About

Why this exists

A machine decides the path. It holds your position and gives you one groove to push along, which is why you cannot really get a leg press wrong. A dumbbell decides nothing. It goes wherever you send it, and you supply the path, the balance and the brake.

That single difference is the whole reason for this site. It is why technique is a real subject here and barely one on a machine. It is why some muscles drive a lift while others only hold you in place, a distinction that exists precisely because nothing else is holding you. And it is why load comes last: you have to own the position before you load it.

So the library covers dumbbell, barbell, kettlebell, weight plate and bodyweight work, and nothing else. Machines, cables, suspension trainers, resistance bands and stability balls are all left out for the same reason: each one holds, assists or steadies you.

What is in an entry

Every movement gets a looping demonstration, the muscle that should be doing the work named separately from the ones that should only be steadying you, and the steps to run it. The split is the point. Most exercise listings give you one blended line of muscles and leave you to guess which should feel tired afterwards, and that guess is where form goes wrong.

The library currently holds 159 movements: 54 dumbbell, 44 barbell, 21 kettlebell, 5 plate, 35 bodyweight.

Where the material comes from

The demonstrations are professionally produced animation, licensed for this site, and rendered with a deliberately featureless figure so the reference does not assume a body. You get the same clean view of a movement whoever you are, from an angle that actually shows the thing that matters, which is more than a phone camera at the back of a gym will ever give you.

What we believe

• Position before load. You own the movement first and add weight second, and every entry here is written in that order.
• The split is the information. Naming what should drive a lift separately from what should only steady you is the one thing that tells you whether the last set went the way you thought it did.
• A reference should know its job. This site shows you what a movement should look like. Watching you do it is a coach's job, and no page can take it.
• Pain is not a training question. If something hurts and keeps hurting, that is for a doctor or a physiotherapist.
• Nobody knows what you will look like. We do not promise a physique, and neither should anyone else selling you one.

Where this goes

Every movement where nothing holds your position for you, each one with the split named and a demonstration to match, so you can check your own work against something better than a mirror. If you want something covered that is not here yet, tell us.