Top 5 Best Quad Specific Leg Exercises

Top 5 Best Quad Specific Leg Exercises

1. Barbell Back Squats
Barbell back squats are the primary, fundamental exercise for all serious weight training programs. Squats work 100% of your legs and they require functional stability from 95% of the rest of the muscles on your body. Using proper form, barbell back squats will help you get stronger, gain more muscle, and burn more calories than any other single exercise. To set up: the barbell rests on your upper back (traps) and shoulders (deltoids). It should not be sitting on your neck or spine. Bodybuilders tend to place the bar higher, while powerlifters usually hold the bar lower. The powerlifting style is my preference, and I recommend it because it allows you to keep your head and chest higher throughout the exercise, placing less stress on the lower back and neck.
To squat: you are not just bending down to pick up a pencil. Rather, you are pushing your butt back as if to sit in a chair. This is the #1 most common mistake of people that have never been taught to squat. Always keep your abs tight, head up, and chest puffed out. Keep your knees behind your toes. At the bottom of the squat, your thighs should be parallel to the floor or lower, otherwise you are not executing a full squat. Check your ego at the door, use less weight, and employ a full range of motion.
To come up out of the hole, your primary objective is to push your head back, chest up, and drive with your hips. A proper squat will almost feel like you are humping the air in front of you, doggy-style. Pardon my French, but if you are driving properly with your hips, you will be humping. Don’t get me wrong, there’s no need to exaggerate the thrust and make yourself look like a fool, but the general principle of the hip drive, is a thrust.
2. Barbell Front Squats
Front squats are the same as back squats except the bar is placed across the front of your shoulders (anterior deltoids). While this does require strong shoulders, there are two positions you can choose to make this exercise easiest for your body type. 
Front Squat Position #1:
The first position is to place the bar on your shoulders from within a squat rack, extend your arms out straight with palms down, now bend at the elbows and grasp the bar with each hand at the opposite shoulder. At this point your elbows will be pointing straight out in front of you, slightly elevated so as to keep the bar in position against your upper chest/neck/deltoid area. 
This position requires strong shoulders.
Front Squat Position #2:
The second position (olympic style) is basically the finished position of a clean, sometimes called a ‘high hang’. While the bar should still be sitting on your upper chest and delts, your fingers will now be underneath the bar acting sort of as a hook. Your hands will not be on the opposite shoulder for this position. Elbows should be pointing up and away from you. 
This position requires strong fingers and hands, and very flexible wrists. You should stretch your wrists a bit before trying it. Most people who are unfamiliar with olympic style front squats will complain about wrist pain for a couple workouts before adaptations in strength and flexibility really set in.
3. Barbell Lunges
Lunges are definitely the third most effective exercise for your legs behind squats and deadlifts. Most women will do lunges with dumbbells or just with bodyweight, in an attempt to ‘tone’. Serious weightlifters should consider at least throwing in some sets of barbell lunges, although heavy dumbbell lunges are great for both your legs and your grip. There are many variations of lunges, too many for me to post here. I will have to post a separate article just to cover lunges. The two we will cover here are stepping lunges and stationary lunges.

