One of the biggest errors you can make in strength training is avoiding the exercises you hate.

The best example is the Squat. Many hate training legs. They don’t want to Squat three times a week as laid out in the Beginner Strength Training Program. So they do exercises they like: Bench Press, Biceps Curls, etc.

The truth is the exercises you hate, are the exercises you should do the most.

Pain. The first reason you don’t want to do an exercise is because it’s hard. Example above: squatting three times a week. Many don’t like it. “I hate that exercise” “My legs are sore” “I feel like fainting” “Not again”.

If the exercise is painful, it’s doing its job: forcing your body to adapt. This is key to getting stronger & building muscle. Force your body to adapt by giving it exercises that are hard. As the saying goes “No pain, no gain”.

Weakness. You’ll often hate an exercise because you’re weak on it. Best example: Bent-over Barbell Rows. It’s not easy to do them correctly. And they’re hard. I place them just below squats & Deadlifts in terms of pain.

Guess what. Get stronger on Bent-over Barbell Rows and you’ll see your other lifts increase. This is very common. Your Bench Press & Overhead Press will go up by increasing your strength on Rows.

Technique. Many times lack of technique is why you hate doing an exercise. Like Power Cleans. Ever done them? It’s very hard to learn Olympic lifts by yourself, without coach. But it’s not impossible.

It took me months to learn how to Power Clean. I did hundred reps a week with an empty barbell & light weights. Depressing. I hated that exercise. But I knew it was the only way to ever get good at it. Months later my max is 95kg.

The solution to lack of technique is never to give up. It’s to do the exercise more. The more you do it, the better you become. Your technique will reflect the time & effort you’ve put into it.

Discipline. “Follow the line of most resistance” by Napoleon Hill. Giving up is easy. Persistence is hard.

Nobody said strength training was easy. Nothing is easy in life. To get good at something you must work hard. Strength training is no different. Persist. Follow the line of most resistance. Out of resistance comes strength.

Last thing. Something I experienced several times. Once you start doing an exercise you hate a lot, you’ll start liking it. The exercises you hate the most, end up in those you like the most. Test it to believe it.