If you are looking for the best forearm exercises and tools to create a forearm workout that really works, then you’ve come to the right place.
Forearms are the often overlooked but incredibly necessary muscles of the arms.
From an aesthetic point of view, no physique is complete without a set of strong muscular forearms.
However your forearms are much more important than just looking good.
The forearms are the major muscles responsible for your grip strength, and if you’re looking to get stronger and build muscle you are going to need a strong grip to pull and push heavy loads.
Your grip strength is a vital component of any pulling exercise like the variations of deadlifts and rows. They also help to progress your pushing movements like bench and shoulder pressing as well.
Most good workouts revolve around a lot of heavy pulling and pushing exercises like the ever popular push pull legs routine. So if you want to progress in your other lifts and build muscle across your whole body you need to be paying attention to your forearms and grip strength.
In this article we’re going to break down exactly how to build your forearms so they not only look good but improve your grip strength so you can perform better in your other lifts.
Forearm Anatomy
Before we get into the exercises it is good to have an understanding of the anatomy of the forearms and how the muscles work together.
Your forearms are made up of a lot of smaller muscles that are divided into two main groups.
Extensor muscles are used for extension of the wrist and fingers and run down from the top side of your forearm to the back of your hand like this:
The flexion muscles are responsible for flexion at the wrist (bending wrist and fingers.)
The flexors are also responsible for the rotation of the wrist (the ability to turn your palm face up and face down.)
This is how the flexion muscles look:
How To Get Bigger Forearms
If you’re looking to build bigger forearms it’s actually pretty simple.
Do a lot of heavy barbell pushing, pulling and curling.
Do some additional forearm exercises if necessary.
If you are following a workout program that involves a lot of heavy compound movements you may find that you don’t actually need to do any additional exercises for your forearms.
For some people heavy back, chest and arm training can be enough to get the forearms they desire.
However if you find yourself struggling with grip strength or your forearms aren’t looking the way you want them to you may need to add in some additional forearm exercises.
While your grip strength will naturally progress with the rest of your training there are some good tools and exercises you can use to help progress your forearms faster.
Forearm Workout Tools
After looking at the anatomy of the forearms it is pretty clear to see that the best way to train them is generally through gripping exercises.
There are some simple tools available that can let you train your forearms whenever you like.
Hand Grippers
Hand grippers are a great tool to train your forearms. The good thing about hand grippers is that you can get them in increasing resistance which is the key to increasing strength and muscle mass.
Wrist Curler
The wrist curler is a simple device that allows you to add weight plates to increase the resistance. To use the tool simply hold your arms out in front of yourself and use your wrists to roll up the rope around the bar. Once the weight reaches that top you can reverse the movement and unwind the weight. You’ll feel the burn in your forearms and increasing the resistance is easy as you can simply add more weight plates to the bottom.
Fat Gripz
Thick bar training is another way to add more emphasis to your forearms in your workouts. You can snap these onto the bar for any exercise you like. I find it works best on pushing and curling exercises as heavy pulling exercises already incorporate a lot of grip strength.
Best Forearm Exercises
We’ve gone over some tools that you can use in your training to build your forearms. Now lets look at some different exercises in the gym that you can add to your forearm workouts.
Barbell Hold
This is a really simple exercise to do. As your forearms are the major muscles behind grip strength, training with static holds and other gripping exercises are the best way to bring your forearms up to speed.
This is how you perform a barbell hold.
Aim for 10-20 second holds. Once you hit 20 seconds you can add more weight and work your way back up to 20 seconds again.
Plate Pinch
The plate pinch is another grip strength exercise that works the forearms. Again aim for 10-20 second holds with these.
To increase the weight on plate pinches, instead of going for bigger plates you can add a third plate. This is explained in the video below:
Dumbbell Farmers Walk
The dumbbell farmers walk may look simple but you’ll soon realise that it lights your forearms on fire.
Here’s how to perform the exercise:
Aim to walk around 30 steps per set and progress in weight as you get stronger.
Forearm Workout
Forearm muscles are very stubborn but you don’t want to overtrain them to the detriment of your other workouts. I like to throw in some additional forearm exercises at the ends of some of my workouts.
If you are looking to improve your grip strength without hurting your performance on other lifts follow these guidelines:
End one of your normal workouts with one of the above forearm exercises
Use fat gripz on your pushing and curling exercises
Depending on how many days per week you are training your forearm workouts might look slightly different but here is an example of a 5 day split following the above guidelines.
Day 1 – Chest with oversized grips
Day 2 – Back with Plate Pinches
Day 3 – Legs with barbell holds
Day 4 – Arms with oversized grips
Day 5 – Shoulders with oversized grips
Optional – rest days using hand exerciser tools.
Final Word On Forearm Workouts
If you are looking to get bigger and stronger your forearms are an integral part of the picture. Having a stronger grip will benefit you in a lot of your other movements.
Some people might not need to put much extra work into their forearms if they are following a good weightlifting routine.
But if you find your forearms needing a bit of extra attention, keep it simple and follow the exercises above to bring your forearms back up to speed.
If you’re looking for an arm workout to build some serious pipes then this is the article for you.
Most guys start going to the gym to get bigger arms and a bigger chest. I’m betting bicep curls where one of the first exercises you ever did!
Am I right?
While arms make up just a small part of a well developed physique, there’s no way around it every guy wants a set of big, well defined arms.
After all your arms are one of the first things that get noticed in your day to day life. Your physique isn’t complete without a set of big arms.
In this article we are going to break down the best ways to build your biceps, triceps and forearms. We’ll go over the best arm exercises and put together a workout that will get you some serious arm gains, fast!
Before we can jump into the workouts it is helpful to have an understanding of how the arm muscles work together so we can get the best results when training them.
A Breakdown of the Arm Muscles
It’s easy to make the common mistake of when you are thinking about bigger arms to think biceps.
I remember thinking big biceps mean big arms.
Well, that’s not actually the case.
The triceps actually make up a lot more of the overall size of the arm than the biceps do.
You can see in a picture like this, where the mass of the arms is held.
So if you’re really wanting to build arms that fill up your shirt sleeves then you need to put a lot of emphasis on the triceps.
Triceps Anatomy
The Triceps Brachii or triceps is a three headed muscle group that forms a horseshoe shape and makes up the entire back side of your upper arm.
Sadly, the biceps are usually given the focus in most people’s workouts.
The triceps play an important role in stabilising the shoulder. Underdeveloped triceps can lead to muscle imbalances and overcompensation of other muscles.
Overdeveloped biceps and chest can lead to rounded shoulders and the closed off, semi hunched over look you sometimes see in gym goers that don’t train everything evenly.
Biceps Anatomy
The biceps brachii or biceps is a two headed muscle hence the “bi” in the name and looks like this:
The biceps brachii has two heads, the long head and the short head. The long head is found on the outside of the arm and makes up most of the biceps.
The short head is located on the inside of the muscle.
Another muscle you should understand is the biceps brachialis. It’s a muscle that is found deeper than the biceps brachii and although it is less prominent, it does play a role in flexing the elbow. The brachialis also helps to push up the brachii which helps with the overall appearance of your arms.
Forearms
The forearms are like the calves of the arms. They are easy to overlook in training but if they’re underdeveloped it’s very obvious. Having a good set of forearms really rounds out the arm and enhances the appearance of your bi’s and tri’s.
Not to mention the carryover benefits strong forearms give to your other exercises. A large amount of compound movements require a strong grip. If your forearms aren’t up to scratch you aren’t going to be able to lift as much weight in other exercises which will cost you gains across all of your muscle groups.
The forearms are made up of a number of smaller muscles that run down into your hand.
Arm Training Principles
There are a lot of strategies out there when it comes to training your arms.
Some advise you to focus on high reps to get a pump and really feel the burn.
Others say you need to hit your arms multiple times a week to get real growth.
Then there are the people that say you don’t need to train your arms at all and simply doing a lot of compound movements will indirectly grow your arms.
With all of this confusion out there it can be difficult to really understand what you should be doing in your arm workouts.
What I’ve found works best is a combination of the above. The best way to grow your arms is through heavy compound lifting and directly training them with both high and low rep training. Like all muscle groups heavy weightlifting is key to maximising muscle growth.
When it comes to growing muscle there are two key factors:
Performing the right exercises.
Achieving progressive overload on your muscles.
Performing the right arm exercises is very important. Simply because some exercises are better at progressively overloading your muscles than others.
As a general rule of thumb barbell exercises are going to be more effective than machine exercises.
Achieving progressive overload in your workouts is the only way that you are going to see results on your arms.
In order to keep getting bigger and stronger we need to continue to subject our muscles to more and more tension over time.
So put simply:
If you don’t keep getting stronger you won’t get bigger.
You can accomplish this by adding volume (reps) but eventually you will need to add weight to the bar. That’s why the biggest guys in the gym are usually the strongest.
Volume
When it comes to arm training getting the right volume is key. This becomes even more important when you are focusing on heavy weightlifting.
As a general rule of thumb the heavier the reps you’re doing the fewer you can perform each week.
Makes sense right!
Heavier weights mean you need to give your muscles more time to recover or you can risk overtraining.
Usually when training with heavy weights the optimal volume is 60 to 70 reps every 5 to 7 days. This is not just for arms but every muscle group in the body as well.
This is where it can get a little tricky for arms. Depending on how you are training the rest of your body will alter the amount of reps per week you will want to complete on your arms.
If you are doing a lot of heavy compound training for your chest and back then you will want to aim for a little less reps of your arms. This is because compound training involves your arms to train your other body parts too.
For example if you are doing heavy rows for your back there is also a lot of bicep involvement too. Heavy benching recruits a lot of tricep involvement etc.
If you are following the other workout plans we have laid out on this blog then you would want to aim for 30 to 40 reps per week on your arms.
Best Arm Exercises
I’ll break these exercises down into movements for biceps, triceps and forearms.
Bicep Exercises
There are dozens of different exercises that you can perform to target your biceps. However some are more effective than others.
Stick to these proven bicep builders in your workouts:
Barbell Curl
There’s a reason why the barbell curl is a staple in every bodybuilders routine. It’s damn good at building your biceps.
Dumbell Curl
A slight variation on the barbell curl that delivers great results. Single arm exercises don’t allow you to lift as much weight as their barbell counterparts but they do help to make sure you aren’t overly dominant in one arm.
Chin up
The chin up is a great functional bicep movement that allows you to target your biceps as well as your back. You can progress in this movement by adding weight to a dip belt as you get stronger.
Tricep Exercises
As we talked about earlier in this article, the triceps make up the bulk of the arms mass. So if it’s bigger arms you’re wanting you need to be hitting your triceps hard.
Don’t mistake this for just a chest exercise. The close grip bench activates your triceps heavily as well. The close grip bench allows you to safely push heavy amounts of weights and will help your chest a bit too.
When performing the close grip bench grab the bar with a slightly narrower than shoulder width grip.
Skullcrushers
Scull crushers are a great exercise for activating the triceps. You can perform the movement with the bar coming down to your forehead or down behind your head for a different angle on the arms.
Overhead triceps press (french press)
Another great exercise to really hit the triceps hard. The overhead triceps press allows you to safely press heavy weight and progressively overload the arm.
Tricep Pushdown
You’ve probably seen this done a lot by people at the gym. It’s probably one of the most popular triceps exercises out there and it is pretty good for isolating the triceps.
I like to do this at the end of my workouts after I have done some other heavier lifts first. You can try it out with a bar and a rope to see what you like best.
Dip
There are two variations of dip that you can do to target the triceps. Both are good exercises and can be interchanged depending on the equipment you have available to you.
The first variation of triceps dips is on a bench:
The second variation of dip requires a dip station like the one in the video below. To keep the focus on your triceps make sure you keep your elbows tucked in to your sides and keep your body relatively upright. The further you lean forward the more emphasis is put on your chest and shoulders in the movement. This is how you do it:
Forearms
Often your forearms don’t need a lot of direct work.
You see the forearms are used a lot in heavy strength training of your chest, back and arms. Simply having to grip and hold the barbell with a lot of weight on it is probably the best training you can do for your forearms and grip strength.
If you are following a workout program that is made up of mostly heavy compound exercises your forearms should be getting worked enough through your other training.
However if your other training isn’t mostly compound exercises or you feel you need to improve your grip strength the reverse curl is the exercise I would use to bring your forearms up to scratch:
Best Arm Workout
A good arms workout focuses on hitting all three heads of the triceps, the biceps brachii and brachialis as well as the forearms.
You should focus on heavy weightlifting with some higher rep work at the end of the workout.
Barbell Curl
3 sets of 4-6 reps
Dumbell Curl
3 sets 4-6 reps
Close Grip Bench
3 sets 4-6 reps
Weighted Dips
3 sets 4-6 reps
Overhead Triceps Press
3 sets 6-8 reps
Allow 2-3 minutes rest between each exercise so your muscles can fully recover. Perform this workout every 5-7 days to see the best results.
