How to Get Tougher With 9 Effective Strength Training Exercises
If you are new to strength training, jumping into the program and moving from zero to 60 can be a formula for failure. Do not stress your body by doing exercises that are way too difficult for you. You can lend yourself a helping hand by using equipment like weightlifting belts, and wrist wraps to give your body the extra support it needs.
Instead, be optimistic, and first, try to understand the exercises you need to do according to your goals. Here are the best strength training exercises you need to master:
Push-Ups
The greatest workout you might ever have done for yourself when it comes to using your own body’s weight to push your muscles (your shoulders, triceps, and chest). Push-ups are also one of the best strength training exercises for women along with inverted rows.
Push-ups build the upper body strength by targeting your pectoral muscles, shoulders, and triceps. If performed properly, as a part of strength training, they also benefit the lower back. It is one of the very few core-engaging exercises which you can perform as a part of strength training exercises at home.
Bodyweight Squats
This activity serves a double purpose: it is the cornerstone for developing strength, and it helps to build up greater mobility. If you ever perform barbell squats, you need to focus on reaching the right depth with a bodyweight squat before.
Bodyweight squats improve flexibility and posture while enhancing your body’s circulation. They also work to keep the lower back strong, which benefits you during other strength training exercises.
Also read: How To Squat Properly? Squat Tips And Benefits
Chin-Ups and Pull-Ups
Once you are able to support your own bodyweight well above the bar, the world will become your playground. There should be no strength training workouts without chin-ups or pull-ups.
Chin-ups target the muscles like the chest and the biceps (which are on the front of the body) and pull-ups, on the other hand, benefit the shoulder and back muscles.
Bodyweight Row (Inverted)
Until you perform your very first chin-up or pull-up, these strength training exercises are perfect to start developing your pull-up muscles’ strength which includes your biceps, forearms, and back.
Barbell Presses
Press the barbell over your head. This trains all the muscle groups in your chest, shoulders, and arms so you can lift the weight above your head.
As a perk, you just need to flex and stabilize your core, which will help your muscles work. Barbell presses increase the strength and size of triceps, trapezius, and shoulder muscles.
Bodyweight Dip
As you begin to get stronger and more resilient with push-ups and need to find a solution to raise the difficulty, take into account doing dips.
Warning: these are among the list of strength exercises that are extremely advanced yet amazing at strength building.
Barbell Deadlifts
Perhaps the greatest workout of all time. Actually, no, this IS the greatest workout of all time. It is definitely the most fundamental of exercises: all you have to do is to pick the weight from the ground. Over. Done.
It’s a very complicated lift, so be sure that you know how to do it in the correct form. You can use a weightlifting belt for extra support.
Also read: The Definitive Weightlifting Belts Guide
Barbell Squats
This is possibly the best workout when it comes to developing strength and muscle across your entire body. It burns insane calories, too, and makes life easier. This exercise is a must.
Moreover, barbell squats are the only workout that directly benefits your posterior chain muscles which include the adductors, glutes, and hamstrings.
Barbell Bench Presses
Lie down on the bench and bring the barbell down until it almost reaches your chest. Stop, and push it back towards the roof. Repeat it! And be powerful.
Commit to any one of these activities to try next week. Utilise 20 seconds of bravery, employ a friend who has experience in lifting or trained before and, then do your best.
Tips
Use Barbells First
Forget about all the gimmick tools. The barbell is the king, while the dumbbell is queen, and remaining everything is the court jester—they may have their presence, but they are not necessary. Begin your barbell exercises.
Barbells let you attach a huge amount of weight, and heavy lifting is the very first move towards becoming stronger. When the hardest strength exercises are out of the way, you can continue with a dumbbell and bodyweight practice session.
Keep up With the ‘Big Four’
The smartest strength-training movements are the squat, the deadlift, the bench press, and the shoulder press. The chin up and the row are good exercises too but don’t consider them the subject of your training session, they can act as support lifts to accompany the bench and shoulder press, holding the pulling muscles in line with the pushing ones.
Log It All
Note down the drills, the sets, the repetitions, and the outcome of each exercise. Keep records of your best lifts and also the most repetitions you’ve ever achieved for a certain amount of exercise. Always aim to increase those numbers.
Keep Things Simple
Some instructors make their customers lift at a certain pace, like 3 seconds up, 1 second down. That is perfect for experienced lifters, but if you are a beginner, there is no reason to calculate anything but repetitions during the set.
Focus entirely on lifting and lowering the weights in a manageable way, stopping for a one-second count at the peak of the lift. Using an arbitrary pace will minimize stress on your muscles or cause you to use different amounts of weight to slow down your development. The only way to be sure that you are getting better is if your loads are continuously growing.
Stick With Your Exercise Routine
It is ideal to work with all the big muscles in your body 2-3 days a week. You can opt to do one regular workout 2-3 days a week, or you can split your strength workout into the top and bottom torso components. In that scenario, be sure that you conduct each part 2-3 times per week.
Wrapping It Up
Strength training exercises can be intimidating, but their benefits can neither be ignored nor beaten. When you start strength training for the first time, the routines can feel tough, which might make you wonder how you can get better so that your training sessions can go smoother. After all, if every exercise is a struggle, it can be difficult to convince yourself to start a training schedule, let alone make a proper effort.
But as you become better and more comfortable with the exercises, you are likely to find it easier to implement every exercise. When this happens, you can concentrate more on the workouts in front of you. And that can motivate you to get better.
Also Read:
- Strength Training 101 Ultimate Guide
- Top 12 Benefits of Strength Training That Boost the Health
- Bro Split – The Ultimate Guide to 5 Day Bro Split Routine
Images source: Shutterstock