To set up: get in the same position as a squat with the barbell resting on your upper back, or hold dumbbells. 
To lunge: the primary objective of a lunge is to have one foot forward and one foot back, both knees should be bent with the forward thigh parallel to the floor, and the rear knee pointing down or nearly touching the floor. 
For stepping lunges you can either step forward with one foot, drop down into the lunge, then step back; or you can step forward with one foot, drop down into the lunge, then step forward again with the other foot. This then becomes a walking lunge if you continue to step forward. 
You can also step backward from the standing position, drop down into the lunge, then step forward again; or you can step backward, drop down into the lunge, then step backward again with the other foot.
For stationary lunges there is no stepping. You start the exercise with a split stance and lunge away. If you have your rear foot elevated on a bench or box, the movement becomes a Bulgarian split squat; if your front foot is elevated it becomes a split squat. Split squats are great because it becomes more of a unilateral squat than a lunge, and allows you to focus more on the quads and leg stability.
Always keep your body upright like a squat. Head up, chest puffed out, no lateral (side-to-side) movement.
4. Barbell Step-Ups
Similar to the lunge, step-ups are one of the best leg exercises because they are a functional exercise. We say this because the step-up mimic activities that you might encounter in daily life, involving the stabilization of your entire body in multiple plains of motion. To set up: once again start like a squat with the bar on your upper back. You will want to step up onto a box or a bench. Two items to consider are the height of the box and the strength of the box. Try to start with a shorter box until you get use to the exercise, as you can increase step height over time. Always make sure the box or bench can support your weight. 
You can also use dumbbells, which will work your grip. Usually less weight must be used in a dumbbell step up versus a barbell step up.
To step up: step forward like a lunge, but also step up so that your heel rests on the box. Use this leg to propel your body up, bringing the back foot up and forward onto the box. Now step down with the second leg, keeping most of the tension on the leg that you stepped up with initially. 
I also recommend driving the second leg through the range of motion and, instead of stepping on the box, bring that thigh and knee as high as you can in front of you almost as if you were about to step on the next stair in a staircase. This is also known as a high knee kick, or could be known as just ‘high knees’ in sprinting circles.
Women can add additional exercises to a step-up, sometimes in the form of dumbbell curls, shoulder press, or shoulder raises.
5. Sprints
I almost chose the leg press for the #5 exercise, simply because you can load up the weight and use various foot positions to target each muscle group. However, the reality is that leg presses are not functional. I don’t see how leg presses should be used by anyone other than bodybuilders who are trying to etch out each individual quad muscle by using a slow press with a close stance. Instead, I choose sprints because they are both aerobic and anaerobic. Sprints are even more functional than any other exercise on this list, and they will condition your cardiovascular system in addition to building some serious quad size. 
I would even recommend sprints as part of a strict powerlifting routine, as the speed training will help build the force production within the legs, and the neurological pathways will be trained due to the explosive contractions and coordination requirements of perfecting a maximal effort sprint.
To set up: I prefer to sprint in the grass, in the woods, on a track, anywhere but on a hard surface. You can also choose stair sprints or even bicycle sprints for a change of pace.

To sprint: use your arms and legs to drive your performance. Pump your arms from front to back to gain momentum. The knees should be lifted up high on each step, bringing the quads parallel to the ground similar to squats and lunges. Please wear safe, stable sneakers when sprinting. Tie your laces you lazy bum!
When interval sprinting, try repeating a cycle of sprinting for 30 seconds and walking for a minute.

Best 3 Exercises for each tool 2

Best 3 Exercises for each tool:

Barbell- Squat, Deadlift, Military press
Dumbbell- 1 Arm Row, Flat Dumbbell Press, Dumbbell Military Press
Bodyweight- Pistol Squat, Chin Up, Dip
Kettlebell- Clean, Snatch, Swing
Sandbag- Shouldering, Zercher Squat, Walking Lunge
Keg- Clean, Overhead Press, Snatch
Medicine Ball- Chest Pass, Soccer Throw, Rotational Throw
Log- Clean, Clean and Press, Bench Press
Suspension Straps- Pushups, Inverted Rows, Ab Fallouts
Swiss Ball- Flat Dumbbell Presses, Flat to Incline Dumbbell Presses,
Sledgehammer- Overhead Swing, Rotational Swing, Forearm Exercises
Power Wheel- Handwalking, Alligator Pushup, Pike or Ab Roll Out
Thick Ropes- Rows, Tug of War, Battling for Conditioning
Fat Bar- Curls, Timed Holds, Rack Bench Presses
Plyo Boxes- Step Ups, Depth Jumps, Box Jumps

