a great resource! I've started working out ... working out how to get fit! Lol. And it's a minefield but the way I can select which muscles I want to start with is a massive help.

It's missing a lot of muscles! It'd be great to see some exercises for smaller muscle groups like the rotator cuff. Super important for really pushing the big muscles.

I really love the concept but I would like to say Chest Flys are not beginner (I've just looked at chest for Males) - 60-80% of beginners in a gym will get that wrong.

Agree. 8 Dumbbell Fly Mistakes and How to Fix Them:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dKBS61BX24

What’s the immediate area below the abdomen called? I tried clicking on that and nothing came up.

Also, this is not the correct platform but how can I get a tapering V shape around my torso?

I believe that is still your abdomen. Just the lower part. You would get that v-shape by first gaining muscle and then reducing body fat.

Thanks :)

This is super cool. Thanks to the OP for making it.

I can see how every page can be turned into (probably already is) a keyword/SEO landing page. All the best with Muscle Wiki!

OP didn't make this. This is my site. But thanks. No SEO tricks. I just wanted to make the site.

dude i made an account just to say thanks for making this. I think we used to use the same endian website many years ago, i recognise your username (im exe). If you need help maintaining/coding/design/hosting please let me know and I'll dm you on the musclewiki social media accounts. I also suggest putting up a donation link. Also, any chance of oblique exercises or am I just misusing the site?

This is great! Precisely something I was looking for. Bonus! No ads or random lengthy articles, or an app to download. The best kind of use for a wiki!

Selecting lats requires a bar.

Any workouts for them without equipment?

I see dumbbell rows listed for lats.

If you don't have access to a dumbbell, substitute a heavy bag of some sort with a short handle. Google has some ideas on other alternatives as well, but I'd recommend against using canned food goods (or anything else you don't want to dent/break).

I’ve been using horizontal dumbbell rows for lats for years, they’re not as good as chin-ups but way better than nothing if you don’t have access to a chin-up bar.

I use the largest container of liquid clothes detergent at the store with a handle and fill it with water. I haven't weighed it, but you're in really good shape if you can curl it. Great for dumbbell rows and shrugs, though too unwieldy for much else.

If you have access to a playground with monkey bars, pullups is the obvious least equipment choice.

Back is generally pretty hard to impossible to train without equipment. You could do rows with a backpack / other household objects or elastic bands with a contraption that anchors behind a door so you can do pull downs.

You can try to find a nice fat reinforced pipe in the parking deck near you ;), or get one of those pull up bars that attach above the door frame.

If you're looking for a good workout setup for home with minimal equipment, try the TRX suspension training system. You can anchor it behind a door and do a full body workout using body weight. It fits in a small bag so it's mobile and allows you to anchor it at a bar in the nearest park and do outdoor exercises.

> Back is generally pretty hard to impossible to train without equipment.

Lats are hard to train without equipment, but you may need to expand your definition of the back to include the rest of the back. Easy to train without equipment. Most people can't hold a superman very long.

You usually need some kind of equipment. Might I recommend a trx knockoff? Cheap, and you can do inverted rows.

Get gymnastic rings instead of TRX.

Cheaper and way more versatile. Anything you can do on the TRX you can do on rings, and way more.

Only potential benefit of the TRX is that it might be more gentle on the hands due to the rubber handles. But after a few weeks of gripping and exercising on the rings, you'll be fine.

Yup, definitely go for wooden rings if you can. They are much nicer to use than plastic rings or the TRX handles. Plastic rings get all sweaty and slippery and the handles only really have one holding position.

Pullup and dip have a new style of hybrid rings in their new kickstarter which I am interested to try. They have both a rounded ring side and a flatter handle side. You can see them on the campaign images - doesn't look like they sell them separately yet. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/pullupanddip/freesixd-w...

Yes, wooden rings are better. Rogue fitness has high quality ones.

Do you have a sturdy table you could do a lateral row on? Maybe even just get a wood plank or bar and put it between two things?

When I click on the brain muscle, it doesn't show me anything. I really hope you add support for this! It would be a fun easter egg.

