While we love a good scroll through a review section both for entertainment and should-I-buy details, we also know the absolute best recommendations for clothing, TV shows, desserts, books, and the like usually come from friends.

Enter Our Favorite Things. We’ll switch the focus monthly; the idea is to scroll through a few of the favorites we’ve gathered from the AMR Team, and then add your own in the comments below.

Even if strength training ranks number 43 on your list—below folding laundry, but above cleaning toilets—we bet you still have one favorite move. One move that, when you do find time to strength train, makes your muscles come to life. The one you start every routine with because you’re so confident about it, or you end every routine with it because you love how it strong it makes you feel for hours afterward.

Even though we preach the gospel of a well-rounded strength circuit around these parts, we still have our favorites. Put on your favorite tunes, string these moves together, and you’ve got a nice little workout.

Nordic Hamstring Curls

I used to have hamstring issues (High Hamstring pulling/tightness) and the one exercise that really made it dissipate (after years of working on it) was Nordics. Nordics are very challenging. And, it takes several steps to get to the ultimate Nordic as in this video. When I started to learn how to do it – I had a balance ball (big one) in front of me and I would go down and touch the ball and stop. I do this weekly. I do 3 sets of 6x.
—Jennifer Harrison, TLAM Club Heart + Sole Coach

Squats

You get a ton of bang for your buck even if you just do bodyweight, you can literally do it anywhere, and it’s easy to sneak into the day. (Glutes for the win!) I try to do 30 squats after every run (so 4-5x week) and will add weight occasionally but often just do the good old bodyweight squat.
—Christy Diller, Many Happy Miles physical therapist

Clamshells

The Savannah Striders running club invited a physical therapist to speak about the most important exercises to avoid injury, especially for those aiming to run for the rest of their lives (isn’t that all of us?). He said clamshells keep hips strong and stable, and calf raises keep ankles and achilles tendons in working order, all of which is important for stability and injury prevention—especially we get older! PT tip: do the clamshells before your run to warm up the hips.
—Tish Hamilton, AMR Podcast co-host

Box Step Overs

I like this move because it strengthens all those good running muscles in the leg, like the glutes and hamstrings. You can add weight or increase the height of the box for a challenge. We use the box and do step over variations weekly or bi-weekly at Crossfit.
—Mandy Cherry, TLAM Club 5K Coach

Deadlifts

I think they pack a lot of punch for such a simple move. I like to include them in my running warmup as a nice stretch for my lower back and hamstrings. My favorite method is with a kettlebell. I also like to do the single-leg version to work on my balance.
—April Hopkins, TLAM Club Support Service Specialist

Push-ups

I know, I know–I can hear the groans right now, but nothing makes me feel as strong or as badass as a basic push-up. It’s such a great indicator of upper-body strength, and when I prioritize incorporating them into my strength routine, I get so much bang for my buck. You’d be surprised how quickly your body responds, and it’s not long before you go from just a few to 10 or more.

Bonus: the push-up has many modifications. If your wrists hurt, you can do them against a wall;
and if a full push-up feels like too much, you can allow your knees to touch the floor.
—Cathy Engstrom, TLAM Club Website Manager

Pull-ups

Want to really improve your upper body strength? Try a pull-up.
“These make me feel like a badass. I do them 1-2x week. I do lots of variations (negatives, static holds, etc.) to keep it interesting.”
—Christy Scott, TLAM Club Ultra Coach