5 Big Reasons Why Everyone Should Train Like Athletes

5 Big Reasons Why Everyone Should Train Like Athletes

Guys, I’ve been saying it for years- you gotta train old school and you gotta train like an athlete, no matter what your goal. Someone who wholeheartedly agrees with me is my buddy and professional strongman competitor Elliot Hulse, who is also the co-creator of the Lean Hybrid Muscle System (which is on sale for 50% off until tomorrow, by the way).
Check out this killer post by Elliot below…
If you’re like me, you probably want nothing more than to feel like a ’super-stud’ every time you take your shirt off in public. You want to have the confidence to say, ‘Boy, this sweaty shirt is chaffin’ me’, then reach over your shoulder and tear your shirt off like Brad Pitt in Fight Club. When you know that your pecs look like two soup bowls inserted beneath your skin, and your abs are as hard the asphalt you stand on, it’s tough to keep your shirt on!
Today you are gonna learn the top 5 training principles that you MUST implement in order to make your physique and performance goals… a reality. But, before I open the info-floodgates, there is something you’ve got to understand. Men… all men, should recognize that we are athletes and our training programs must reflect this.
Even if you’re a ‘pencil pusher’ or a ‘white collar crook’, the essence of your being is athletic. In order to see any type of fitness results it is essential to recognize that Squats, Power Cleans, 40 Yard Dashes and Vertical Jumps are not only for NFL Combine participants… they are for you!
1. You’re An Athlete By Design
The foundation principle of everything that I teach all begins with one extremely powerful phrase: “We are primal beings living in a modern world”
Our physical bodies have been unchanged for thousands of years. In fact, today, our bodies are an exact expression of what our ancestors were over 100,000 years ago. It is believed that it takes about 100,000 years for 0.001percent of a genome to change… so yourself and Primal Man are for all intents and purposes… the same.
What has changed is how WE have chosen to live, if you can even call it that. As we have ‘advanced’ in technology we have regressed in physical strength and stature.
We function at a much lower capacity than were inherently capable of. This is analogous to those people who buy off-road vehicles that will never see anything but concrete! You’ve been given the ultimate athletic tool… use it.
2. Short, Hard and Intense Workouts Yield Lean, Hard and Muscular Bodies

When you spend over an hour in the gym sitting on useless ‘fitness machines’ while you’re waiting to do your ‘next set’…your nervous system’s primal response is to release Cortisol and Glucocorticoids – which are stress hormones, (these make you sick, sad, fat and, stupid) in response to your body thinking… “Holy Cow, we’ve been training for over an hour… perhaps we’re being chased by a tiger and need to preserve body fat”, then it begins sacrificing muscle tissue for energy! This is called The Catabolic Effect. Also, workouts exceeding 1 hour have been shown to be associated with a rapid decrease in androgen levels.
This is why marathon runners look so emaciated… id much rather look like one of those Lock, Stock & Ready Sprinters with muscles rippling across their backs and abs.
3. Aerobics and Cardio Training Is Boring & Ineffective
You’ve seen the chunky aerobics instructors; they do cardio all day long… don’t you think that they would be a bit leaner? Well, there is a scientific reason as to why they are chubby even though they bounce up and down on those colorful blocks all day long. In fact research has shown that aerobic instructors who taught an average of 3 hours a day maintained a body fat of 22-24% – mind you, that Olympic athletes hover around 9%.
Especially with repetitive exercises like aerobics the body adapts quickly to the stimulus and ceases to respond to the stimulus. Also, you begin to become very fuel-efficient… Listen, think of a metabolism that has adapted to long treks of cardio as being a Honda… it burns very little fuel (i.e. fat) but can go miles and miles. Think of a metabolism that is roaring with increased mitochondria activity (as is present in someone who weight trains with circuits) as a Hummer, large fuel combusting metabolism!
Here’s why this is so important! You want a stronger heart, without the fat saving response of long boring cardio treks. That is why I teach my clients how to do work capacity sets. We take 4-6 exercises and complete them back to back with no rest and aim to complete them all with in about 2 minutes… if your heart is not ready to pound out of your chest after that, then maybe you should visit your veterinarian!
Here’s a simple circuit that you can do at home – first 20 squats, then 20 lunges, then ’step ups’ on a bench 10 each leg, finally do 10 squat jumps and get it all done in less than 90 seconds! Kick-ass workout!
We begin every session with Plyometrics and then get right into 3-5 “work capacity” sets for upper and lower body.
4. Get High on Oxygen & Sunshine