Remember progression is key in gaining muscle. Once you hit the top rep range for an exercise you need to increase weight. Then work with the new weight until you can hit the top reps range on a set and increase again.
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If you’re wanting a wide, thick back then this article is for you.
Most people at the gym don’t put enough emphasis on their back workouts. So much time is spent on the chest and biceps which can often lead to the back becoming neglected.
This is disappointing though as a strong muscular back is the key to a good physique.
If that’s not enough reason for you to train your back hard, then this should be. If you’re back is lagging you can become more prone to injuries through training.
Fear not, in this article we are going to break down the best back exercises and workouts so you can bring your back up to speed.
If you follow the steps laid out in this article and eat the right macros your back will get bigger and stronger than ever before.
Anatomy of the Back
The bulk of the back is made up of a range of different muscles.
Trapezius (traps)
Latissimus dorsi (lats)
Rhomboids
Erector spinae
Infraspinatus
Teres major and minor
This is how they look on your body:
If you want to have an aesthetic and powerful back you need to follow these rules:
Make sure you are training your traps with heavy weight.
To create the “V-Taper” in the back you need to build your lats.
Heavy rowing exercises will build the mid back and rhomboid muscles
Deadlifts develop your back like no other exercise. They work the whole back and bring about serious gains.
A lot of guys just train their lats and end up with a slight V-Taper from exercises like lat pulls downs etc but they are often lacking the other areas that make up a truely powerful and aesthetic back.
If you want to build an incredible back there are a few principles you need to know…
Back Training Principles
There are a few key rules to follow if you want to build a big, strong, aesthetically pleasing back.
1. Focus on the right exercises.
If you’re like me when I first started training, I spent the majority of my time on machines and doing isolation exercises to try and target each of the back muscles individually. I should have been spending my time on compound exercises like the deadlift and barbell row.
2. Focus on heavy strength training.
I used to train to get a pump (rather than increase my strength.) I thought that it was better to do multiple variations of drop sets and super sets but found myself hitting a plateau fairly quickly.
In fact you should aim for the majority of your back exercises to be compound movements and heavy lifting (80 to 85% of 1RM and higher.)
That means heavy barbell pulling exercises are going to become your new best friend.
When you’re focusing on lifting heavy your reps are going to be in the 4-6 range.
Performing heavy compound exercises in this rep range allows you to safely achieve progressive overload in each of your workouts.
Progression is the key to building muscle naturally. You see the human body is naturally quite lazy. We could quite easily just plod along without growing in strength or size.
In order to keep getting bigger and stronger we need to continue to subject our muscles to more and more tension over time.
So put simply:
If you don’t keep getting stronger you won’t get bigger.
You can accomplish this by adding volume (reps) but eventually you will need to add weight to the bar. That’s why the biggest guys in the gym usually lift the most weight.
Lets say you are deadlifting 230lbs in the 4-6 rep range. As soon as you are able to perform 6 reps in a set it’s time to up the weight for the next set and aim for 4+ reps again.
Each time you walk into the gym you should be looking to improve on your last workout. Whether it be adding an extra rep or increasing your weights.
Back Workout Volume
Getting the right amount of volume in your back workouts is essential to your success.
If your weekly volume is too low you will see smaller results than you should be getting.
If your volume’s too high you’ll run into problems with overtraining. Recovery is an essential part of building muscle and strength. If you are training too frequently your body will fall behind on its recovery and eventually your results will start flatlining.
Heavy weightlifting requires a significant amount of recovery time. So when you are training your back using heavy lifts there are only so many reps you can do per week before it has a negative effect on yourself.
I find training falls inline with tworeviews on this topic which have shown this:
When your training consists of mainly heavy weights (80 to 85%+ of 1RM), optimal volume seems to be about 60 to 70 reps performed every 5 to 7 days.
A Bigger Back Makes Bigger Arms
Your back is the foundation of a lot of heavy lifts. So the stronger your back is the heavier your other muscle groups can lift on their exercises.
Your body works in symmetry so having a strong back will help you press more on the bench and curl more with your biceps as your muscles work together through functional strength.
This is where a push pull legs style of working out can be beneficial as it makes sure you are training your back as much as the rest of your body.
Back Exercises
Barbell Deadlift
The barbell deadlift is more than just a back exercise. It hits the entire posterior chain (back side) from your calfs to your upper traps. It’s an absolute must have in your back workouts.
Performing the deadlift correctly is very important as incorrect form can lead to injuries.
Once you have your form nailed down you can progress to lifting incredible amounts of weight and build a huge amount of strength and muscle while you’re at it.
This video explains how to set up for the standard deadlift.
Barbell Row
Barbell rows are a staple in any good back workout. Alongside the deadlift the barbell row is one of the best back exercises you can perform. You’ll feel it working the whole back throughout the movement.
The barbell row is the back exercise that you can lift the second most amount of weight. You’ll want to perform this towards the start of your workouts when you’re at full strength.
This is how you perform the barbell row.
Pendlay Barbell Row
Another variation of barbell row is the pendlay barbell row. The pendlay row is similar however you start with the bar from a dead stop on the ground.
Here’s how you do it:
T-Bar Row
The T-bar row can be performed with a machine or a barbell. Generally it’s best to stay away from machines in favour of barbell exercises but this is one exercise where you can make an exception if you like.
This is how to perform the barbell version:
Dumbbell Row
The Dumbbell row is a great single arm compound exercise for the back and in particular the lats. This variation is good if you need to give your lower back a break from barbell rowing.
Here’s how to do the dumbbell row:
Chin-up and Pull-up
The chin-up and pull-up are serious back exercises. They train every muscle in your back and involve the biceps as well.
Chin ups get more bicep emphasis in the movement so you should use these in conjunction with pull-ups as well.
Here’s how to do a chin-up:
The pull-up is one of the best exercises you can do to build your whole back.
Here’s how to do it:
What if you can’t do a pull-up or chin-up yet?
That’s fine there are plenty of ways to work your way up to a bodyweight pull-up or chin-up. One option is to build strength in other exercises like the lat pulldown and inverted row. This will allow you to build up your back strength to a point where you should be able to start doing band assisted pull ups and chin ups.
To do band assisted chin ups simply wrap a resistance band around the bar and hook your knee through it. This will make it easier for you to ascend to the bar.
You can then gradually work your way onto less and less resistance bands until you can do a few reps on your own.
Another option to build up your strength would be to do negative reps. So basically jump or use a step to get your chin above the bar and then begin by descending down. Try and resist gravity and don’t just let your body fall. Once you get to the bottom jump or step back up to the top of the bar again and repeat.
Progressing the pull-up and chin-up
Once you can do 10 chin ups easily it’s to to add some weight. Use a dip belt around your waist to strap plates to the exercise. You can then build this exercise up as you would any other exercise.
Lat Pull Down
The lat pulldown is a machine variation that allows you to activate the same muscles as pull-ups and chin-ups while adjusting the weight.
Here’s how to perform the exercise:
Standing Cable Pushdown
The standing cable pushdown is an isolation exercise for the lats. If you want to really tear your lats up, this is an exercise to throw in at the end of your back workouts.
This is how to do it:
Best Back Workout
This back workout is made up of mainly compound exercises to train all the major muscles throughout the back. If you want to through in some isolation exercises at the end you’re welcome to but they should always come second to heavy compound lifts.
The back exercise below is designed to be performed once a week.
Deadlift:
3 sets of 4-6 reps
Barbell Row:
3 sets of 4-6 reps
Pull ups:
3 sets of 4-6 reps
Close grip lat pull downs
3 sets 4-6 reps
That’s it!
Remember to focus on progressive overload in each of your workouts. Once you hit the top of the rep range for an exercise it’s time to increase the weight.
Allow a full 3 minutes between each set so your muscles can fully recover and go again. You want to be able to give it your maximum effort on your second and third sets so make sure you don’t rush your rest time.
If you’re thinking about starting a Push Pull Legs routine then this article has the answers for you.
There are a number of different workout splits out there, but of them all push pull legs has been popular for many years.
In fact a lot of training programs involve variations of “PPL” routines.
The major benefit of a push pull legs split is that they train all the major muscle groups and also allow plenty of time for recovery. They’re also extremely flexible, meaning they can be tailored to fit different training schedules, goals and experience levels.
When you break it down there are three main days in a push pull legs split.
Day 1: Push
Day 2: Pull
Day 3: Legs
It makes sure you hit all major muscle groups equally which is important when training.
The benefit of having only 3 major days is you can train anywhere from 3 to 6 times per week depending on how much you want to workout and what your goals are. We will discuss how to set up a workout split to your needs at the end of this article.
If you’re looking to stack on muscle and gain strength, then push pull legs could be the workout routine for you!
By the end of this article you will know exactly how to train with a PPL program.
Lets get started.
What Is A Push Pull Legs Routine
The push pull legs split is a simple yet effective training program for people of all abilities. It doesn’t matter if it’s your first time in the gym or you’ve been training for years PPL can help you get to your goals.
As the name suggests you perform three kinds of workouts:
Push: chest, shoulders and triceps
Pull: back, traps, and biceps
Legs: hamstrings, quads and calves
Your push workouts focus on the upper body pushing muscles, your pecs, triceps and shoulders.
In a PPL push workout you will generally be doing barbell bench pressing, overhead pressing, dips and some isolation work for your triceps at the end.
Your pull workouts will focus on your upper body pulling muscles, your back and biceps.
A typical pull workout will have you doing things like deadlifts, rows, pullups and curls for your biceps.
Lastly your leg workouts train your quads, hamstrings, glutes and calves.
Your leg workouts will generally involve squatting, lunging and a number of different isolation exercises to target your legs.
Benefits of Push Pull Legs
Push pull legs routines have been proven to be highly effective over the years.
You might have noticed that the majority of exercises that you perform in ppl workouts are compound lifts. This allows you to hit multiple muscle groups within the one exercise.
For example a staple push day exercise would be the bench press. While it is predominantly a chest exercise you are also getting supplementary work from your triceps and your shoulders.
On the other hand when you are doing an exercise like a barbell row you are mainly using your back muscles and your biceps. This means that you can do less exercises than if you were trying to do the same amount of work with just isolation (one muscle group at a time) exercises.
The other benefit of this is your pushing muscle groups and pulling muscle groups don’t usually overlap too much. This allows you to have a good pull workout even if your chest and triceps are sore from your push workout the day before.
That being said, there is a bit of overlap between the muscles involved in each workout so you should always take one day off of the weights per week.
Building Muscle and Strength With Compound Exercises
Compound exercises are popular among bodybuilders and powerlifters. As compound exercises recruit multiple muscle groups they allow you to build more muscle and strength than isolation movements alone.
Compound exercises also provide a much better carryover into day to day life and other athletic activities.
Utilising multiple muscle groups allows you to build coordination throughout your muscles as well as strength and size.
After all, try and think of something you do in your day to day life that only required you to use one muscle. The answer is probably none right?
Compound lifts are not only more efficient in terms of muscles groups worked per exercise. They also allow for heavier weights to be lifted safely. This makes it easier to progressively overload your muscles each workout.
The downside of compound exercises is they are very taxing on your body, so you need to make sure you are getting in adequate recovery after each workout to avoid overtraining.
This is one of the benefits of PPL as your muscles groups are being trained on different days sometimes with a days rest in between them.
Push Pull Legs Will Fit Your Needs
The other major benefit of push pull legs is that they can be easily customised to meet your needs and goals.
Want to work out 3 days a week? It can be done on PPL.
Want to work out 4, 5, or 6 days? That’s possible too.
You have just three basic workouts to choose from and you can split them up to fit your weekly training needs.
A basic 3 day workout split would look like this:
Monday:
Push
Wednesday:
Pull
Friday:
Legs
Or a six day workout could look like this:
Monday:
Push
Tuesday:
Pull
Wednesday:
Legs
Thursday:
Push
Friday:
Pull
Saturday:
Legs
Achieving Progressive Overload With PPL
Progressive overload is the means by which we get stronger and achieve muscle hypertrophy.
Progressive overload is the gradual increase of stress placed upon the body during exercise training.
The human body is naturally quite lazy. We could quite easily just plod along without growing in strength or size.
Progressive overload is the key to getting bigger and stronger. In order to stimulate muscle growth and strength we need to continually increase the intensity of our workouts and eat the right foods.
It’s that simple, keep getting stronger and lifting heavier or you won’t continue to get bigger.
Most good training programs will incorporate a form of progressive overload.
Recovery between your workouts is essential to maintaining progressive overload. If you’re coming into a workout tired or still sore from a previous session it’s going to be difficult to improve on your last effort.
