what are the best all-round exercises for building muscle we’ve asked experts and top trainers around the world to bring you a complete guide to the 10 most effective exercises to stimulate muscle growth our experts recommended compound exercises because these are movements that use a number of muscles at the same time they all come with the standard version plus variations to work the muscles in different ways and an advanced option to help you pack on muscle so let’s get started with bench press the bench press works one of the biggest muscles in the body chest secondary muscles are front delts and triceps for the standard barbell bench press take a grip slightly wider than the shoulders elbows out as you come down coming up by bringing the elbows together using dumbbells allows a greater range of movement helping the stretch and the squeeze changing the angle of the bench lets you hit different parts of the chest a decline bench for the lower part incline bench to target upper chest again change to dumbbells for a greater range of movement dumbbells also let you vary your grip this is a close grip press helping with the squeeze and working more of the triceps our trainers found that the bar is most useful for adding weight over time from one workout to the next this is called progressive overload a key technique for muscle building making flat bench barbell press our survey’s most effective exercise for building chest next one of the best all-round exercises the deadlift deadlift works pretty much all the muscles down the back of the body legs and glutes to upper and lower back the magic of the deadlift is that it works all these muscles in one coordinated movement keeping a straight back lift the weight by pushing down through the heels at the same time driving the hips forward at the top lock out by bringing the chest up shoulder blades together locking the hips body upright let the weight come to a full stop on the floor before the next rep weave a full explainer on correct deadlift technique in the link but a good way to start is with rack poles an exercise which isolates the top half of the movement there are many variations of the deadlift stiff leg deadlift throws more emphasis on hamstrings keeping the legs as straight as possible without rounding the back sumo deadlift uses a wide stance working more on the quads and hips deadlift is such a multi-faceted exercise it’s essential to master all elements of technique before you progress to heavier weights once you’re ready start adding weight to steadily build muscle over time next the pull-up a great exercise for building the lats the wide muscles that give you a full broad back secondary muscles are biceps and core this is a bodyweight exercise the key is to keep control slowly up bringing the chin to the bar and slowly down variations on pull-ups are about grip standard grip palms facing away from you wider than the shoulders narrow grip works more on biceps an extra wide grip targets the lats for width not everybody can lift their own body weight straight away so start with a cable pull down using a wide bar also an incline pull-up on a bar once you’ve mastered the pull-up there are different ways you can use it to help you add muscle using a slow tempo on the way down for added time under tension move from the bar to rings these need greater control and effort especially from all the smaller stabilizing muscles but as ever our trainers say the best way to build muscle is through progressive overload adding more weight over time allowing you to push through to failure on your pull-ups the push-up is a standard exercise everybody’s done since high school but don’t discount its potential for building muscle the push-up primarily builds chest it also works triceps and front delts standard push-up has hands wide elbows out to the sides bringing the elbows closer to the body works the triceps more change the angle to work different parts of the chest this decline push-up works upper chest as well as front delt changing the hand position works on the stretch across the chest push-ups are great for combinations such as burpees but the best way to build chest with push-ups is the old-fashioned way just go to exhaustion the main advantage of a push-up is versatility you can do it anywhere there are plenty of variations and it’s effective as part of a superset or as a finisher our survey found that even advanced trainers continue to use push-ups as part of their regular routine our next muscle building exercise is overhead press this works all three parts of the shoulder plus upper chest and triceps elbows wide shoulder blades together take the weights up above the shoulders not touching our trainers recommend the seated version of this exercise because you can change the angle of the bench for example setting the seat back to about 70 degrees lets you focus on the front part of the shoulder variations include the arnold press adding a twist as the weight comes down for a greater range of motion you can also alternate one side than the other keeping the resting side in tension while the other side is moving this barbell press variation takes the bar to the front then back of the head working the front and rear shoulder muscles as with our other compound movements our trainers recommend adding weight over time