Besides the fact that training on treadmills and ’sit down’ exercise equipment is less effective than getting your feet on the ground and learning how to use your own bodyweight, training indoors can be detrimental to your performance and fitness results.
As ‘primal beings’ we are in need of several vital elements and forms of energy. The suns rays are nourishing to your mind as well as body. It is well documented that those who live in the cooler northern climates that enjoy less sunshine through out the year are several times more likely to suffer from depression.
Also, if you’re like most Americans you work and live indoors (maybe). In fact, the average person spends 90% of their time indoors. Several health experts have propounded that our homes and workplace are the most toxic environments in our lives. Many studies have stated that toxic particles and fumes found in your home and workplace include: air fresheners, spray starch, paints, mothballs and even ‘new car’ smell kills more people every year than automobile accidents!
So, what do you do? Train in the great outdoors! When I train my Strength Camp clients at Vinoy Park in St. Petersburg Florida, not only do we benefit from the sweet bay breeze but also the scenery is beautiful enough to give a nun spring fever!
5. It’s Gotta Be Fun!
Drop out rates for exercise programs are almost as high as the drop out rate in my old middle school! The bottom line is, if you don’t enjoy it – you wont do it. The most effective way to ensure that you stick with your training program is to change it often. This doesn’t mean hop from one modality to the next before you get any results. It means stick with your weight-training program for a minimum of 90 days but change the exercises you use for each body part every few weeks.
This not only keeps you interested but also, your nervous system will be challenged with the new exercises and be forced to adapt. This yields fast and long-lasting results!

Best 3 Exercises for each tool:

Best 3 Exercises for each tool:
Barbell- Squat, Deadlift, Military press Dumbbell- 1 Arm Row, Flat Dumbbell Press, Dumbbell Military Press Bodyweight- Pistol Squat, Chin Up, Dip Kettlebell- Clean, Snatch, Swing Sandbag- Shouldering, Zercher Squat, Walking Lunge Keg- Clean, Overhead Press, Snatch Medicine Ball- Chest Pass, Soccer Throw, Rotational Throw Log- Clean, Clean and Press, Bench Press Suspension Straps- Pushups, Inverted Rows, Ab Fallouts Swiss Ball- Flat Dumbbell Presses, Flat to Incline Dumbbell Presses, Sledgehammer- Overhead Swing, Rotational Swing, Forearm Exercises Power Wheel- Handwalking, Alligator Pushup, Pike or Ab Roll Out Thick Ropes- Rows, Tug of War, Battling for Conditioning Fat Bar- Curls, Timed Holds, Rack Bench Presses Plyo Boxes- Step Ups, Depth Jumps, Box Jumps

The Resistance Band Exercises Workout

The Resistance Band Exercises Workout

Get a quick fatloss workout with these 6 resistance band exercises. Perform 30 seconds of the first three exercises one after another without resting between moves. Take a 30 second break then repeat two more times. Then perform 30-45 seconds of the last three exercises one after another without resting between moves. Takes a quick break and repeat 2 more times. Take about 20 minutes and can burn about 300-400 calories. 
 Exercise Standing Chest Press with Band 
1. Start by securing the band at chest level behind you and standing with your feet together. To have a more stable stance you can bring one foot in front of the other in a staggered stance(lunge stance).
2. Hold the band with your hands at chest level and your elbows back.
3. Press the bands out away from your body until your arms are extended.
4. Return to the starting position and repeat for the recommended repetitions. 

Resistance Band Exercise Tip:
Increase the intensity by taking a step forward every time you press. Alternate legs to work the core more effectively. Sets Reps Weight/
Resistance 45 degree Lat Pulldown with bands 
1) Secure door strap overhead at top of door.
2) Start position: Position hands overhead and shoulder width apart. Grasp handles with a neutral grip (palms facing each other) and lean trunk forward in alignment with the angle of the tubing from the point of attachment. 
3) Pull handles down to approximately ear level, making sure you lead with the elbows and squeeze the shoulder blades together at the end of the pulldown.
4) Return to start position.



