What are the Five Basic Strength Exercises?

Squats

Squats are a great full-body strength training exercise. They primarily work your legs, but they also engage your core, helping to stabilize and support your body, as well as your upper body. Squats are also a compound exercise, meaning they work multiple muscle groups at once. Most people can do squats with just their body weight for resistance, but if you need to increase the challenge, use a dumbbell in each hand or use a weight plate held at your chest. Squats can be done with or without knee or calf weights, or by varying the speed of your descent.

Push-ups

Push-ups are another classic full-body strength training exercise. Push-ups primarily work the muscles in your upper body – particularly your chest, shoulders and triceps. Regular push-ups can be performed with just body weight for resistance, but you can also increase the challenge by holding a weight plate at your chest or by doing weighted push-ups. Squat Push-ups are also a great variation. They work the same muscles as regular push-ups but require extra core strength to maintain proper form. Push-ups can be done with a wide variety of variations, including regular push-ups, clapping push-ups, weighted push-ups, wide push-ups, diamond push-ups, or even push-ups on an unstable surface (such as an exercise ball).

Bent-over rows

Bent-over rows are another classic full-body strength training exercise. They primarily work your back muscles, but they also engage your biceps, core and even your forearms and grip. Regular bent-over rows can be performed with just your body weight for resistance, but if you need more resistance, use a dumbbell instead. Bent-over rows can be done with a wide variety of ways, including regular bent-over rows, single-arm rows, wide rows, single-arm rows with a lateral pull, or even rows with a sandbag at your feet. Bent-over rows can also be done on an exercise ball or with a resistance band.

Dips

Dips are a classic upper body strength training exercise that primarily works your triceps, but they also engage your core, chest and shoulders to a lesser extent. Dips are primarily a compound exercise, meaning they engage multiple muscle groups at once. Dips can be done with just body weight for resistance, but if you need more, you can hold a weight plate at your chest or even use a weight bench. Dips can be done in a number of different ways, including regular dips, weighted dips, single-arm dips, single-arm dips with a lateral pull, wide dips, or even dip holds. Dips can also be done on an exercise ball or with a resistance band.

Rotational Push-ups

Rotational push-ups are a challenging variation on push-ups that targets your core and upper body even more than normal push-ups. Rotational push-ups primarily work your core, but they also engage your chest, shoulders and triceps to a lesser extent. Rotational push-ups are primarily a compound exercise, meaning they engage multiple muscle groups at once. Rotational push-ups can be done with just body weight for resistance, but if you need more, you can hold a weight plate at your chest or even use a weight bench. Rotational push-ups can be done in a number of different ways, including normal push-ups with a twist, wide push-ups with a twist, single-arm push-ups with a twist, single-arm push-ups with a lateral pull with a twist, or even push-ups with a medicine ball twist.

Basic Strength Training Routine

To reap the benefits of strength training, you need to be consistent – but you also don't want to overdo it and risk injury. A good routine will challenge you, but not over-exert you. A good way to start is to do three different strength training exercises two times a week, with at least one rest day in between each workout.

You can mix and match the exercises above, but here are some sample routines you can try:

• Full-body strength training workout A: Squats, Bent-over rows, Dips
• Full-body strength training workout B: Push-ups, Bent-over rows, Dips
• Upper body strength training workout: Squats, Push-ups, Dips
• Lower body strength training workout: Squats, Bent-over rows, Push-ups

Conclusion

As you can see, there are lots of benefits to strength training with simple exercises like squats, push-ups and dips. You don't need to spend hours at the gym lifting heavy weights to get the benefits of strength training. Even just a few minutes of strength training a day can make a big difference in your health and fitness levels.