Top 7 Strength Training Workout Exercises

When you goal is to gain strength and build solid muscle, including these 7 fundamental exercises in your routine can produce great results. Many beginning lifters often do exercises that are too specific, that isolate smaller muscle groups like the biceps, or calves. While these exercises are good, when your goal is to build overall strength and size, your emphasis should be on larger muscle groups, targeted with compound exercises. Compound exercises work multiple muscles in the same exercise which helps to encourage growth. Even experienced lifters should not ignore the value of the following 7 exercises, they give you a full body workout, encouraging increases in both strength and size.

Squats

Squats are possibly the most important exercise you need to include in your program if you want to build strength, and all over muscle growth. Squats work the full body, and are effective in building leg and core strength. Back Squats are more commonly done, by placing the barbell on the upper back behind the shoulders. Front squats are great for targeting the quadriceps, especially the raindrop shape of the Vastus Medialis muscle. Most people can lift much more weight with the back squat, although both are effective and its good to mix it up between the two.

Deadlifts

The deadlift can be of equal importance to the squat in building over all mass. This is because it is also a full body exercise, which emphasizes the Gluteal, Trapezius and Hamstring muscles. Your lower back muscles also get a good work out when performing a deadlift. Due to the muscles involved and the movement of this exercise, like the squat an individual can usually lift considerable amounts of weight compared to other exercises. For this reason it is very important to maintain good form in deadlift training. This will minimize risk of injury, while maximizing the effectiveness of your strength training workout.

Bench Press

If you want to build strength and size in your chest, you need to regularly perform the bench press. The bench press is the exercise that puts the most emphasis on the chest by allowing you to isolate it and train with heavy weights. Make sure you vary the angle of the bench, with standard, incline and decline positions. Hitting the chest from different angles regularly is important to overall build size and strength. Adjusting your grip distance can also help emphasis different areas of the chest, a close grip will put more emphasis on the triceps, while a wider grip targets the chest. The bench press, along with the Squat and Deadlift, round out the exercises used in Power lifting competitions.

Bent over Rows

Bent over rows are a great compound exercise for the Trapezius, Latissimus Dorsi, and Posterior Deltoid muscles. Make sure to keep a strong arch in the back while tucking in your abdominal muscles when performing bent over rows. Also, keep your head level and pointing forward. There are a few variations, and you can use either both arms with a barbell, or one arm at a time with dumbells. Perform the exercise slowly for maximum benefit, as bouncing the weight can be dangerous as it puts unneccessary stress on the back muscles.

Dips

Dips are a great calisthenic exercise to utilize in your strength training workout. Depending on the position of your body, you can emphasis different muscle groups. Tilt your body backwards, as you push up though the dip, and squeeze your chest to emphasis the lower chest muscles. Similarly hold your body forward to focus on the triceps. If you want to really target the triceps, incorporate some Tricep Dips, which are different variation on the dip requiring a different body position. You can also use a weight belt, dipping belt, or a medicine ball between the knees once you become comfortable with your own weight.

Pull Ups

Pull ups are another fantastic exercise, you can think of them as the Squat for the upper body. They are fundamental because they train many muscles of the upper body, including the Latissimus Dorsi, Biceps, Deltoids, and chest. You can build up great upper body strength with the Pull up, and define the 'V' shape of the body. Like the Dip, you can add weight using belts to progressively increase your strength. Do this when you are able to easily complete many ull up repitions with just your body weight.

Shoulder Presses

Its good to achieve a balance in pushing and pulling exercises. Shoulder presses would be in the pushing category, as you push the weight above your head. To target the trapezius, as you push up slightly move your body forward so that the weight ends up slightly behind your head. As you reach the top of the movement, squeezing the Trapezius can add an extra bit of emphasis on the lift. Make sure you always have full control of the weight as it can be a dangerous exercise if you are over exerting yourself. Train progressively, increasing the weight incrementally over time to improve strength.

These 7 exercises can form a fundamental base for your strength training workout. Each of these exercises combine to give you a full body workout, that when performed correctly can make great improvements to your strength and size.

_{U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Kristine DeHoux [Public domain],}