Resistance Band Exercise Tip:
Increase intensity by stepping one foot back into a lunge position as you row. Alternate feet for balance. Sets Reps Weight/
Resistance Wood Chop with band or cable 
1. Start by standing parallel to the band or cable.
2. Hang onto the handle in front of your body but up above your head and over the shoulder. Keeping your arms semi straight rotate your body down and away from the band.
3. Keep your feet planted and twist from your trunk or core. Remember to keep your arms semi straight throughout the movement. 
4. Return to the starting point and repeat according to the required repetitions. 
5. Repeat with the other side. 

Resistance Band Exercise Tip: Sets Reps Weight/
Resistance Stationary Lunge with Fit Band 
1) Stand with feet hip width apart. Take left leg and step back approximately 2 feet standing on the ball of the foot. Place fit band under front foot and hold the other end with your hands. 
2) Start position: Feet should be positioned at a staggered stance with head and back erect and straight in a neutral position. Place hands on hips.
3) Lower body by bending at right hip and knee until thigh is parallel to floor. Body should follow a straight line down towards the floor. 
4) Return to start position. 

Resistance Band Exercise Tip:
Increase intensity by adding bicep curls either at the top or bottom of the movement. Sets Reps Weight/
Resistance Pullups with Bands 
1. Start by placing your feet in the band and your hands on the bar. 
2. With your legs straight pull yourself up until your chest reaches the bar.
3. Return to the starting position and repeat for the desired repetitions. 

Resistance Band Exercise Tip:
Can also be done with just one leg on the band. Sets Reps Weight/
Resistance High Pull with Band 
Starting Position: Face the cable with your hands outstretched and hanging on to the cable handle in a low position. 
Keeping the arms straight stand up using your low back and raise your arms above your head.
Return to the starting position and repeat.


Resistance Band Exercise Tip:
Bend from the hips and reach the hands all the way back to the heels.

Best Flexibility Exercises

The Best Flexibility Exercises to Lengthen, Align, and Relax the Body

Below you'll find the best flexibility exercises for people of all levels and a great yoga workout video to help you get started. Perform flexibility workouts after any cardio or strength workouts. Hold each stretch for 60 minutes on each side. Focus on your breathing to relax the body and release tension. If you find any stretch too difficult then modify to something that works for your body's range of motion. Contracting opposing muscles while holding a stretch often works to deepen any stretch quickly and more easily. Taking short shallow breaths while focusing on tight areas can also take your mind away from any discomfort long enough to allow your body to go deeper. Top of Form Bottom of Form Custom Search 
 Exercise Standing quad stretch 
1. Standing with a shoulder width stance and hang onto an object for support. 
2. Bring one foot up and grab with your hand.
3. Pull your foot up until you feel a stretch on the front of your thigh. 
4. Hold for the prescribed time and repeat with the other leg. 

Best Flexibility Exercises 411:
Lengthens quads and ankles that are tight from demanding leg work. Allows you to get into the more advanced hip flexor stretches that realign the body. Sets Reps Weight/
Resistance Hip Flexor Quad Stretch 
1. Step out 1-2 feet with one foot.
2. Slowly push pelvis downward and forward until stretch is felt in front of back thigh.
3. Hold for 20-30 seconds. Repeat as prescribed.
4. Remember to keep the low back straight.


Best Flexibility Exercises 411:
Lengthens hip flexors and inner thigh muscles that are often the cause of low back, hip, and shoulder problems. Most upper body dysfunction originates in the hips so this stretch is critical for fullbody alignment and good posture. Can be progressed to a deeper stretch by placing back knee and top of back foot on floor. Sets Reps Weight/
Resistance Downward Facing Dog 
1. Place the feet hip width apart and toes facing forward. Place the hands shoulder width apart and spread the fingers. Keep the tailbone lifted towards the sky and gently push down through the heels. Open the upper back by rotating the shoulder blades away from one another. 
2. Keep the shoulders away from the ears and press down firmly through all fingers and thumbs. Spread the fingers push down through index and thumbs. Place more weight onto the feet than the hands. 
3. Pull the navel towards the spine and lift the pelvic floor muscles. Drop the ribcage down towards the spine. Lift the kneecaps up and contract the quadricep muscles. 
4. Maintain in this pose for 5 to 10 deep breaths.