Push pull legs programs are beneficial as you are never training the same muscle groups after each other.
Think of it this way. If you just trained arms and then were trying to hit back the next day your biceps are still going to be tired which will impact your ability to do rows and other exercises that train your back.
PPL prevents this by training the muscle groups that work together on the same day and allowing sufficient rest before training them again.
Which Push Pull Legs Routine Is Right For You?
So you’re ready to dive into a push pull legs workout program.
The first decision you need to make is how many days per week you want to train. This comes down to what your goals are.
If you’re short on time you can do great on a 3 day per week split.
If you are looking to maximise your muscle and strength gains then 4-6 days per week will give you the best returns.
There are many different variations of PPL routines out there but today I’m going to break down a few workouts that you can use.
Push Pull Legs Workouts
Now to the fun part. The workouts!
As we talked about earlier push pull legs involves a lot of heavy compound lifts with some accessory work at the end to make sure we hit everything.
Push A
Incline Barbell Bench Press: 3 sets of 4 to 6 reps
Standing Military Press: 3 sets of 4 to 6 reps
Close Grip Bench Press: 3 sets of 4 to 6 reps
Dumbbell Lateral Raise: 2 sets of 8 to 10 reps
Rope Pushdowns: 2 sets of 8 to 10 reps
Push B
Flat Barbell Bench Press: 3 sets of 4 to 6 reps
Standing Military Press: 3 sets of 4 to 6 reps
Dumbbell Rear Lateral Raise: 2 sets of 8 to 10 reps
Overhead Dumbbell Extension: 3 sets of 8 to 10
Pull A
Barbell Deadlift: 3 sets of 4 to 6 reps
Barbell Rows: 3 sets of 4 to 6 reps
Weighted Chin ups: 3 sets of 4 to 6 reps
Dumbbell Row: 3 sets of 4 to 6 reps
Barbell Bicep Curls: 2 sets of 8 to 10 reps
Pull B
Barbell Rows: 3 sets of 4 to 6 reps
Lat Pulldowns: 3 sets of 4 to 6 reps
Seated Rows: 3 sets of 4 to 6 reps
Hammer Curls: 3 sets of 8 to 10 reps
Legs
Barbell Back Squat: 3 sets of 4 to 6 reps
Leg Press: 3 sets of 4 to 6 reps
Barbell Lunge: 3 sets of 4 to 6 reps
Calf Raises: 3 sets of 8 to 10 reps
That’s the workouts. Now you can plug them into a workout routine that fit you.
Push Pull Legs 3 Day Split
The 3 day workout split is your basic push pull legs program. If you only have 3 days per week to train this is probably your best option out of any workout.
If you’re looking to get bigger and stronger from only a few days per week this is your best option:
Monday:
Push
Wednesday:
Pull
Friday:
Legs
Push Pull Legs 4 Day Split
Adding a 4th day to your workout split allows you to hit one muscle group an extra time. This can be good if you are trying to add size to your legs if you’re already on track with your upper body for example.
Or you might be happy with your legs and want to focus on your upper body in which case you would have an extra push/pull day per week. If this is the case I would alternate the second push/pull day each week.
So week 1 you will do 2 push days and 1 pull.
Week 2 you will do 2 pull days and 1 push.
Below are two different 4 day splits for upper and lower body focus.
Upper Body Focus
Monday:
Push A
Tuesday:
Pull A
Thursday:
Legs
Friday:
Push B or Pull B
Lower Body Focus
Monday:
Legs
Tuesday:
Push
Thursday:
Legs
Friday:
Pull
Push Pull Legs 5 Day Split
The 5 day split is a great option as it allows you to push yourself hard and get good muscle and strength gains but also give you two days to recover before you have to go again.
There are two alternatives here for upper and lower body focused routines.
Upper Body Focus
Monday:
Push A
Tuesday:
Pull A
Wednesday:
Legs
Thursday:
Push B
Friday:
Pull B
Lower Body Focus
Monday:
Legs
Tuesday:
Push A
Wednesday:
Pull A
Thursday:
Legs
Friday:
Pull B/Push B
Push Pull Legs 6 Day Split
If you’re really looking to put on some serious size and are willing to put in the work a 6 day push pull legs split could be just what you’re looking for.
You have to make sure you’re getting enough rest, food and have recovered fully before each session. If you’re not feeling rested and fresh you might need to change things up a bit.
Here it is:
Lower Body Focus
Monday:
Push
Tuesday:
Pull
Wednesday:
Legs
Thursday:
Push
Friday:
Pull
Saturday:
Legs
Push Pull Legs for Mass
If you’re looking to put on some serious size and strength with your training program these are the steps you need to follow:
Focus on achieving progressive overload in each of your workouts.
Forget the super sets, drop sets, time under tension and other special training techniques the magazines tell you.
If you want to put on serious mass with a push pull legs routine or any workout for that matter you need to work on getting stronger each and every session.
You can accomplish this by adding volume (reps) but eventually you will need to add weight to the bar. That’s why the biggest guys in the gym usually lift the most weight.
To achieve progressive overload is simple. When you hit the upper rep range for an exercise you move up in weight.
So if you are benching 180lbs and the rep range is 4-6 as soon as you manage to lift 6 reps, the next set you would add extra weight to the bar and aim for 4+ reps again. Do this until you get to 6 reps again and add more weight.
If you are new to training you should find that you are progressing well each and every week.
If you have been training for some time you might progress a little slower but you should still be aiming to do more reps or more weight each and every session.
Rest a full 3 minutes in between sets.
If you’re wanting to lift heavy you need to make sure you are getting sufficient rest between sets to allow your muscles to recoup their strength. If you don’t allow enough rest between sets you might see your strength dropping significantly on your second and third sets.
Training heavy is incredibly demanding on your body. A deload week is a planned week where you take the weights a little lighter to allow you body to fully regain your strength and prevent any nagging aches and pains from becoming injuries.
Final Word on Push Pull Legs Workouts
Push pull legs routines are one of the simplest and most popular workouts used in the gym.
You train every muscle group in your body evenly and take advantage of heavy compound lifts to maximise muscle and strengths gains.
Give one of the workout splits in this article a go and let me know your thoughts.
Strength training has exploded in popularity over the last few years. Particularly in terms of resistance training with the surge of strength sports such as powerlifting, Olympic lifting and crossfit.
Unlike most sports, these ones focus upon the very art of getting stronger, rather than using strength as a supplementary factor along-side their skill work – getting stronger is the skill, it is the sport.
If you want to lose weight, gain muscle perform better in sport or just look better there are two things you must do, eat right and lift heavy.
Strength training isn’t just for those who want to to become the next worlds strongest man. Everybody can benefit from being stronger. If you think about it there isn’t really a situation in life where being stronger isn’t better.
With strength in sport becoming more and more popular the exercises involved, the compound ones in particular, such as the squat, the bench press and the deadlift are also being practised more and more.
However, with these being fairly technical movements it is important to understand the skill behind them, otherwise you could end up hurt or even unable to progress, which is more frustrating than anything.
Luckily for you, this guide will break down exactly how you can use strength training to enhance your life and also include a few useful ‘how-to’s on the big compound lifts you should be doing.
If you’re ready to get stronger lets begin!
What Is Strength Training?
Strength training is any form of training that will take you from your current level of strength to an even greater one. The most common, and most effective, way is through resistance training.
Now resistance training includes – weight training, resistance bands and calisthenics.
A good strength training routine will include at least 2 of these, quite often all 3. However, there is more to it than just lifting a heavier weight, or doing more reps each time – and this will be covered in a later section of this article.
A good and solid strength training programme will also include exercises and strategies to improve your posture, mobility and flexibility too.
After all we go to the gym to improve our everyday lives, part of this is our ability to move around freely. We’ve all seen the bulked up gym dude that seems to waddle between the weights at the gym. This guy may have a lot of strength but hasn’t put enough attention into maintaining flexibility throughout his body.
Without these facets you can end up training an incorrect movement pattern which will in turn lead to imbalances in parts of your body which will then lead into pain, injury or discomfort in parts of your training and every day life.
Another common example of this would be the typical gym bro who focuses so much on chest and biceps that they forget to train their back and rear shoulders – this leads to a slouched shoulder position and tight pectoral muscles which then causes the neck and shoulder area to compensate and be in pain.
Muscle balance and your biomechanics are major elements to consider when putting together a good strength routine.
If you don’t have any underlying issues then simple rules of thumb as having pulling exercises and pushing exercises at 2:1 ratio and having as many hamstring exercises as quadriceps ones will suffice for most people.
Any project you undertake should have a goal, with strength training it might be a specific weight to lift, to compete, to feel stronger, lose weight, etc.
Going for an exact goal, such as lifting a specific weight, you will need to be realistic. If you’re a beginner and hoping to hit 200kg squat quickly then you might find your ability to stick to a plan being tested as this is likely to take more than a few months to come about.
Instead focus on continually improving in your workouts each week and you will find your strength goals much more achievable.
Becoming really strong takes time. The good news is you should be able get stronger every time you go to the gym. That means if you squatted 100kgs this week, next week you should be looking to add a bit more weight or perform more reps.
This can be very rewarding as every time you are in the gym you should be pushing for those little wins (improving on last weeks numbers.)
With that in mind whenever you start a new training program, make sure you understand how long it takes to get stronger – and that sometimes achievements like full range of motion or no pain or discomfort are far more important than sheer strength.
Building strength is never about a quick fix or a 4-6 week plan (granted, you can gain strength in this time) it is a long commitment.
If you want to keep getting stronger then you need to look at it with a long term perspective. A good strength cycle will include various blocks such as hypertrophy, intensity and then strength.
The idea behind this is that the hypertrophy will stimulate more muscle growth (and a bigger muscle has more potential for strength than a smaller one), a shift upwards in intensity as the volume begins to come down and then an even bigger shift as the focus comes around more to heavier weights and less reps to really prove what you can do.
If you stick with such a plan you will definitely see a change in your body shape and its capabilities in a space of time as short as 12 weeks (this allows at least 4 weeks per block), depending upon where you are in your training you can extend or shorten this time but ideally you want to give each a block a good time to focus upon it.
Strength Training Benefits
Strength
The first and foremost benefit to strength training would be strength.
Obvious, I know, however it is easy to begin to focus too much on the by-products of it all – whether that be the postural improvements, the cardio improvements or the general ‘functionality’ of it all.
The word ‘functionality’ is used as it is quite often banded about in the fitness world with no real meaning. A good strength routine will help you in your everyday life, that to me is what people are trying to define when they mention functionality.
There are some helpful side effects from strength training too, such as: –
Increase in muscle size;
Fat loss;
Postural improvements;
Improved athleticism;
Injury prevention, and;
Technique.
Each of these are can be excellent to bring in, depending upon your goals. The measure at which you achieve these can be managed by the programming of the factors behind your strength training plan (more on this later).
Muscle Mass.
Another one of those common misconceptions you may hear about training is how you need to do high reps with a low weight in order to increase muscle mass. This isn’t strictly true, but nor is it strictly false.
Generally, you would need to stimulate the muscles with reps in the ranges of 6-12 but the intensity would need to be heavy enough to be a challenge but also light enough to get the prescribed reps.
However, it has been shown that training in the strength zone (4-6 reps) of intensity is also likely to increase muscle mass as long as volume is sufficient.
If you’re looking to gain muscle the rule is simple. If you don’t get stronger you won’t get bigger!
A good strength training plan will have a focus on hypertrophy, the gaining of muscle mass – towards the start of the plan, just with an overall focus on absolute strength gain by the end of the plan.
Fat Loss.
Someone with more lean mass, ie more muscle, is likely to have better control of their metabolism when it comes to dieting to lose fat. There is also no point in trying to lose fat without having some muscle mass there
If you lose 10lbs of weight with no distinction between fat and muscle then you’re likely to be left a bit weaker and less healthy. If you are wanting to look better you shouldn’t just be focusing on weight loss. You want to lose weight and add muscle.
The same holds true if you’re a woman. Don’t be afraid of getting stronger and putting on a bit of muscle while losing fat. You’re not going to end up looking like a meaty bodybuilder unless you’re using steroids. In fact your body will look more toned and healthy with a good amount of muscle mass and low body fat.
Strength training works well in any sort of health regime – whether it be with a goal of getting stronger, bigger or losing fat. It always has its place and after all there is never a time where being stronger isn’t a benefit.
Posture Improvements.
This is one that a lot of people don’t always equate with strength training.
To explain it, imagine Bob.
Bob is a person who has an office job – you’re instantly thinking of slouched shoulders here, and you’re right to – he decides to start going to the gym.
When he gets to the gym he erroneously decides to focus just on his chest and biceps – after all, these are the only muscles people are going to see – meaning he completely neglects his back, neck and shoulder muscles.