Arguably the the most important muscle to exercise regularly is the heart, and that doesn't seem to be included, so allow me to suggest a few exercises:

* Running

* Jump rope

* Swimming

* Dancing

If you involve serious compound exercises, weight training will also be a cardio workout.

Mobile experience is a bit frustrating. I cannot select obliques for the life of me.

It might warrant having another method for selecting muscles.

What I like about this is that they include a lot of compound lifts. Exercises like squats puts strain on many muscles.

Was musclepedia taken?

Love the site. Thanks for making it :)

That’s nice. I use a workout book that isolates and combines various exercises. Looking forward to using your site.

Hands and feet, fingers and ankles please.

Great site. It's a newer/cleaner/simpler version of my go-to site for anything detailed related to exercise: ex-rx.net.

One suggestion: add more of the detail that site has on the other muscles used during a particular exercise. Example is bench press, which is pec-focused but engages lots of other muscles - it might be useful to show the body-diagram highlighting all of those muscles.

Just an fyi, the muscle on the outside of the hip cannot be selected. It chooses the quads instead.

How interesting, I have the exact same idea about one month ago so glad to see it been developed

Abdominals - muscle not found :(

It worked initially for me just minutes ago (but many hours after you saw the error), then I click a "More..." link in the top paragraph, got a 500, and now Abdominals are never to be found again. Every other muscle I used to try and repro works fine. Never did get abs to work again.

This as an app with the feedback in the comments would be the best $4.49 app ever.

Great site. I really love this. Have been looking for something like this for long

Oh wow, by far one of the most useful and simple websites I have seen!

Bookmarked it!

Did not see any way to select some muscles like the illiopsoas.

one more request. please add exercise for each spinal segment(l1, l5 etc). All desk jobs creates backpain, but a targeted suggestion would be very helpful

Great resource OP,

Why aren't obliques and lower abs available though?

So it has a different male and female option to select the muscles, but the explanation and text on how to do it seems to be identical in both cases, and how could it even be different?

r/pointlesslygendered

Nice website. Is there also a stretching pendant?

This looks great. The website seems to be down.

Happy to report my first tap was on the hair

Same here, you bald too ?

Mine was on the head too. I expected some kind of easter egg with some brain teasers or something.

Hey! Jake here from FitnessAI (YC W20)

We should chat :)

jake@fitnessai.com

Completely wanted to select the penis

Excellent work! where do we tip you?

What a cool and straight up website

Workout is a noun, not a verb.

Pretty neat! Thanks for this!

Can't click head...

Exactly what I need!

I'm flattered.

what about the muscles around the kneecap :-(

Proper squat form will get your knees in great shape.

You never notice your stabilizer muscles until you really use them.

This is great!

Very cool!

Well done!

Yep, I've been using this for months since I don't have access to a gym. This helps me get a decent workout in with a pair of free weights. Probably still not the same as with the equipment at a real facility, but it's a great tool.

Edit: I see the author is in this thread, so thank you!

Why can't I select a face?

Ugh. Promoting isolation exercises should be banned.

Isolation exercises have their place. Lots of folks have muscle imbalances due to occupational injuries and trauma and isolation exercises are a way to correct those imbalances. Obviously see a physical therapist before going ham and making it worse ;).

It also helps to do isolation exercises to strengthen weaker spots in the body that would be the main muscle in a compound movement. I.E. doing leg curls after squats to get a higher volume on those muscles and increase growth.

You'll notice I have them weighted. I put compound lifts with the max weight (100) so they will be shown first.

Would be useful if you went the other way and showed what muscles each exercise affected.

Yeah, this! I would also like to make a list and pick exercises that I like and then it suggests more more exercises that can fill the gaps of what I still need.

That's available from the directory.

https://musclewiki.com/Directory

how much do you squat?

Blanket statements like this are not useful.

Of course compound lifts are king for most people but there are all sorts of cases for doing isolation exercises. Rehab, strengthening deficiencies, bodybuilding etc.. are all valid use cases for isolation.

This site provides progressions based on the functional movement pattern, never seen anything like it...exerciseencyclopedia.com

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