Barbell Exercises: The Key to Muscle, Strength and Fitness
Barbell Exercises: The Route to Muscle & Strength
Barbell workouts will remain the standard for building strength and muscle, and yes even great for endurance work. Everybody is comfortable with dumbbells, they are approachable and easy to work with, regarding your past exercise experience. If you are ready to make big gains, the piece of equipment that matters most is the barbell.
At 45 pounds and 7 feet long, the classic Olympic barbell provides the base tool the most important heavy pushes and pulls you’ll perform. There are also a number of barbell versions (EZ Curl, Hex bar, etc.). To build strength and mass, barbells are essential. When you want to build muscle and strength, you must perform multi-joint exercises known as compound exercises. These exercises create the required tension and stress through different muscles and movement patterns.
Back squats, bench presses, and dead lifts can all be performed with other equipment, but the true results come from these multi-joint exercises utilizing barbells.
The Big 7 Barbell Exercises for Big Results
As an example, the “Big 7” Barbell exercises are multi-joint exercises utilizing barbells. These are the basic foundation exercises, from which many expand from. If you had to pick any exercise for a lifetime, these are the 7.
The Big 7 Barbell Exercises
• Bench Press
• Bent-Over Row
• Deadlift
• Back Squat
• Overhead Press
• Lunge
• Power Clean
Four Awesome Barbell Exercises Benefits.
1. Barbells are time savers. The basic 4 barbell exercises (squat, bench press, overhead press, and deadlift) offer a full body workout because they are multi-joint exercises. These basic lifts are also the foundations for popular and proven weightlifting programs such as Starting Strength.
2. Barbells improve athletic performance. Your barbell routine will help you learn how to recruit muscles together to move the bar efficiently. As your barbell training improves, you’ll acquire skills to strengthen your neuromuscular connection, leading to major strength gains. You will also improve your balance and coordination, further improving your skills and performance.
3. Barbells are affordable and convenient. For many people, the ease and convenience off working out at home is attractive and maybe the only option. Similarly, many people don’t live close enough to a gym to make workouts a consistent part of their day. Luckily, you only need a barbell and weights, now there is no excuse to setting up your own home gym.
4. Barbells are versatile. Barbell exercises aren’t only used to build muscle, lightweight barbells can and are used for endurance and cardio workouts. There are a number of branded classes that make these barbells a central part of the class.
Major Types of Barbells
Deadlift bars
Powerlifting bars
Olympic bars
Hex (trap) bars
Log barbells
Buffalo barbells
Swiss bars
Safety squat bars
Axle bars
Barbell Chest Exercises
- Barbell Bench (Incline, Flat, Decline)
- Barbell Bench (Close/Neutral/Wide Grip for Each Angle)
- Barbell Pullover
- Barbell Floor Press
- Kneeling Chest Press (Landmine Bar)
Barbell Shoulder Exercises
- Javelin Press
- Barbell Shoulder Press (Front/Behind Neck)
- Up Right Rows (Narrow/Neutral/Wide)
- Landmine Shoulder Press (Single/Double)
- Front Barbell Raises
- Barbell Rear Deltoid Raise – Prone
Barbell Back Exercises
- Barbell Row
- Meadows Row
- Hang Clean
- Hang Snatch
- T-Bar Row
- Towel T-Bar Row
- Single/Double Grip T-Bar Row
- Shrugs (Front/Rear)
- Rack Pulls
- Bent-Over Underhand Barbell Row
- Pendlay Barbell Row
Barbell Leg Exercises
- Front Squat
- Back Squat
- Zercher Squat
- Summo Deadlift
- Barbell Deadlift
- Romainian Deadlift
- Snatch Grip Deadlift
- Lunges (Forward/Reverse)
- Side Lunges
- Single-Leg Calf Raise
- Barbell Standing Calf Raise
Barbell Bicep Exercises
- Barbell Curl (Close-Grip; Wide Grip)
- Reverse curl
- Spider Curls
- Barbell Forearm Curls (Reverse/Regular Grips)
Barbell Tricep Exercises
- Close Grip Bench
- Barbell Skull Crushers
- Overhead Tricep Extensions
- Barbell Reverse Bench Press
When it comes to mass and strength gains, barbells will be the way to go. With barbells, you can lift heavier weights and incorporate multi-joint exercises to overload your muscles more easily. These exercises are ones you can do with a basic home gym set-up. Use these exercises in workouts such as PHAT, 4 Day Workout Splits and 5 Day Workout Splits.