As his chest and biceps get bigger (and tighter) the muscles on the opposite side of his body then stretch and there is a massive imbalance between the front and the posterior of his body.
You can imagine how with a bigger and tighter chest and biceps his shoulders would then be drawn forward, towards the chest, and downwards the biceps.
So how would you fix this?
After all, it is a result of poor strength training and can lead to issues.
To correct an imbalance like this, you would have to balance it out. it is likely that you are going to need a good deal of mobility work in your shoulders, while also strengthening the back and triceps.
A sports massage can help, but if you find yourself in this position you just need to get back to basics and begin strengthening the backside of your body until you get back into alignment. You might even want to take it lighter on the chest and biceps exercises for a little while.
Obviously it is better if you avoid this all together and follow a structured strength training plan to prevent any imbalances and avoid any pain or discomfort that would come with them.
When strength training is done right your posture could be improved from the start rather than being exaggerated to the point of more pain and more of an issue.
Improved Athleticism.
As strength is never a weakness the gaining of strength can only lead to improved functionality and athletic performance.
Strength will tend to lead to increased control over a certain movement or skill due to the range of force or pressure you can apply to it. This greater control can lead to either an advanced level of skill or at least the appearance of such.
Think of it in terms of football or rugby, if one player has the ball and the other tackles them, which is more likely to come out of it successful?
Probably the stronger one!
Strength will also affect your other attributes such as your speed your stamina and your pain threshold.
The extra muscle you have can help you to take more hits if your sport is full contact, such as boxing or rugby – a stronger contender is likely to absorb more hits without their performance suffering greatly.
Another factor is a point that will be touched on soon, is that going on a strength training regimen will also lead to better movement patterns due to your technique work and biomechanical improvements.
If you learn to squat, or deadlift, properly without form issues such as valgus knees or hip impingement your general movement will be better and you will be more able to build strength in the vital areas surrounding the posterior chain (in this example).
Protection from injuries.
You might be concerned that starting a strength training program could lead to you developing an injury.
The fact of the matter is it is often the opposite.
Yes if you are training with poor form or overtraining the front side of your body you can develop injuries.
However with proper form, strength training is not only safe but will build your body into a position that actually helps you to stay injury free during your daily activities.
This is the big one for a good deal of people, and rightly so. This reason for training transcends the regular aesthetic or professional goals (nothing wrong with them, many people have them, including me) as it relates to your health, longevity and general well-being.
A good strength training routine will lead to increase muscle, stronger and thicker joints as well as stronger and thicker bones.
Over time heavy impact work increases the activity of osteoblasts within your body which in turn leads to bigger and stronger bones – now this might not be something you’ve considered but when you get to middle aged, or elderly, and you fall over you might find yourself thankful for your years of pumping iron as you will likely walk away far less injured then your more sedentary friends.
You may also find yourself simply able to stop things crushing you, or stop yourself from falling down or of something, such as a mountain or a high ledge. This last example only seems silly until your climbing a mountain.
This also links in with the earlier section on postural improvements. The way to fix certain posture issues is to strengthen the weak area, and lengthen the tight area – strength training and coaches should take any postural imbalances into account and apply their strength training knowledge accordingly.
Technique and Form.
In a similar vein to protecting yourself from injuries and postural improvements, your training should focus upon fixing your form and technique before it shifts its focus to your strength gains.
A movement with a poor foundation (ie – bad form) should not have strength built upon it.
Rather the form should be focused upon long before any weight or load is added in order to improve and strengthen the foundation first.
This will obviously benefit your ability to perform the specific exercise but it will also cross over into your real life and how you move about every day.
Someone who squats with valgus knees (knees which collapse inwards on the ascent on squat) are likely to suffer from an imbalance in their hips or glutes, which could also show in how they stand, walk or run.
Addressing the cause of this problem, and not just the symptoms, can lead to you finding that once the imbalance is addressed you’re more comfortable in every day life and can move better in general, as well as during their squat session, which they may also find that they can now add more weight to.
Summary.
Now that we have examined the positives and the potential advantages or partaking in a strength training routine, we will explore the nuances of strength training. That is – the exercises and their programming.
Compound vs Isolation Exercises
The compound lifts, in particular ‘The Big 3’ (squat, bench and deadlift), are exercises in which you use an array of muscles or joints in the same movement.
This is as opposed to isolation movements which will only use one muscle (you guessed it) in isolation.
The compound exercises use a larger cross section of muscles and joints, so it is on these where you will show the most strength.
Think of how much you can bench press as opposed to a curl.
Sticking with the bench press as an example, it may only consist of the pectoralis muscles, the deltoids and the triceps but the pectoralis is a massive muscle (comparatively for the upper body) but this explains why it is one of the best measures of upper body strength there is available.
Keep in mind at this point that, while, a bigger muscle isn’t necessarily a stronger muscle, it does have the potential to be stronger and this links in with why most strength training routines will have a hypertrophy element at the beginning of them.
A lifter with a weak bench press might benefit from some chest, shoulder or triceps hypertrophy in order to eventually improve their lagging bench press.
So, yes exercises like flyes and skull crushers might occasionally find their place within a strength training routine but they won’t be treated as a heavy or intense exercise – they will purely be there to stimulate a hypertrophy response to aid the big compound lifts.
The Big Three Compound Lifts
Compounds lifts incorporate any exercise that uses more than one muscle group or joint action within its movement, however, there are bigger or more popular ones than others.
The most popular within the strength training community would be the squat, bench press and deadlift.
A good deal of other compounds are variations, regression or progressions of these.
As a result of their prevalence here we will examine each of them to garner a better understanding of them.
The Squat.
The squat is an exercise that uses the quadriceps, the hamstrings, the glutes and the back. To put it really simply you place a bar across your trapezius, or shoulders (more on that in a moment), then you squat down to a position where your hips are below the top of your thighs and then power back up to a standing position.
Squats are a major exercise in most leg workouts, however in reality they are a whole body movement.
There are two distinct bar positions which can be used to squat – High bar and Low bar.
The majority of people will learn high bar, and this will be in the inventory of the recreational gym goer too.
High bar is where the bar is placed across the trapezius muscle near the neck. This position works best for people who squat with their back in a more upright position.
Low bar can be a bit trickier to find the best position.
The best way to find the correct position is to set the bar up in a high bar position against the rack and to slide the bar down your back until you find a second racking position, you’ll feel where it sits nicely.
In fact, most people will find that they cannot physically slide the bar down any further as this racking position, or ‘shelf’, gets in the way of the bar’s path. The low bar position is usually about 2 inches lower than where it would be for a high bar squat.
With the bar being in this position you may find that your hand width is affected. You will likely also notice that your wrists, elbows and shoulders will feel a little uncomfortable due to the rotation needed to grasp the bar correctly.
Here is a visual representation of the difference in bar position between high bar (left) and low bar (right).
Genetics play a large role in which bar position you choose –
High Bar requires – greater ankle flexion, shorter relative femur length, longer torso length, wider stance and more quadriceps dominance.
Also, high bar squats respond best to an elevation in the heel, so this is where weightlifting shoes can come in handy. Low bars respond better to no heel elevation, so flat shoes are good for this.
High Bar vs Low Bar
High bar is easier on the shoulders, wrists and elbows and feels like a more natural position. That’s why most people start out with high bar squats.
Squatting low bar can increase your squat by 10-20% by incorporating more hips into the lift. That’s why powerlifters prefer to squat low bar and the reason I changed from high bar to low bar.
If low bar feels too uncomfortable stick with high bar but I recommend trying both variations to see which works best for you.
The Bench Press.
The bench press was mentioned at the start of this section and it was said that it was one of the best measures of upper body strength in a your repertoire.
However, an argument could be made for the push press or even the barbell row, which uses the posterior side of the upper body and performs a pull instead of a pushing movement.All three of these movements are great, but we are going to focus on the bench press here.
The barbell bench press is a staple in any good chest workout.
A bench press is when you lie down on a bench (on your back, of course) unrack the bar over your chest, although its more like your face/neck, and bring it down to your chest (all the way), pause it, and then press it back up.
With doing this you are using the pectoralis muscles, the triceps and the deltoids (you are also using the latissimus dorsi (the back) to bring the bar down in a controlled manner on the descent phase).
When lowering the bar it is important that you keep in mind the angle that your arms are at in relation to your torso.
The mistake a lot of people make is by holding their elbows at 90 degrees to their body.
This is incorrect.
Doing that might allow you to lift a little bit more in the short term but opens you up to all sorts of shoulder injuries.
The other less common mistake is tucking your arms in too close to your sides.
You should aim to lower the weight with your arms at a 50 to 60 degree angle to your body.
The image on the far right shows the proper angle your arms should be when performing the incline and flat barbell bench press.
The powerlifting style of bench press can often get strange looks from the uninitiated due to its potentially wider grip, strange foot position and bizarre back arch.
The reason for this is that the rule book states that your feet need to be flat on the floor, and your butt, shoulders and head need to be in contact with the bench. There is no mention of where your back should be, and by raising the back (and therefore the chest) up you are minimising the range of motion in which the bar has to travel, and this should result in more weight being shifted. Implementing an arch also leads to you maintaining a better tightness throughout both portions of the movement.
The Deadlift.
This exercise uses the most muscles of any we’ve gone over so far. It uses:
It probably would have been quicker to explain which muscles it doesn’t use.
Due to the amount of muscle groups used it is likely to be the strongest of ‘The Big 3’.
However, some of the bigger guys and gals will tend to find that they are better at squatting than deadlifting due to their proportions. Just check out some of the top 120+ powerlifters like Ray Williams.
The deadlift is where you have a barbell on the floor from a dead stop (hence the name) and you pick it up and lift it to hip height so that your knees, hips, and shoulders are locked out.
Conventional or Sumo?
As with the bar positions on the squat, there are two main types of deadlift which can be employed (while there are also many other variations that can be used to isolate different muscles).
The conventional deadlift is very narrow. You will have a narrow foot stance and as a result you will have a narrow hand spacing upon the bar (just wider than your feet).
The set up for the conventional deadlift will look something like –
Set your feet. Meaning to set the width of your feet as well as find where they go in relation to the bar. Your foot width is normally roughly heels in line with your shoulders and with your toes pointed out a little, for increased glute involvement.
Next you will have it so that the bar is covering the bottom shoelace/bottom of your toes. This will leave about an inch gap between your shin and the bar. This gives you enough space to get down to the bar whilst staying tight without falling over. For the rest of the setup we don not want to roll the bar towards or away from us as we have it exactly where it needs to be.
Bend down to grab the bar. With stiff knees bend down until you can grab the bar with your hands just either side of your feet. Then bring your knees forward until the shin touches the bar. Make sure you don’t roll the bar when you do this. Push your knees out slightly into your arms.
Squeeze your chest up. At this point you want to squeeze the chest up (without dropping your hips) so that you have a neutral spine position. It is important to keep your spine neutral throughout the lift and not allow it to round down. When squeezing your chest up make sure that you don’t drop your hips. You don’t want them so low so that you have “squat” the bar off of the floor.
You might also find that if you do start too low you might put a lot of effort into the movement when in reality all you are doing at this point is waiting for your hips to get into the correct starting place before they move.
Lift it. And do so in a controlled manner. Don’t just grip it and rip it, this is likely to result in your upper back just giving up.
The vast majority of people simply don’t have the upper back strength to do this without their shoulders caving. Initially pulling like this can result in the bar coming off of the floor very slowly but you’ll get used to it and it will result in you maintaining your shape throughout the whole movement.
While lifting it the bar should stay in contact with your legs throughout the whole movement. Return the bar to a dead stop on the floor to complete the movement.
Here’s a video explaining the deadlift process.
Now that we have looked at conventional, lets take a whirl at sumo:
The Sumo deadlift, however, involves having a very wide stance with your feet turned out. Your arms will be fairly narrow.
The sumo deadlift has a shorter range of motion to travel than the conventional does but it does not suit everyone. Generally, it requires a longer relative femur length and short torso length. However, this does not mean every low bar squatter will sumo deadlift, as arm length also plays a large part in the set up.
Set your Feet. Stand with your feet wide, so wide so that when you bend down in this position your shins are roughly vertical. This may take some work, especially if your hips/adductors/ glutes or even your ankles are tight.
Push the knees out, and keep the back tight. Grab the bar at, roughly, shoulder width. This means that your arms will be pretty much straight down.
Find your hip position. Get your hips and shoulders aligned so your back is not arched. You don’t want the hips too low as this is likely to curve your lower back. If your hips are too high you’re likely to just ‘conventional deadlift’ it off of the floor. By which I mean that a sumo pull should be less of a hinge movement than a conventional deadlift.