to build shoulders using overhead press and using a slow movement on the way down for greater time under tension the squat is known as the king of exercises using the biggest muscles in the body the quads as well as other key lower body muscles like glutes hamstrings and calves it’s also an extremely functional exercise especially for core strength advanced lifters often use extremely heavy weights but it’s important to master correct form before you go heavy head up feet shoulder width apart back straight chest out bend at the hips and knees taking the knees straight out in front of you the lower you go the more you work the glutes make sure you have a weight you can control on the way up a wider stance will also work more on the glutes the squat performed correctly is a challenging exercise so build up with a hack squat with the machine providing stability while you build up strength but it’s also important to master correct form so our trainers recommend starting off with a lighter weight and build up from there there’s also many ways to mess up your squat so if you want to check your form and avoid injuries here’s a link to fit media’s full explainer on fixing your squad these are dips an important muscle building exercise for chest and triceps there’s two versions by leaning forward you’re concentrating on chest giving a great stretch on those pec fibers keeping the body upright elbows tucked in hits the triceps lock out fully for a great squeeze on the triceps dips are a body weight exercise but you can start off by doing tricep dips off the bench many gyms have a machine that lets you change the weight again leaning forward to hit chest and keeping upright to work triceps once you’ve mastered the body weight dip you can really start to build muscle by adding weight over time keeping good form and locking out and going to failure for maximum muscle growth here’s our survey’s recommended exercise for building thickness in the back bent over barbell row working the lats and middle back as well as triceps rear delts and core lock the lower body no bouncing from the hips back straight pull the elbows up and back to draw the bar in to the hips this exercise can also be done with dumbbells letting you bring the weight closer in to your body for more of a squeeze on the middle back you can also do this exercise off an incline bench although this version takes away the need to engage your core it does let you increase the weight as well as changing the angle overall it’s the standing bent over barbell row that comes out top in our survey for building thickness in the back next recommended exercise for lower body lunges working quads hamstrings and glutes the simple version is without weights adding a barbell like this makes it more challenging using dumbbells helps with balance a short lunge emphasizes quads bringing the knee forward as far as the front toe but no further a lunge with a long step forward works more on the glutes but the lunge isn’t an exercise to add more weight as you progress instead for a more advanced option do one leg at a time with this version a bulgarian split squat or for a really tough challenge here’s a jumping lunge with a mat in place to protect that back knee these will get your heart rate up as well as working the whole of your lower body finally bicep curls not a compound movement like the others we’ve shown you but our trainers know that everyone wants bigger biceps bicep curl is an isolation movement working just one muscle standard version is a straightforward curl up and down with a squeeze at the top then slowly down elbows tucked in to the sides the hammer curl holding the dumbbell upright hits biceps and a muscle underneath the bicep called the brachialis this is an important muscle because it pushes the bicep up from underneath making the arms look bigger bringing the dumbbell up close to the body hits the brachialis even more however if you want to target only the bicep go for an isolation movement like this concentration curl using a cable rather than dumbbells keeps the same resistance across the whole of the movement including that squeeze at the top but our trainer’s best tip for building bigger biceps may surprise you it’s about a part of the muscle known as the long head the part that creates that impressive bicep peak any exercise where the elbow is behind the body focuses directly on the long head like this seated incline curl while the squeeze gives you a full thick bicep the stretch gives you that high peak which makes seated incline bicep curl our recommended exercise for bigger biceps so key lessons from all our top trainers on how to build muscle are work on correct form before progressing go to failure maximize time under tension and use progressive overload to build up weight over time also essential having a plan that will help you progress in your training from week to week and nutrition always key to helping you grow there are many exercises which will help you add muscle but what turns a good exercise into a great exercise is also functionality that’s why the key exercises we’ve chosen work multiple muscles together not just building muscle but also core strength and stability making your body more efficient and protecting from injury
Top Trainers Agree, These Are the 10 Best Muscle-Building Exercises
