Weight training is an incredibly healthy activity for nearly everyone, from athletes to regular, everyday people. Lifting weights does more than just strengthen your muscles; it also builds your tendons, improves your bone density and speeds up your metabolism for a great weight-loss effect. For the best results, focus on full body exercises using free weights. This kind of weight training burns more calories, strengthens the entire body and prevents injury because it encourages the body to move in a more natural way.
The king of all exercises is the squat. Squats are the absolute best exercise for building all the muscles in the lower body, especially the quads and glutes. Squats give you more than just big, strong legs, though. When you squat, your core and upper body have to work very hard to stabilize the weight on your back and stop you from falling over. Since the squat is such a full body effort, it is perfect for athletes and people seeking weight loss.
Dead lifts are a terrific exercise for building total body brute strength. The exercise is simple to the extreme. The barbell sits on the floor; your task is to lift it! Dead lifts build tremendous strength in the back, core and grip. The dead lift is a very challenging exercise, but if you master it you will find yourself more muscular, stronger and leaner than ever before.
Weight training can do wonders for improving upper body strength. The best exercise for this goal is the bench press. If you stay consistent and work hard, you can bench press a really shocking amount of weight. This makes the bench press a terrific lift to build raw power in the upper body, especially in the pecs and triceps.
It is very important for weight trainers to maintain a balance between pushing exercises and pulling exercises in order to avoid injury and build a symmetrical body. The best pulling exercise for this purpose is the pull-up. Pull-ups will strengthen and build the upper back muscles like no other exercise. As you get stronger at pull-ups, you can add additional weight by clipping it to your weight belt.
Military press, also known as overhead press, is another excellent pushing exercise that you should do alongside the bench press. The military press will make your shoulders strong and stabilize them against injury. For best results, you should do military presses while standing up in order to make the exercise a full body effort. Doing this burns a lot more calories and trains the core muscles as well.
Power cleans are a terrific exercise to build explosive strength and power. This exercise is not just for athletes, however. The power clean uses so many muscles and burns so many calories that it is a must for anyone interested in fat loss. This exercise will speed up your metabolism so fast that your fat will start to melt off without any change in your diet.
Next time you’re at the gym wondering how to get real results, just remember these six exercises. Good luck and most importantly, have fun!