Begin with the feet. Dig your heels in and push the floor away, while you do this imagine that you are pushing your feet out to the sides as well.
Knees before hips. Your knees are likely to lock as the bar passes them, this differs from conventional where your knees and hips will lock out together.
Lockout! Stand up to straight, do not hyperextend but this is where you lock out your hips.
Bonus 4th Compound exercise – The military press.
We mentioned this earlier, the push press is a variation on this. The military press uses similar muscles to the bench press but as you are stood vertically it virtually removes the pectoralis muscles from the movement which then makes it weaker as a strength exercise.
To do this exercise you will be stood upright in front of a barbell placed on a rack, hopefully at a good height for you to unrack from without hurting yourself or falling over.
You will then unrack the bar and place it in front of your shoulders and above your chest, keeping your upper body tight, you will then press the bar directly upwards (avoiding hitting yourself in the face on the way, ideally.)
You will then return the bar to the starting position (not hitting your face again) and you will have completed a rep.
Your foot stance on this is whichever you find yourself strongest really.
Most people will go with a foot stance of about shoulder width, others might find that they go for a split stance, in that they have one foot in front of the other. This is one of those things to experiment with and see which is strongest.
Bonus 5th Compound exercise – Barbell row.
The bench press and military press are pushing movements in that they involve the muscles which push objects away or off of our bodies, such as the pectorals, the triceps and anterior deltoids.
The barbell, or bent over row, involves muscles which bring muscles in towards the body, ie the biceps and latissimus dorsii.
The pulling muscles are generally a little bit weaker, naturally, than the pushing ones, this is for survival reasons really – it is more useful to push an object off of us, or at least slow it down, for survival than it is to pull one towards us.
The barbell row is used mainly to develop the latissimus dorsii and therefore is a fantastic strength and size builder and should be included in your back workouts.
To do it you will need to learn how to hinge your hips, if you can do a good conventional deadlift you should find that this position isn’t too hard to accomplish.
Either pick up the barbell from the floor or a low rack, hinge yourself so that you are bent at your hips (not bending your back.)
Stick your butt back and have a slight bend in the knee (you don’t want your knees locked here, your back will be straight so straight legs will put too much pressure on the posterior chain.)
Now the barbell should be hanging from your straight arms, you then want to row it in towards your rib cage whilst maintaining this position – meaning that you are staying tight and not sacrificing your back shape.
Isolations in comparison.
You might be looking at the muscles involved in the exercise above and wondering why you would need to do isolations from here. Surely all of these exercises cover and incorporate each muscle I want to target, what more could I need?
Technically, you’re right. Those exercises will get you very far and they will improve the strength of your body as a whole and as a unit. Depending on your goals those compound lifts alone could be enough.
However isolation exercises can still play a part in your workouts to help build muscle and target lagging muscle groups.
Some people are naturally dominant in some aspects depending upon their build, injury history and skill set.
For example, someone who is glute dominant on squats might find that they naturally favour using their glutes and hamstrings to power up through ascent on a squat and can get very little quad involvement in their squat.
To adapt to this, this person might include front squats, leg press or leg extensions in order to stimulate some quad hypertrophy.
Again, you might have questions, such as – why would this matter? Someone who is glute, or posterior chain dominant in a squat will find that they fold over a bit when coming up on a squat, this could result in them just being taken forward or off of their bar path on the way up and lead to them failing the squat.
Also, earlier in this article a fair bit was mentioned about muscular imbalances, over developed glutes (compared to the quads and hip flexors) could lead to an imbalance in the posture, movement and general comfort and pain of a person.
Programming
Programming incorporates a variety of factors – it is more than just a coach writing you a programme and leaving it at that. A good coach will have considered the factors involved in writing your plan and not just throwing you a plan together which may or may not work.
The elements that absolutely need to be considered in a good strength training plan would be –
Volume.
Intensity.
Frequency.
Fatigue.
Progressive overload.
Over reaching/compensation.
Rest and recovery.
Once all of these factors are considered for the individual lifter they can then be manipulated into acoherent, effective plan that will see you reach your goals.
Volume
Volume has been shown to be the decisive factor in your training, particularly in relation to strength and size increases.
Volume incorporates:
Time or duration
Distance covered/weight lifted
The repetitions of an exercise performed
The second and third bullet points are the most relevant for this article. The way to determine volume is with the formula of:
Weight lifted x sets x repetitions.
For example, if you were to squat 100kg for four sets of eight repetitions this would equate to a volume of 3200kg.
It is all well and good to be conscious of the daily volume but the weekly, or even monthly, volume also needs to be observed.
If your volume of this week beats the last week’s then you are progressing.
Intensity
Intensity is the qualitative variable to volume’s quantitative one.
The more work that you do within a single session, then the more intense that session is.
The intensity depends upon the load, speed of performance and variation of rest between sets and repetitions. One point often overlooked about intensity is the psychological effect it can have.
In the case of strength/size gains intensity would depend mainly upon the load utilised in a workout, for example multiple repetitions at 80% of your 1 rep max would be a lot more intense than singles at 70% of your 1 rep max.
Relationship between Volume and Intensity.
As the volume goes up in a workout the intensity should come down, and vice versa.
Whichever variable you decide to focus on will have a different effect upon your body’s adaptation.
Finding the optimal balance of both is a tricky task. Strength athletes could use Prilepin’s chart to this end.
Understanding Prilepin’s chart.
The first column bases the percentage on a single repetition maximum lift. For instance, if someone’s 1RM deadlift is 400 lbs. 90% of that amount would 360 lbs.
The second column suggest the optimal number of repetitions per set. So as the percentages increase the number of reps decrease. This is designed to mitigate fatigue and limit the stress on the nervous system which can lead to overtraining.
The third column shows the optimal number of reps per workout for strength gains. You will see again as the percenage increases the optimal number of repetitions decrease, with the biggest decrease from the 80% to the 90%+.
The fourth column is a range of reps based on the percentages. You will see that the optimal range reps is right in the middle of the total range. Performing any less reps than the minimum number will not result in enough stimulation to get stronger.
Your Training Level and Frequency
In order to organise your frequency you need to know what you are training for and how experienced you are with it. The latter part is included as while it might be optimal to train bench press 4x a week, if you’re a complete beginner who has never done bench press once a week on a regular basis jumping into 4x quickly will be disastrous for your upper body as well as your adherence.
The main thing is to organise your volume into a reasonable and manageable schedule. As you get more advanced you will need more and more volume. Frequency becomes more important here as you can organise the extra volume in such a way for you to recover.
Recovery
If you get to a point in your training where you are recovering fine but not progressing then you have reached the dreaded plateau.
The way around this is generally to add more volume (you would reduce volume if you were plateaued and struggling to recover) and in order to do this you might need to add another day of training.
You should always be training in such a way that you have recovered adequately for the next session. If you aren’t recovering properly then it is likely that you are doing too much volume.
Alternatively, you shouldn’t be feeling 100% refreshed, especially if you are quite far into a training block.
So, basically the more advanced you are the more days you should be training.
Beginners could progress with a full body plan performed twice a week, whereas a more advanced lifter might have an upper/lower split or even different body parts on different days.
A common mistake with beginners is that they try to run before you can walk.
Fatigue.
Fatigue is one of those factors that you will really feel. It might be something that you’ll try to avoid, but you really shouldn’t.
Fatigue is a good measurement of where you are in your training.
As the volume and/or intensity increases, so will your fatigue.
However, once you then remove that fatigue, you will find that you feel much, much stronger.
This may sound like an easy way to show your strength often but it takes time and needs to be built up over time.
You won’t simply get stronger overnight and the amount of volume and intensity you need to put your body through to really get stronger is very stressful upon you and your central nervous system.
Which means that you shouldn’t go through this cycle of peaking too much, otherwise you risk damaging yourself, as well as simply just not getting stronger.
Fatigue is:
“The consequence of physical work, which, as a result, reduces the capacity of the neuromuscular and metabolic systems to continue physical activity.”
In layman’s terms, this means that the more training you do, the less energy you can produce to do it.
Sounds pretty obstructive to your training, right?
We know that generally with enough rest, be that in between sets or sessions, we can recover our energy stores and get back to it.
The idea of fatigue dispersing within a session is generally correct.
However, this is only in relation to acute fatigue – which is fatigue built up over a short period of time and work.
The other, nastier type of fatigue is chronic fatigue, this builds up and lasts over a period of days, weeks, and sometimes even, months.
Acute fatigue will not always dissipate in between sessions, particularly if you train with a good amount of frequency. A failure to manage fatigue will result in a drop in performance, adaptation and will also likely increase your risk of injury.
Why do we need fatigue?
The human body is naturally quite lazy. We could just plod along without growing in strength or size quite easily.
However, if you’re reading this, its unlikely that’s what you want to do. We need to push our bodies away from this easy platform and push on, and the way to do this is with overload and progressive overload.
Overload is when the training stimulus (weight, reps or sets) is within the maximal threshold of the adaptive system, and; the stimulus is on average greater than any in recent history.
So progressive overload, put simply is the increase of the work done during a workout. This increase can be done via the weight lifted, the repetitions per set or the number of sets themselves.
By training within this threshold, your body is forced to recover to a point wherein it is stronger than it was previously. Training in this area taxes us, depletes our energy and recovery ability, that is, it causes fatigue.
Using Fatigue FOR You –
Various programs will utilise fatigue in order to push you further into that adaptive overload threshold mentioned above.
While pretty much any kind of increase in volume will lead to further fatigue and technically more overload, it needs to be approached smarter than this.
The amount of fatigue, and therefore stress needs to be managed and manipulated via careful tracking and planning. This can be done via such methods as determining your MRV (Maximum Recoverable Volume) for yourself and the phase you’re in or by tracking and manipulating the volume with specific fatigue work.
Manipulating the fatigue is important as once we have adjusted to a particular training volume we begin to recover to that volume. If some of this volume is removed for a short time, your body will still recover as efficiently from the same volume as before.
Meaning that if your body is used to being fatigued down to 70% and then recovering up to 100%, you could all of a sudden train so that you are only fatiguing to 75% and your body will still recover by the previous 30%, putting you, for a short time, at roughly 105%.
This is why ‘over reaching’ is used in sports such as powerlifting. The athlete will be worked to a point close to over training in order to take advantage of the compensation effect. Meaning that, if planned correctly, a powerlifter could turn up on meet day at something like 105%.
Rest/Recovery
Recovery must become a daily part of your training plan, allow yourself this time to recover so that you can truly give it your all the next time around.
There are also various factors that need to be considered when looking at recovery rates, which include: –
– Age: Athletes over 25 need longer to recover. Whereas athletes under 18 need more time to facilitate overcompensation.
– Gender: Female athletes have a lower recovery rate due to endocrinal differences, such as the lack of testosterone.
– Environment :Training at high altitude or different temperatures.
– Mobility/freedom of movement: tight myofascial tissue makes it difficult for the blood supply to deliver the necessary nutrients.
– Type of muscle fibre: Fast twitch fatigues much quicker than slow twitch
– Type of exercise/energy system used: an aerobic session would take longer to recover than a sprint session
– Psychological factors: This effects hormone production, a negative athlete will likely produce more stress hormones which can have detrimental physiological effects
– Injury: Another hormone related one, an injury will lead to increased levels of catabolic hormones and ammonia
– Diet: if the diet isn’t sufficient then the body is not getting what it requires for metabolism, creating energy or muscular reconstruction. If you are looking to put on muscle and strength check out this article on clean bulking.
– Efficient energy transfer: A better conditioned athlete will be more efficient at turning fuel into energy and dealing with the waste products from this transfer.
That is quite a list for you all there! All of these things need considering when it comes to your recovery.
When it comes to recovery you can try various means, such as:
– Kinotherapy: This is where you rapidly discard of the waste products in your muscles, such as Lactic Acid. This would entail either some light aerobic work or stretching. More commonly known as ‘Active Rest’
– Complete rest: This is basically just sleep. It is recommended that you 8-10 hours sleep when you are an active athlete. Not all of this sleep has to come at night, 10-20% can be made up in power naps throughout the day.
– Massage
– Heat Therapy
– Contrast baths/showers: This is one I use, beware though if you finish with cold you’ll feel more awake, but if you finish with warm you’ll feel drowsy quickly. Keep that in mind if you’re about to drive home!
– Deload Week: This should be a scheduled week in your training that you back off the weights a bit to allow your body to fully recover and continue growing stronger. How often you should deload depends on a lot of factors but scheduling one into your workouts every 6-8 weeks is a good rule of thumb.
This is just a brief overview of the factors involved in, and the ways of incorporating, rest and recovery into your training plans.
This is just a brief overview of the factors involved in, and the ways of incorporating, rest and recovery into your training plans.
