Men's Health UK lists 10 exercises

Men’s Health UK on May 19 published a Jeff Cavaliere-backed list of 10 exercises that he said are enough to help people stay strong, mobile and largely pain-free as they age. The article, published on the magazine’s UK site, drew from a recent Athlean-X video in which Cavaliere said exercise choice becomes more important over time because joint tolerance, recovery and injury history begin to matter more. Jeff Cavaliere, the Athlean-X founder and strength coach, framed the list as a long-horizon training template rather than a beginner or rehab program. “This is not a geriatric list of exercises,” he said in the video excerpt carried by Yahoo’s republication of the Men’s Health UK piece. He added that the movements were the ones he would keep if he could only do 10 exercises for the rest of his life. (uk.style.yahoo.com) ### Which exercises made Cavaliere’s list? The 10 exercises listed in the Men’s Health UK article were box squat, reverse lunge, 30-degree incline bench press, high pull, pullup, seated cable row, barbell curl, lying triceps extension, pullthrough and face pull. The same lineup appears in other summaries of Cavaliere’s video published after the original release. (uk.style.yahoo.com) The mix covers lower-body strength, upper-body pushing and pulling, and accessory work for the shoulders, arms and posterior chain. Cavaliere’s selections also skew toward movements he said can be loaded effectively without forcing joints into positions that aggravate common trouble spots such as the knees, shoulders and lower back. (uk.style.yahoo.com) ### Why did he start with the box squat and reverse lunge? Cavaliere put the box squat first and said the box gives lifters a fixed target that encourages better hip hinging. In the article excerpt, he said that setup can help people who struggle with squat depth or with the mechanics of sitting back into the movement. (uk.style.yahoo.com) The reverse lunge made the list because, Cavaliere said, stepping backward changes how the movement feels on the knees. He said the reverse version can reduce the knee discomfort some people feel in a forward lunge while still training the legs unilaterally and challenging balance. ### Why did pressing and pulling get so much space on the list? (uk.style.yahoo.com) The 30-degree incline bench press was Cavaliere’s pressing choice, with the article noting his preference for dumbbells over a barbell because they are easier on the shoulders while still allowing progressive overload. He described 30 degrees as a useful angle for upper-chest emphasis without turning the movement into a more shoulder-dominant press. (uk.style.yahoo.com) Pullups, seated cable rows and face pulls gave the list a heavy pulling bias. Cavaliere’s rationale, as summarized in the article and related write-ups, was that upper-back and scapular work help maintain posture, shoulder function and balanced development as lifters age. ### What does the rest of the list say about his training priorities? (uk.style.yahoo.com) High pulls, pullthroughs and face pulls point to a recurring Cavaliere theme: train power and the posterior chain, but do it with exercises that are easier to recover from than heavier barbell lifts for some older trainees. The article also kept direct arm work — barbell curls and lying triceps extensions — in the lineup, underscoring that the program was not limited to purely “functional” compound lifts. (uk.style.yahoo.com) Men’s Health UK published the full list on May 19, and the article credits Cavaliere’s Athlean-X video as the source for the exercise-by-exercise explanations. Readers looking for the complete rationale for each movement can find the breakdown in the Men’s Health UK piece and in Cavaliere’s original video, which the article cites. (uk.style.yahoo.com)