These Are The Best 10 Exercises For Men & Women To Build Lean Muscle
A great first step to start your training plan would be: To learn the
best exercises to build the most muscle, burn the most fat, and increase
the most strength in as little time as possible.
It doesn’t matter what sex you are, these are the exercises that will
never get boring or disappear. People of all ages have being building
their bodies with these points for decades. And it won’t change.
Below you’ll find the name of the exercise and a video demonstration,
showing the correct technique of the exercise, how to instructions and
important things to remember whilst doing them.
Work Your Core with the Plank
The plank really involves all muscles of your core. An exercise for
anyone, with plenty of variations to keep things interesting and
challenging.
How to do a plank:
● Start in a basic push up position but with your elbows on the
ground instead of your hands.
● Engage your core and glutes.
● Keep your lower back straight.
● Hold tight for the prescribed amount of time.
Work Your Upper Body with the Push Up
Get your core, chest, shoulders and triceps with the push-up. Another
move with plenty of variation.
How to do a push up:
● Start with your hands flat on the ground and your legs extended
behind you.
● Keep your elbows slightly tucked to your side and your core
engaged.
● Lower yourself to the ground while keeping your back
straight.
● Slightly pause at the bottom, slight pause at the top.
● Repeat the process.
Work Your Triceps with the Bench Dip
Really want to target those triceps? Here’s a basic you can do anywhere.
(However, if this feels a little strange on the shoulders—skip it)
How to do a bench dip:
● Place your hands behind your back on a bench with your knees bend
and feet out in front of you.
● Keep your head and torso upright.
● Engage your core.
● While keeping your elbows tucked to your side, slowly lower your
back down towards the ground.
● Once your arm is approximately parallel with the ground, pull
yourself back up using your triceps.
● Pause at the top and repeat the process.
Work Your Posterior Chain with the Glute Bridge
The glute bridge is a great way to get the job done without over
complicating things.
How to do a glute bridge:
● Start by laying flat on your back with your knees slightly
bent.
● Engage your core.
● With weight on your heels, drive your hips up into the air.
● Squeeze your glutes and hamstrings at the top.
● Slowly lower your hips down and repeat for the prescribed number
of reps.
Work Your Entire Body with the Deadlift
One of the big lifts that hits just about every muscle in the body. Learn
this move the proper way and your overall strength and power will
skyrocket.
How to do a barbell deadlift:
● Stand over a loaded barbell with your feet about shoulders-width
apart and your toes very slightly pointed outward.
● Engage your core, drop down, and grip the bar at
shoulders-width.
● Keep your back as straight as possible at all times.
● Push your hips back and pull the weight up from your heels while
engaging your lats, glutes and hamstrings.
● Pause at the top and repeat the process.
Work Your Upper Body with the Bench Press
Another big lift, but more focused on upper body strength and power.
Cycle this move with dumbbell bench presses for variety and plateau
breaking effects.
How to do a barbell bench press:
● Flat flat on your back on a bench.
● Grip the barbell with your hands slightly wider than
shoulder-width.
● Engage your core, retract your shoulder blades, and lift the
barbell off the rack.
● Slowly lower the bar down to your chest while tucking your elbows
and maintaining a slight and natural arch in the low back.
● At the bottom, drive through the heels of your feet and put the
weight up to the top.
● Squeeze, then repeat the process.
Work Your Lower Body with the Squat
Arguably one of the best exercises for the human body. Every muscle is
engaged from head to toe. Can’t quite do a barbell back squat like this
yet? Start with body weight squats or the goblet squat.
How to do a barbell back squat:
● With a barbell resting across your lower traps, stand with your
wide approximately shoulders-width with your toes slightly pointed
out.
● Engage your core and slowly lower your body while keeping your
hips and butt back.
● Keep your knees from folding inward or forward.
● At the bottom (when your thigh/quads are about parallel with the
floor) drive back up with the weight on your heels.
● Extend your hips at the top and repeat the process.
Work Your Shoulders with the Overhead Press
Another big lift that creates big upper body gains. While your shoulders
are taking on most of the brunt, your triceps and muscles of the core are
getting it too. Alternate with dumbbell overhead presses for
variety.
How to do a standing overhead press:
● Stand up straight and rest a barbell across your shoulders in
front of you with your hands slightly outside shoulders-width.
● Engage your core.
● Explosively press the weight up over your overhead and slightly
pause at the top.
● Slowly lower the weight down and repeat the process.
Work Your Back with the Dumbbell Row
The back is huge muscle group, but there are also a lot of little
details. Learning the dumbbell row and the subtle movement pattern options
there are can really take your physique to new levels.
How to do a dumbbell row:
● Lean forward over a bench of dumbbell rack.
● Keep your back straight and your core engaged.
● Engage your lats while pulling a dumbbell back.
● Squeeze at the top and slowly lower back down.
Work Your Biceps with the Barbell Curl
Probably the most common exercise ever, even though it’s incredibly
specific to one small muscle group—the biceps. Make note of the cues to
improve your pumps, you could be missing out.
How to do a barbell biceps curl:
● Stand upright holding a barbell in front of your with your arms
extended and elbows tucked at your side.
● Slowly curl the weight up and squeeze at the time.
● Fight momentum while slowly lowering the weight back down to the
bottom.
● Full extend your arms and repeat the process.
We even pulled together a program using these moves. For those that
are advanced, we call this a Transition. It’s something to shift to while
in between other programs. For the newbies, we’ll go ahead a say this is
an Introduction plan.