Conclusion
The information you have from this article is not exactly a straight forward “do this and you’ll get really strong” – it is more of a bundle of tools. If you read through this and understand what it all means you will then be able to put all of the factors together into a strength training programme which will then see you towards your goals.
None of the elements are more or less important than their counterparts, in fact, they all need to work together, and be manipulated in such a way that they help you to achieve your goals in terms of strength and size.
As an example you cannot ignore volume when working out intensity, or vice versa, they are just factors involved in your training. Knowing how to manipulate these into a coherent fashion, along with good solid movement patterns in your exercises will put you on the right path. It may take some playing around – some people respond better to more frequency, others to higher volume intra-session, it will just take some time to figure what works best for you.
Basically, the information here is a guide. Use it and experiment it a little bit, you might not get it right first try but you will be much closer than if you tried without this comprehensive guide.
You either love it or hate it, but the fact that you are reading this article would indicate that you are looking to get more out of your leg workouts.
If you want to build a strong, athletic physique, a set of powerful legs are the foundation.
That means you need to focus on the right leg exercises to build mass and strength.
A common occurrence in guys is to focus on the chest, back and arms and fail to give the lower body the emphasis that it needs and deserves.
I get it, leg training can be hard, and it can be easy to give in to the temptations of not turning up to the gym on leg days or making a last minute change to your routine to hit a second chest day this week.
I have to warm you though that focusing your workouts on the upper body “show muscles” that look good in singlets and you can end up looking like this.
Leg training can be rewarding, not only by giving you a set of tree trunks for legs, but yes it is possible to start loving your leg workouts as much as your other gym workouts.
Having strong legs will help you in all facets of life.
If you’re an athlete and want to be more explosive and powerful, proper leg training will help you.
If you’re a normal guy or gal having a strong base will help you in all kinds of activities.
If you’re all about the looks, your physique isn’t complete without a strong, muscular set of legs.
The bottom line is no matter who you are you need to be training your legs.
In this article we are going to break down the best leg workouts and exercises that you can do to get bigger, stronger and more toned legs and start to enjoy training legs.
The Low Down on the Muscles in Your Lower Body.
Before you figure out how to build the muscles in your legs you first need to know what they are and how they work together.
The major muscle groups in your legs are.
The glutes
The quadriceps
The hamstrings
The calves
The Glutes
The gluteus muscles or glutes are made up of three muscles that form your backside.
Gluteus Maximus
Gluteus Minimus
Gluteus Medius
This is how they look:
A well developed butt does more than just look great in jeans.
The gluteus muscles play a key role in stabilising our body throughout our day to day lives. They are also the recruited to generate force in lifts like the deadlift and squat.
Sedentary lifestyles that involve a lot of sitting can result in the glutes becoming overstretched and underused.
A typical leg workout comprised of compound exercises will activate the glutes and train them sufficiently.
However if you feel your glutes need extra attention or just want your booty to pop then there are some specific exercises that can target them directly like the hip thrust.
The Quadriceps
The quadriceps are the four (hence the name) large muscles that make up the top, front of your legs.
The four muscles are:
The vastus lateralis.
The vastus medialis.
The vastus intermedius.
The rectus femoris.
This is how the muscles of the quads look:
The quadriceps muscles work together to extend (straighten) the knee.
The quads are the “show ” muscles of your legs. They make up the bulk of the size of your legs and are what creates that tear drop effect down next to your knee.
Leg exercises like the back squat, front squat and lunges are all great movements to train the quads.
Hamstrings
The hamstrings are three muscles that form the back of your legs.
Semitendinosus
Semimembranosus
Biceps femoris
This is what they look like:
The hamstrings are responsible for knee flexion, hip extension and rotation on the knee joint when flexed.
Although the hamstrings are a crucial muscle they can often get overlooked in workout routines. As the quads are bigger and more visible they often get the most attention in the gym.
As with any muscle groups, training one side of the body more than the other will lead to imbalances which not only look strange but can lead to injury.
If you think that squatting alone will be enough to train your hamstrings you are mistaken.
Squats are a great lower bod exercise, however the quads do the predominant amount of work in the lift.
So it is beneficial to include exercises like the romanian deadlift in your workout that focus more one the posterior muscles of the legs.
Calves
The calves are made up of two muscles on the back of your lower leg.
The gastrocnemius
The soleus
This is what they look like:
The calves are the thorn in the side of many a lifter.
They’re small stubborn muscles that can take what seems like an eternity to grow.
While some people won the genetic lottery and have developed nice, big calves the rest of use have to work hard to grow out of our toothpicks.
Leg Training Principles
When looking to train your legs to grow muscle naturally there are many ways that people are told to go about it.
There are machines, bodyweight programs, and free weights. You can do heavier, strength style training for less reps or lighter weights for more reps.
When it comes to leg training here are the principles you need to follow:
Heavy Compound Exercises
The best type of training for natural lifters is heavy compound lifts. To build muscle you have to put a lot of overload onto your legs. Without and increase in overload your legs will not need to grow. This means you need to load up on the basic compound lifts like squats, leg presses and romanian deadlifts in the low rep ranges.
While bodybuilding magazines may be pushing other fancy high rep routines with drop sets and supersets, this is not the best way to go.
The common thinking behind higher rep training is that that it is safer on your joints, so you can do more volume and grow bigger without risking an injury.
The problem is that the people that high volume training works best for are usually on steroids. They can do rep after rep and continue to grow without risking an injury on their tendons and ligaments which wouldn’t be able to handle heavier loads at that same amount of volume.
So stear clear of the machines and don’t be afraid to squat heavy!
Progressive Overload
If you are looking to build muscle this should should be your one focus. If you don’t continue to get stronger you won’t continue to get bigger.
This means that you need to track your workouts to make sure each time you walk into the gym you know what you need to do to improve on last session.
Each session you should be focusing on getting an extra rep than you did last session.
So lets say for example you did the barbell back squat and performed 4 reps at 250 lbs. The next session you train you would want to aim for 5 reps at 250 lbs.
If you are training in the 4-6 rep range you would want to build that up until you can hit 6 reps. Once you get 6 reps, your next set you will add more weight and aim for 4+ reps again.
Leg training sins
When training your legs there are a lot of common mistakes you can make.
Make sure you avoid these 3 sins of leg training:
-Focusing on high rep training
As we explained before, if you want to put on size and strength then you need to be lifting heavy.
In fact you should aim for the majority of your leg exercises to be compound movements and heavy lifting (80 to 85% of 1RM and higher.)
-Doing the wrong exercises
Too many people spend too much time on the machines at the gym. Machines like the leg extension and other isolation exercises don’t allow you to lift heavy weight. Make sure the bulk of your exercises are heavy compound lifts and save the isolation movements to the end of you workout.
-Using poor technique
Half reps are only part of the problem here. You need to make sure you are going all the way down in your squats but also avoid other common mistakes like rounding your lower back and bowing the knees in. After all, you can get bigger if you’re injured.
Volume
An important and sometimes overlooked part of training is getting the right volume. By volume I am referring to the amount of weekly reps you perform on each major muscle group.
If you do too little volume then your training will progress slowly. The other mistake is to go out guns blazing and do too much volume which can also lead to overtraining in the long run.
This becomes important to be aware of if you are focusing on heavy weightlifting as the rule goes:
The heavier you train, the lower your weekly volume needs to be.
Training with heavier weights requires a longer recovery period. This means you can’t do as much every week.
When training with weights in the range of 80+% of your 1rm, reviews have shown optimal volume to be around 60 to 70 reps every 5 to 7 days.
Rep Ranges:
Your legs will respond best to heavy compound lifts and progressive overload. I like to aim for the 4-6 rep range. This allows you to lift heavy and build the maximum amount of muscle.
Best Leg Exercises
Now to the part you’ve been waiting for. When it comes to leg workouts there are dozens of different leg exercises that you can use. Of the many exercises available there are a few that stand tall as the best options to add real size and strength to your legs.
The best exercises to add real size and strength to your legs are:
Barbell Back Squat
You’re probably not surprised that the squat is at the top of the list of leg exercises that you need to be doing.
The barbell back squat is a full body compound movement however a large amount of work is done by the legs.
People can often say that the squat is an unsafe exercise or that it’s bad for your knees. This is only the case when the squat is performed with incorrect form.
Here is how to correctly (and safely) perform the barbell back squat.
Barbell Front Squat
The barbell front squat is a variation of the back squat that puts more emphasis on your quads than the back squat (which involves more hamstring). The other benefit of the front squats is it puts less stress on your knees and lower back, which can be beneficial if you have problems in those areas.
The front squat can feel awkward at first but the more you do it the the better it will feel.
This is how to perform the front squat.
Lunge
The lunge can be done with either a barbell across your back or with dumbbells in your hands.
The barbell lunge is a great exercise for your legs.
Here is how to perform the exercise correctly.
Leg Press
The leg press is my favourite machine for training legs.
There is a couple of variations of leg press machines. There is the more upright variation that usually has a weight stack and you press the weight straight out and back.
Then there is the 45 degree angle variation. I prefer this one as you aren’t limited by the weight in the stack and you can get a better range of motion.
The calf raise is the standard calf training exercise. There are a lot of variations that you can perform during your workouts. The 3 ways I like to perform calf raises are:
Standing
Seated
With the leg press
I like to rotate between these variations of calf raises on my leg days.
Give yourself a full 3 minutes rest between each set. If this sounds long to you, that’s okay. If you’re going to be lifting heavy you need to give your body time to recoup strength before going again.
Once you can complete 6 reps on an exercise it is time to add more weight.
Remember the golden rule of muscle building.
Progressive overload
You have to continue to add weight to the bar if you want your legs to grow.
You’ve probably heard that compound exercises are a great way to stack on muscle and increase your strength.
If you’re looking to gain strength there is no question that your workout should be featured heavily with compound movements.
If you are looking to build muscle and put on size some argue that isolation movements are safer and will get you the same results.
In this article you’ll learn the pros and cons of compound exercises and whether they fit your fitness goals. We’ll also cover some of the best compound exercises to use in your workouts.
What is a Compound Exercise?
A compound exercise is a movement that uses two or more joints and muscle groups to complete the lift.
So for example a deadlift involves the ankles, knees and hip. The deadlift is a whole body movement but the quads, glutes, hamstrings, traps and rhomboids are responsible for the majority of the load.
Compare this to a movement like a preacher curl. With the preacher curl the only joint that is moving is the elbow and the purpose of the exercise is to isolate the bicep muscle.
So a deadlift would be considered a compound exercise whereas a preacher curl wouldn’t.
Compound Exercise Benefits
Compound exercises lay a foundation of strength and muscle that will cary across into any other activity you are engaging in.
One of the biggest mistakes people make when they’re working out is misunderstanding the importance of compound exercises.
Heck, I even made this mistake when I started out.
I used to follow the traditional bodybuilding magazine advice that would recommend doing lots of high rep isolation exercises in my workouts.
I did start to see an improvement in my physique but it wasn’t quite where I wanted to be.
Now I have changed my workouts to focus more heavily on compound movements that allow me to improve my strength and as a result build more muscle.
Here are a few reasons why compound exercises should be the main exercises you focus on in your workouts.
They train many muscle groups at once:
The first big benefit of compound exercises is that they allow you to train multiple muscle groups in the one movement. This means you can do less sets of different exercises and make better results.
A workout routine based around compound exercises is much quicker than one that requires you to do isolation movements for each muscle group. The more muscle groups that you hit in the one movement the more overall strength and muscle you will build from that exercise. That is why the deadlift is such a great exercise.
They allow you to lift heavier weights
Because you are using multiple muscle groups compound exercises give you the ability to lift heavier weights.
This will help grow your strength through the roof. Lifting heavier weights also allows you to progressively overload your muscles better.
Progressive overload is the gradual increase of stress placed upon the body during exercise training.
Progressive overload is the key to getting bigger and stronger. If you don’t continue to subject your muscles to increasing amounts of stress you will stay the same.
It’s that simple, keep getting stronger and lifting heavier or you won’t continue to get bigger.
Improves Intermuscular coordination.
Human kinetics gives a good definition of intermuscular coordination.
“In a sedentary person, when motor neurons discharge their electrical impulses, they do so in a disorderly fashion. The muscle fibers contract in a random, and therefore inefficient, way. Through training, these discharges become synchronized. The fibers begin contracting in a coordinated manner. Muscles become more efficient. You can achieve this by doing weight training exercises with a weight that is close to your repetition maximum.”
Compound exercises require multiple muscles to work together to perform a lift. As you train them they begin to become more efficient at moving the weight. This allows you to lift heavier weights without requiring more strength.
This is great if want your workouts in the gym to enhance other areas of your life too. If you play a sport or just want to be more athletic and functional outside of the gym, improving your intermuscular coordination will help with that.
