Which are the best exercises for getting stronger and why?

There is a common argument used to justify compound movements (Squat/Bench/Deadlift, etc) as the best for general strength training, used to suggest low-bar squat is better than high-bar squat for general strength training, and to say that some unilateral movements are better than complementary bilateral movements. That is, that if a movement can be used to move relatively more weight and use more muscle then it is ‘better’. Usually this means ‘better for general strength’, but in any case, is this completely true? I definitely agree that these movements are the best, in various contexts, but it seems to me that many people are using incomplete arguments to tout these exercises.

The core reason I disagree with the specifics of this argument is based on multiple things. It firstly depends on what the purpose of strength training normally is, and what the specific definition of strength is. In the case of the compound movements being better than isolation movements, the common argument is something along the lines of “The squat uses more muscle group and more total muscle mass than the leg-press and is therefore better for general strength.” However, if the squat uses more muscle groups, shouldn’t one by default be able to use more weight? And if the squat uses more muscles, couldn’t it be that it also uses more neuro-muscular resources? Therefore, it could be that the leg-press is actually more efficient at increasing strength in the specific muscles that it uses. I am not saying that this is the case (I have no idea), but only that the argument is incomplete. The squat is better for general strength training because it uses more core muscles and is closer to daily activity, and therefore will affect one’s ability to do daily activities. The squat trains muscles together in a way that they would normally be used and helps to train healthy and efficient ways to move heavy weights. The squat is functional.

This same deconstruction can be used for unilateral exercises. Some preachers of unilateral exercises will point to the well-known fact that most can do more than one half of the weight on a unilateral movement than the equivalent bilateral movement. This is often used to say that the unilateral movement is somehow more efficient. But the matter of fact is, that one half of the body is not dead during the unilateral movement. The core muscles along with muscles of the non-weighted side help to balance and stabilize. The unilateral movements are not useful because they tap on unknown resources (although maybe they do). They are better because in real life and in sports we often produce force asymmetrically. The unilateral movements are useful and functional, and recreate very important force-production scenarios.

My point with this short article is only that many proponents of certain movements use irrelevant arguments to justify a movements usefulness in general strength training. Of course, if you are a powerlifter then you want to use the most weight, but otherwise exercises are useful not because of the weight possible, but for a variety of other valid reasons. The fact that some of the most useful movements also happen to be movements where we can use relatively more weight is only either a coincidence or a related, but not equivalent property of the movement.