Best Flexibility Exercises 411:
Lengthens the entire back side of the body including calves, hamstrings, hips, glutes, and low back. Also forces the upper back to align and work properly so the chest and ribcage can expand. This boosts oxygen intake and relaxes the body after a hard workout. Sets Reps Weight/
Resistance Wide Leg Upward Dog 
1. Begin by lying on the stomach on the floor. Place the hands behind the shoulders and bring the legs out to the side slightly wider than hip-width. 
2. Relax the buttocks and the legs. Inhale and push evenly down through the hands and lift the chest up towards the sky, gently arching the spine. Roll the shoulders back and down and away from the ears, look up towards the sky. 
3. Do not allow the lower back to collapse down towards the floor. Stay connected to the core musculature by pulling the navel in towards the spine and lifting the pelvic floor muscles. 
4. Keep the fingers and thumbs spread evenly pushing down through all four corners of the palms. Relax the buttocks and the legs. Lift the thighs and chins off the floor pushing down evenly through hands and through the tops of the feet. 
5. Do not allow the lower back to collapse and keep connected to the core. Stay here for 5 to 10 deep breaths.


Best Flexibility Exercises 411:
Lengthens the hip flexors, abs, and ribcage allowing your chest to expand. Reinforces the s curve of your spine and releases tension in the neck and upper back. Sets Reps Weight/
Resistance Pigeon 
1. Place the right knee forward and extend the left leg back. Make sure that the right toes are facing in on an angle and the left toes are pointed and facing down. Place the hands on either sides of the knee and shift the weight over to the left while lengthening the spine. 
2. Square the hips and the shoulders. Move the right foot away from the groin working towards a 90-degree angle with the right calf. The right hip may or may not be connected the floor. The left hip is facing down towards the floor. If there is too much pressure in the knee, readjust the calf. 
3. Replace this posture with the modified pigeon. Inhale and lengthen the spine, exhale and lower down onto the elbows maintaining the weight shift over to the left hip. Rock from side to side to help to increase the circulation in the hip joint. 
4. Only if you are incredibly flexible in the hip, start to work your chest down to the floor extending your arms out in front of you. The left hip, thigh, calf and top of foot is facing towards the floor. Relax the head, neck, shoulders and face. Breathe into the hip and back body. Relax in this pose for 5 to 15 deep breaths. Repeat on the other side.


Best Flexibility Exercises 411:
Lengthens hips, glutes, and inner thighs and allows the low back to expand. Releases tension in the upper back, and neck. Sets Reps Weight/
Resistance Seated Single Leg Side Bend 
1. Begin by extending the right leg to the side and bend the left knee. Place the right elbow on top of the right knee or to the right side of the knee. Now place the strap to the insole of the right foot, holding on with the right hand. 
2. Push the back of the right knee into the floor and raise the right toes towards the sky. Inhale and lengthen the spine, lift the left arm up towards the sky. Visualize the spine being against the wall and maintaining a lone, straight spine keeping the left shoulder open to the sky. 
3. Keep opening the chest towards the sky and do not allow the back to round. As this posture opens start to extend the arm to the side to create a side angle stretch. 
4. Look up, push the sitting bones down and allow the left hip to open. Soften the face, neck and shoulders and take 5 to 15 deep breaths.