Think of it this way. Which person do you think is going to be more athletic overall.
Somebody that trains with heavy deadlifts and squats?
Or the person that spends most of there time on the machines doing leg curls.
The deadlift is an exercise that mimics movements that you will do in your day to day life and strengthens and coordinates your legs, back and arms.
Isolation movements can help to train one muscle group but in real life it doesn’t matter if one muscle group is strong if you have other muscle groups that aren’t as strong you won’t be able to perform as effectively.
That’s why some of the big muscular guys at the gym can seem like they aren’t very athletic at all. Often they move around awkwardly almost like a robot between the machines.
This is because training one muscle group at a time doesn’t teach multiple muscle groups to coordinate their contractions and firing rates, which is how muscles work in real life.
Heavy Compound Training Is Key
If you are looking to get stronger and put on more muscle than lifting heavy is vitally important.
A good workout program will focus on 70-80% compound movements. Isolation exercises still have a place in workout routines however the main focus should be on heavy compound movements.
Of those compound movements best strength results can be seen at 80-85% of your 1rm.
This might sound like a big change if you have based your workouts around chasing a pump, by doing drop sets, supersets and other variations.
It was for me when I changed.
I now focus on the 4-6 rep range and focus on getting stronger every session. This has helped me to gain size and strength.
If you want to build muscle and strength you need to focus your workouts around heavy compound exercises.
Try it and see the results for yourself.
Best Compound Exercises
The following is a list of compound exercises that you should think about including in your workouts.
Squat
The Squat is a full body compound exercise. Like the deadlift the squat is one of the best compound movements you can perform. It works more muscles with heavier weight than other popular exercises.
The squat works your quads, glutes, hamstrings, core and back. Although the squat is thought of as a compound exercise for the legs it actually has benefits for much more than just the legs.
The barbell back squat is the most common form on squat performed in the gym. The barbell allows you to load up on the weight and squat heavy.
Proper squat form is key to avoiding knee and back pain and staying injury free. Make sure you go all the way down until your hips are below your knees. Push your knees out so they’re in line with your feet and make sure they don’t buckle in when you stand up. Brace your core and keep your back neutral, don’t let it round down.
Deadlift
The deadlift is another full body compound exercise and is probably the best one you can do as it involves just about every joint and major muscle group in the body.
The main muscles worked in this lift are the posterior chain. The posterior chain is made up of the muscles on the backside of your body: glutes, hamstrings and back muscles. Because of this the deadlift is often thought of as a compound exercise for the back.
However pretty much every other muscle in the body is active in assisting with this lift.
There are a lot of variations of deadlift that work slightly different muscles.
Conventional deadlift form starts with the weight on the ground. Grip the bar with your hands on the outside of your legs. Lift the bar to your knee height, then lock your hips and knees to finish. Return the weight to the floor by sliding your hips back and while bending your legs.
The deadlift is a safe exercise when done correctly. If proper form isn’t used you can leave yourself at risk of getting hurt. Make sure you start with lighter weights and work your way up, focusing on perfect form on each rep.
The best way to increase your deadlift is to improve your form. Like we talked about earlier with intermuscular coordination, the more efficient you are at lifting the weight the heavier the weights you will be able to lift.
Bench Press
A staple in every guys chest workout, the bench press is one of the best upper body mass building exercises you can perform.
Working the pecs, lats, shoulders, triceps and even legs to a small degree the bench press deserves its spot at the top of the pecking order for upper body compound exercises.
Like all compound exercises form is key to making gains on the bench press.
Take a slightly wider than shoulder width grip, retract your shoulder blades back and down. This will create a small arch in your back. Plant your feet into the ground, brace your core and you are ready to begin the lift.
Military Press
The military press or overhead press is one of the best shoulder exercises that you can do.
It also hits the triceps and works the back and core when done standing.
A common problem people have with the military press is pushing the weight up and out in front of them. You want to push the weight up and directly above your head to perform this lift with correct form.
See the example images below. Start with the bar on your chest and then push the bar up and over you head. Make sure you don’t lean too far backwards during the movement.
Row
Wether it’s with a barbell, dumbbell or cable it’s a compound exercise.
The main muscles targeted are the back with involvement from the forearms and biceps.
To perform the barbell row set the barbell up in a rack so it is raised off the floor. Plant your feet with a sight bend in your knees. Keeping your back flat, lean forward until you’re on an angle that is comfortable. Your flexibility will have an impact on this angle. Grab the bar slightly wider than shoulder width and row it up and towards your hips.
Lunge
The lunge is a great compound exercise for your lower body.
The lunge works your quads, hamstrings, and glutes. To add weight you can add a barbell to your back or perform the lift with dumbbells in each of your hands.
Focus on keeping your front leg perpendicular with the floor and not letting your front knee push out over your toes.
Leg Press
The leg press allows you to push a large amount of weight in a safe way. As a compound exercise the leg press trains all major leg muscles during the lift.
The main muscles under tension are glutes, hamstrings and quads. The higher you place your feet on the platform the more glute activation you will get and the less work your quads will do.
Make sure you don’t lock out your legs at the top of the movement as this puts the strain directly on your knee joint and not on your quads where you want it.
Pull Ups
Pull ups are a great bodyweight compound exercise. The advantage of the pull up is it can be done anywhere you have a bar.
Training the chin up will work your back and arms slightly.
Grip the bar wider than shoulder width apart and pull your chest up towards the bar squeezing with your back as you do. Lower yourself to a dead hang and then repeat.
To continue improving with this exercise you can use a dip belt to add weight and work your way up in weight.
Dips
Dips are an awesome compound exercise that will train your chest and triceps.
There are two slight variations in movements of dips depending on whether you want to emphasis your chest or triceps.
Chest Variation
Grab the bar with a slightly wider than shoulder width grip, let your elbows flare out and lean forward. Brace your core to prevent swinging and to maintain proper position throughout the exercise. Lower your body until you feel a stretch in the chest. To raise push through your chest back to the top.
Triceps Variation
Grab the bar with a slightly wider than shoulder width grip. Keep your elbows tucked in by your sides and allow your body to hang straight up and down. Lower your body until your arms make a 90 degree angle and push through the triceps to raise.
The Final Word On Compound Exercises
Compound exercises should make up the majority of the exercises you do at the gym.
If you want to improve your athletic ability (run faster, jump higher be more explosive and powerful.) Then compound exercises will benefit you much more than isolation.
If your goal is to improve your whole body strength then compound exercises are the best choice for you.
If you want build more muscle and look the best you ever have. You’ll achieve this the quickest by sticking to mostly compound movements and adding a few isolation exercises when necessary. Make sure the majority of your sets are coming from compound exercises.
If you asked most men what they where looking for it would be exactly that, a bigger chest and bigger arms. That’s why the bench press is always so busy. Chest day is the one day guys never miss, yet often struggle to build a chest that they are proud of.
Don’t despair.
By the end of this article you’ll know how to restructure your chest workouts to maximise strength, muscle growth and build a chest that you really want.
How to build a bigger chest
The first step to developing the chest you really want is to realise that most guys are training there chests wrong. Heck even I was for a while there.
The biggest problems with most chest workouts is:
1. Focusing on high rep training.
Too many gym goers are chasing a “pump” to the detriment of real gains.
2. Focusing on the wrong exercises.
This usually goes hand in hand with the guys doing higher rep training. Machines like the pec dec and other isolation exercises are secondary in importance to heavy compound, pressing movements.
If you’re like me and fell into the trap of focusing too much attention on high reps, drop sets, and super sets with isolation machines when you first started. Trust me, you’re not alone.
But the magazines and fitness models say this is the best way to go about it! What gives?
The common thinking behind higher rep training is that that it is safer on your joints, so you can do more volume and grow bigger without risking an injury.
The problem is that the people that high volume training works best for are usually on steroids. They can do rep after rep and continue to grow without risking an injury on their tendons and ligaments which wouldn’t be able to handle heavier loads at that same amount of volume.
Don’t be discouraged though.
You can achieve a a great chest without drugs and spending hours a day in the gym doing cable flyes.
Chest Training Principles
If you want to naturally build a strong, muscular chest you need to lift heavy and focus on building up strength in key lifts. It’s that simple.
Heavy Progressive Overload
Your chest will respond best to heavy compound lifts and progressive overload. I like to aim for the 4-6 rep range.
The bench press and incline bench press are going to become your new best friends.
A good rule of thumb is to aim for the majority of your compound sets to be in the 80+ percent of your 1 rep max.
So if your max bench is 240 lbs you will want to aim for sets of 4-6 reps of 192 lbs and above.
The goal is to always continue to progress with your workouts. Which means adding more weight to the bar.
Biggest mistake I made when first starting out was not having a strategic plan for when to increase weights. I would just come into the gym and do my sets and then periodically I would through some more weight on the bar. I ended up making slow progress and very little gains.
This changed when I started focusing on lifting heavier and progressing my lifts each session.
Without continually growing stronger you won’t put on the size you are looking for. It’s that simple.
So for the example above where you are benching 192 lbs. Let’s say you get 4 reps at 192lbs to start. You would want to build that up until you can hit 6 reps. Once you get 6 reps, your next set you will add more weight and aim for 4 reps again.
To do this each session you should be focusing on getting an extra rep than you did last session.
Keep it simple guys. If you don’t continue to get stronger, you won’t continue to get bigger. The number one rule to achieving hypertrophy and adding muscle naturally is progressive overload.
Build Your Big Basic Lifts
I know I said this before, but the biggest mistake most people make is not focusing on basic, heavy, compound lifts.
Too many chest programs try and overcomplicate things by adding in lots of isolation movements.
Keep it simple.
Stick to the basic, compound movements, and lift heavy.
After all most of the isolation exercises don’t tend to work well if you’re lifting heavy. For example heavy dumbbell flyes massively increase the risk of rotator cuff injuries.
Forget about machines and pec decs. They can be useful at the very end of your workout, but the majority of your muscle and strength building is going to come from making consistent gains on the tried and true compound movements.
Volume
An important part of training your chest is getting the right volume, or total amount of reps you perform each week. This carries over and is important for all muscle groups.
Getting the right amount of volume is even more important when you’re program revolves around heavy weightlifting.
The general rule of thumb is:
The heavier the reps, the less you can do each week.
Makes sense right.
Heavier weights require more recovery. This means that you will be doing less reps and sets than you would be with a lighter weight program.
When your training emphasises heavy weights (80 to 85%+ of 1RM), optimal volume seems to be about 60 to 70 reps performed every 5 to 7 days.
This applies to all muscle groups and not just the chest.
Train Your Whole Chest.
A lot of common chest workouts often focus heavily on the middle section of the chest.
To build a fully developed chest you need to build every section of the pectorals (particularly the upper chest.)
Developing a big upper chest will make your chest look fuller and bigger than it actually is. It also looks awesome in V neck t-shirts.
The upper chest is often the difference between having an aesthetic physic and not.
In some cases if your lower chest is too big and you haven’t spent enough energy working on your upper chest it can give the appearance of man boobs.
Training Your Upper Chest
There has been a lot of debate around the upper chest.
The common question is do you need to do chest exercises specifically to target the upper chest? Or do all chest exercises stimulate the muscle fibers of the chest equally?
In fact there is a muscle that forms the “upper chest” that is called the clavicular pectoralis.
Studies have shown that performing performing an incline bench press puts more emphasis on the clavicular head as opposed to ordinary flat bench pressing.
This doesn’t mean that flat benching doesn’t work the upper chest. Nor does it mean that incline pressing only targets the upper chest.
Both exercises have cross over effects on the upper and lower chest. The problem is the clavicular pectoralis is a stubborn muscle that takes much longer to grow. If you want to make sure your upper chest doesn’t fall behind your lower, you are going to want to do a lot of incline pressing.
It also turns out that incline pressing is a great exercise to hit your pec major (your main chest muscle) as well. It’s a win, win.
Best Chest Exercises
Now to the part that you’ve been waiting for. The best exercises to grow your chest bigger and stronger than ever before are:
Incline Barbell Bench Press
Flat Barbell Bench Press
Incline Dumbbell Bench Press
Flat Dumbbell Bench Press
Weighted Dips (Chest Variation)
Forget the cable flyes, pecs decs and other machines.
These exercises are all you need to build a truely impressive chest. When it comes to naturally building strength and muscle you can’t beat heavy compound movements like these.
Leave the isolation movements to advanced bodybuilders that are trying to push the last little bits of size out of his muscles.
Incline Bench Press
The Incline Bench Press is one of the best variations of a flat bench. As we talked about earlier the incline bench press builds your upper chest more than flat benching does.
I like to train this before flat bench to make sure to work my upper chest the most I can.