Best Flexibility Exercises 411:
Lengthens deep postural muscles of the low back while expanding the ribcage and chest. Also lengthens the hamstrings and inner thighs releasing tension in the glutes and lats. Sets Reps Weight/
Resistance

Top Best Guad Exercises

Top 5 Best Quad Specific Leg Exercises

1. Barbell Back Squats
Barbell back squats are the primary, fundamental exercise for all serious weight training programs. Squats work 100% of your legs and they require functional stability from 95% of the rest of the muscles on your body. Using proper form, barbell back squats will help you get stronger, gain more muscle, and burn more calories than any other single exercise. To set up: the barbell rests on your upper back (traps) and shoulders (deltoids). It should not be sitting on your neck or spine. Bodybuilders tend to place the bar higher, while powerlifters usually hold the bar lower. The powerlifting style is my preference, and I recommend it because it allows you to keep your head and chest higher throughout the exercise, placing less stress on the lower back and neck.
To squat: you are not just bending down to pick up a pencil. Rather, you are pushing your butt back as if to sit in a chair. This is the #1 most common mistake of people that have never been taught to squat. Always keep your abs tight, head up, and chest puffed out. Keep your knees behind your toes. At the bottom of the squat, your thighs should be parallel to the floor or lower, otherwise you are not executing a full squat. Check your ego at the door, use less weight, and employ a full range of motion.
To come up out of the hole, your primary objective is to push your head back, chest up, and drive with your hips. A proper squat will almost feel like you are humping the air in front of you, doggy-style. Pardon my French, but if you are driving properly with your hips, you will be humping. Don’t get me wrong, there’s no need to exaggerate the thrust and make yourself look like a fool, but the general principle of the hip drive, is a thrust.
2. Barbell Front Squats
Front squats are the same as back squats except the bar is placed across the front of your shoulders (anterior deltoids). While this does require strong shoulders, there are two positions you can choose to make this exercise easiest for your body type. 
Front Squat Position #1:
The first position is to place the bar on your shoulders from within a squat rack, extend your arms out straight with palms down, now bend at the elbows and grasp the bar with each hand at the opposite shoulder. At this point your elbows will be pointing straight out in front of you, slightly elevated so as to keep the bar in position against your upper chest/neck/deltoid area. 
This position requires strong shoulders.
Front Squat Position #2:
The second position (olympic style) is basically the finished position of a clean, sometimes called a ‘high hang’. While the bar should still be sitting on your upper chest and delts, your fingers will now be underneath the bar acting sort of as a hook. Your hands will not be on the opposite shoulder for this position. Elbows should be pointing up and away from you. 
This position requires strong fingers and hands, and very flexible wrists. You should stretch your wrists a bit before trying it. Most people who are unfamiliar with olympic style front squats will complain about wrist pain for a couple workouts before adaptations in strength and flexibility really set in.
3. Barbell Lunges
Lunges are definitely the third most effective exercise for your legs behind squats and deadlifts. Most women will do lunges with dumbbells or just with bodyweight, in an attempt to ‘tone’. Serious weightlifters should consider at least throwing in some sets of barbell lunges, although heavy dumbbell lunges are great for both your legs and your grip. There are many variations of lunges, too many for me to post here. I will have to post a separate article just to cover lunges. The two we will cover here are stepping lunges and stationary lunges.