Setup
1. Lie with eyes under the bar
2. Raise your chest up and tuck your shoulder blades back and under.
You want to keep your shoulder blades retracted like this throughout the entire movement. This helps to protect your shoulders from injury and makes sure you are putting the majority of the strain on your chest and not your shoulders and rotator cuff.
3. Grab the bar with your hands slightly wider than shoulder width.
You want to hold the bar with your hands in a position that results in your arms being vertical throughout the movement like this.
4. Plant your feet on the ground and brace your core.
Your back should have a slight natural arch in it from retracting your shoulder blades. You don’t want it so arched that you butt is off the bench.
Keep your feet planted for a solid foundation, brace your core and glutes and you are ready to begin the movement.
Performing the movement.
When lowering the bar it is important that you keep in mind the angle that your arms are at in relation to your torso.
The mistake a lot of people make is by holding their elbows at 90 degrees to their body.
This might allow you to lift a little bit more in the short term but opens you up to all sorts of shoulder injuries.
The other less common mistake is tucking your arms in too close to your sides.
You should aim to lower the weight with your arms at a 50 to 60 degree angle to your body.
The image on the far right shows the proper angle your arms should be when performing the incline and flat barbell bench press.
For the incline bench press the bar should touch your chest just below your collarbones.
Raising the weight
Once you have touched the weight to your chest, you can begin the pressing movement to raise the bar.
It is important to keep your shoulder blades tight and retracted throughout the whole movement and your arms at the same angle.
Press the bar back up over your shoulders until your arms are pretty much straight to finish the rep.
Flat Barbell Bench Press
The Flat barbell bench press is a staple in the majority of workout programs.
The bench press is one of the best upper body mass building exercises you can do.
The setup for the lift and movement during the rep is basically the same as the incline bench press. However there is one exception with the flat bench press.
The bar should come down to the middle of your chest. Not your collar bones and definitely not your neck.
When performing the last rep of your lift make sure that you press the weight directly up as you would any other rep. Don’t try and press the bar back up into the hooks on the weight rack or you can risk the bar crashing back down on your face and neck if you fail to complete the rep.
This video explains how to correctly perform the bench press.
Dumbbell Bench Press
While it will never replace, heavy barbell bench pressing the dumbbell bench press is a good additional exercise to add to your routines.
The major benefit of the dumbbell bench press is the increased range of motion you can achieve in the movement. The dumbbell bench press will also help to mitigate any imbalances you have between your right and left side that can creep in from barbell training.
Dip – Chest Variation
The chest variation of the dip is an awesome bodyweight exercise for the upper body and chest.
The dip will train your chest, shoulders and triceps. Once your bodyweight becomes too easy you can add a weighted dip belt to increase difficulty.
See the video below for detailed instructions on performing a chest dip.
Best Mass Building Chest Workout
Barbell Incline Bench Press
3 Sets of 4-6 reps
Barbell Flat Bench Press
3 Sets of 4-6 reps
Dumbbell Incline Bench Press
3 Sets of 4-6 reps
Dumbbell Flat Bench Press
3 Sets of 4-6 reps
Optional
Dips (Chest Variation)
3 Sets of 8-10 reps (add weight if required)
Give yourself a full 3 minutes rest between each set. If this sounds long to you, that’s okay. If you’re going to be lifting heavy you need to give your body time to recoup strength before going again.
Once you can complete 6 reps on an exercise it is time to add more weight.
Remember the golden rule of muscle building.
Progressive overload
You have to continue to add weight to the bar if you want your chest to grow.
That’s it for the best chest exercises.
The key, however, isn’t just doing the exercises–it’s progressing on them. That is, increasing the amount of weight you can move over time.
Deciding what to bring to the gym can be tough. You don’t want to go overboard and have to lug around a heavy ass bag but you also don’t want to disadvantage your workout because you forgot something important.
With that said you really don’t need anything to still have a good workout. However the list below will give you an idea of some things that can help improve your workouts.
What To Bring To The Gym:
Gym Bag
You need something to carry all of your stuff in. Any old backpack or duffle bag will do, as long as you can fit all your gear inside it.
If you like to shower or get changed at the gym you’ll need to keep this in mind as you’ll want some extra room for a change of clothes etc.
Towel
A towel is one of your gym essentials. Nobody likes getting to a piece of equipment only to realise they are about to sit in somebody else’s sweat puddles. Most gyms have a no towel no workout policy for this reason.
It doesn’t need to be a full size beach towel either.
Smaller workout style towels are usually more convenient to carry around and still do the job they are required for.
Headphones and a good gym playlist
There are thousands of different headphones on the market. It really just comes down to personal choice. I like wireless headphones that way there is no chance of the wire distracting me or getting caught up during my set. The other personal reason I prefer wireless headphones is that I like to leave my phone on the floor during sets and not in my pocket. Again that is just my preference, feel free to go for whatever brand or style of headphones you prefer.
After you’ve packed your headphones you need a workout playlist to pump during your time at the gym. A great playlist can help lift your energy and motivate you through your workout.
Water Bottle
The gym I go to has a water fountain so I usually opt to skip this one, but it can be nice to have a bottle with you during your workout. This is especially important if you are planning on doing some cardio on the spin bikes or a treadmill.
Deodorant
You don’t want to be known as the gym stinker! Make sure you wear deodorant to the gym and you might want to apply some more when you’re leaving.
Workout Tracking App
Progressing in your workouts is key to making gains and becoming a stronger, fitter, healthier version of yourself. The key to progressing is measuring your workouts so that next time you can aim to improve on them. The benefit of having a record is you can look back and see how you progressed over time and see if some lifts are progressing faster than others. This is really beneficial information if you are serious about your health/ fitness goals.
You should record all of your lifts, how many reps per set and how much weight you’re moving. That way your next session you can get straight into it and you no what you’re aiming to beat. Trying to remember everything in your head is just asking for trouble.
I record my workouts in an app called Strong, which has been the best app I have found so far. The downside is it charges a monthly subscription.
The good news is you don’t need a fancy app if you don’t want to. You can record everything you need in the notes app on your phone.
Comfy Gym Clothes
They don’t need to be Nike or any other fancy brand. What they do need to be is comfy. A shirt that allows you to move around freely and isn’t too hot. If it’s leg day you’ll want some shorts that let you squat without having to worry about splitting the back of them open. Not good!
Other than that you can wear basically whatever you want, as long as you are comfortable and you can get a great workout in.
The right mindset
It might sound silly but I can tell you, the times that I have come to the gym not feeling like it, and not with my full attention on the workout usually suck.
You can end up half assing your lifts, not pushing out those last couple of tough reps, and letting your rest times drift longer and longer.
No matter what’s going on in your world, when you walk into the gym you need to be focussed and committed to improving on your last workout. After all the only way to grow is to progress in your lifts.
I find pre workout can help with this. It helps to give you a little lift in energy which I find really helps me to remain focused throughout my sets. There’s nothing worse than getting halfway through a set and your mind starts wandering off to something you need to do later that day. I find when this happens to me I can usually fail one or two reps shorter than what I am aiming for.
So long story short. Do whatever you need to do to get your mind on the task at hand and smash your workout.
Gym Shoes
If this is your first time at the gym I would train in whatever shoes you have at the moment. Don’t let your shoes hold you back from a good workout.
Back, before I new any better I used to train in my normal nike runners. I’ve now prefer training in harder, flat soled shoes. I like the way they feel on heavier lifts and they also seem to last me longer.
If you have a pair of converse, they will actually work as great shoes for the gym. There hard, flat sole gives you a stable base for your lifts. If you are buying a new pair of shoes for the gym I would recommend looking for something that doesn’t have a large foam heel like most running shoes have today.
If all you have access to is a foam, padded running shoe, that is fine. I would just take them off if you are doing a heavy movement like squat or deadlift.
Here is a good explanation of what you should look for in a training shoe.
OPTIONAL ADDITIONS
The following items aren’t necessary for everyone that goes to the gym. However some people will find them helpful to getting more out of their workouts.
Dip Belt
If you are doing any form of dips, pull ups or chin ups you will eventually get to the level that you need to add some weight to keep progressing with the exercise. You can achieve this sometimes by holding a dumbbell between your feet, but that will only get you so far. This is where a dip belt comes in handy.
It basically allows you to add weights to the chain which increases the difficulty of the exercise. I like to use one for weighted pull ups and weighted dips. If you are just starting out using a dip belt add a small plate to the chain and then build your way up. You will be able to progress in weights like you do any other exercise but be prepared to start small and work your way up.
Some gyms have dip belts, although a lot of the time they are old and tatty, it can save you buying your own. But if you’ve got the money or your gym doesn’t have one it can be nice to have your own dip built that you can get used to.
Chalk Bag
Not entirely necessary but if you’re looking to lift heavy weights, especially during deadlifts and pull-ups, grip strength is extremely important.
Go steady on the application, most gyms won’t want you leaving loads of chalk everywhere.
Tall socks for deadlifting
An optional addition to your deadlifting days is a pair of long socks. They help to prevent the bar from scratching the fronts of your legs to pieces on heavy lifts. They might look funny but it’s a trade off you might want to make for scratch-less shins.
Lifting Belt
Lifting belts can be a great tool to help you advance in your lifts and get stronger. If it’s your first time at the gym you can skip this as you won’t be lifting enough weight to require one. I prefer to train without a weight belt as it requires me to use more of the tiny stabiliser muscles in my lower back to keep me steady throughout the lift. But then again, I’m not about to enter a powerlifting competition any time soon.
Lifting Straps
Lifting straps are an optional extra that can help if you are doing higher reps exercises at the end of your session. I wouldn’t recommend getting in the habit of using them to help you lift more on your deadlifts etc though.
You’re better off building up your grip strength over time than relying on them to get through your sets. Where they can be useful is at the end of your workouts if your program calls for higher reps on rows or something like that where your forearms give out way before your back is ready to.
However if this is the case I would still work on building your grip strength and not relying on lifting straps to get you through your workouts.
Fractional Plates
Making consistent improvements on your lifts is key to building more muscle and getting stronger. If you’ve been lifting heavy for some time you may find it hard to stack on even the smallest, additional plates at your gym. This is where fractional plates can come in handy. Fractional plates weigh less than the smallest plates at your gym 0.5kg as opposed to 1.25kg. This means that you can continue to increase the weight each session and push through your plateaus.
If you don’t have access to fractional plates you can progress by increasing the weight of your first set one week and then increasing the weight of your second and third sets to catch up the next week. For example if you are benching 90kg for 3 sets and looking to increase your weights.
Week 1 would look like this:
Set 1: 90kg +1.25kg plate either side = 92.5kg total weight
Set 2 and 3: 90kg for required reps.
Week 2 would look like this
Set 1, 2 and 3: 90kg +1.25kg plate either side = 92.5kg total weight
The difference/benefit of fractional plates is that you can increase all sets.
Week 1 would look like this:
Set 1, 2 and 3: 90kg + 0.5kg plate either side = 91kg total weight
Week 2 would look like this
Set 1, 2 and 3: 90kg +1.25kg plate either side = 92.5kg total weight
So after two weeks you end up in the same place. You then can continue on this pattern to increase your lifts into the future.
Fractional plates can come in a range of sizes, some as low as 0.25 kg. These plates can help you to continue progressing no your workouts and avoid gettin stuck at a weight and not be able to move up.
These small progressions keep you moving in the right direction and continuing to gain strength. As you start to lift heavier weights the more you will benefit from fractional plates.
Fitness Tracker
It seems like every man and his dog has some form of fancy new fitness tracker strapped to their wrists. I personally don’t use one, however if you are wanting to keep track of your heart rate during workouts or if you are doing more cardio intensive workouts you may find the information a fitness tracker provides useful.
For example if you were doing some form of HIIT training on a rowing machine, your program might call for you to keep your heart rate above a certain BPM (beats per minute) in the intense section of the workout and then drop it down in the rest periods.
In this case a heart rate tracker with a screen that can show your readings would be of benefit. The heart rate monitors on machines are often notoriously hard to get a reading when you are working out.
Having something that is reliable and easy to read without interrupting or taking any focus away from your workout is a great asset.
Knee Sleeves
Image from Barbend.com
These neoprene knee sleeves by SBD are designed to keep your knees warm and provide some support and compression during your workouts. Thicker sleeves like these SBD’s are often preferred by powerlifters, while thinner less stiff sleeves are better for functional fitness and recreational gym goers. Check out this article by Barbend on the best knee sleeves if you want more information.
Conclusion
So hopefully this has answered your question of what to bring to the gym. Ultimately all you need is a yourself and a towel. (You don’t want to be the guy or gal leaving sweat on the equipment.) But these are some other good things that can help improve your workouts and help you get the most out of your time at the gym.
Let me know what you thought of this gym bag checklist. Did I miss anything out? What essentials do you have in your gym bag?