To set up: get in the same position as a squat with the barbell resting on your upper back, or hold dumbbells. 
To lunge: the primary objective of a lunge is to have one foot forward and one foot back, both knees should be bent with the forward thigh parallel to the floor, and the rear knee pointing down or nearly touching the floor. 
For stepping lunges you can either step forward with one foot, drop down into the lunge, then step back; or you can step forward with one foot, drop down into the lunge, then step forward again with the other foot. This then becomes a walking lunge if you continue to step forward. 
You can also step backward from the standing position, drop down into the lunge, then step forward again; or you can step backward, drop down into the lunge, then step backward again with the other foot.
For stationary lunges there is no stepping. You start the exercise with a split stance and lunge away. If you have your rear foot elevated on a bench or box, the movement becomes a Bulgarian split squat; if your front foot is elevated it becomes a split squat. Split squats are great because it becomes more of a unilateral squat than a lunge, and allows you to focus more on the quads and leg stability.
Always keep your body upright like a squat. Head up, chest puffed out, no lateral (side-to-side) movement.
4. Barbell Step-Ups
Similar to the lunge, step-ups are one of the best leg exercises because they are a functional exercise. We say this because the step-up mimic activities that you might encounter in daily life, involving the stabilization of your entire body in multiple plains of motion. To set up: once again start like a squat with the bar on your upper back. You will want to step up onto a box or a bench. Two items to consider are the height of the box and the strength of the box. Try to start with a shorter box until you get use to the exercise, as you can increase step height over time. Always make sure the box or bench can support your weight. 
You can also use dumbbells, which will work your grip. Usually less weight must be used in a dumbbell step up versus a barbell step up.
To step up: step forward like a lunge, but also step up so that your heel rests on the box. Use this leg to propel your body up, bringing the back foot up and forward onto the box. Now step down with the second leg, keeping most of the tension on the leg that you stepped up with initially. 
I also recommend driving the second leg through the range of motion and, instead of stepping on the box, bring that thigh and knee as high as you can in front of you almost as if you were about to step on the next stair in a staircase. This is also known as a high knee kick, or could be known as just ‘high knees’ in sprinting circles.
Women can add additional exercises to a step-up, sometimes in the form of dumbbell curls, shoulder press, or shoulder raises.
5. Sprints
I almost chose the leg press for the #5 exercise, simply because you can load up the weight and use various foot positions to target each muscle group. However, the reality is that leg presses are not functional. I don’t see how leg presses should be used by anyone other than bodybuilders who are trying to etch out each individual quad muscle by using a slow press with a close stance. Instead, I choose sprints because they are both aerobic and anaerobic. Sprints are even more functional than any other exercise on this list, and they will condition your cardiovascular system in addition to building some serious quad size. 
I would even recommend sprints as part of a strict powerlifting routine, as the speed training will help build the force production within the legs, and the neurological pathways will be trained due to the explosive contractions and coordination requirements of perfecting a maximal effort sprint.
To set up: I prefer to sprint in the grass, in the woods, on a track, anywhere but on a hard surface. You can also choose stair sprints or even bicycle sprints for a change of pace.

To sprint: use your arms and legs to drive your performance. Pump your arms from front to back to gain momentum. The knees should be lifted up high on each step, bringing the quads parallel to the ground similar to squats and lunges. Please wear safe, stable sneakers when sprinting. Tie your laces you lazy bum!
When interval sprinting, try repeating a cycle of sprinting for 30 seconds and walking for a minute. 
I couldn’t find a sprint video that I really wanted to show you, sorry.
Honorable mentions: sled dragging, truck pulling, truck pushing, jump squats, unilateral squats.

Top Hamstrings Exercises

Top 5 Best Hamstring Exercises

Of course squats and lunges are part of this list, but I intend to target exercises that train the hamstrings more directly. For more information on squats and other quad dominant leg exercises, see my post about the 5 best exercises for quads. 1. Barbell Deadlifts
Deadlifts are one of the primary, fundamental exercises for all serious weight training programs. Deadlifts work 100% of your legs and they require functional stability from 95% of the rest of the muscles on your body. Using proper form, deadlifts will help you get stronger, gain more muscle, and burn more calories than any other single exercise after the squat. To set up: the barbell rests on the floor, sitting just above the ankles right in front of the shins. Your stance should be shoulder width for conventional deadlifts. Bending your knees, reach down and grab the bar so that your knees are actually inside your elbows. When going heavy, it helps to alternate your grip where one hand is pronated (palm facing you) and the other hand is supinated (palm facing away).

To deadlift: to start a deadlift, use your whole body to begin to lift the bar off the floor. Arms should be straight, knees should be bent. The object is to lift the weight with your legs, glutes, and hips, rather than with your lower back. In fact your lower back should not bend that much, should in fact be pretty straight, and should definitely NOT be rounded. You accomplish this by keeping your head up and by driving with your hips. It is of utmost importance to keep the bar close to your body during the lift.
At the top you should stand up straight, but do not over extend your lower back as if you were doing some kind of hyper-extension. The driving force at the top should be more of a hip thrust than a lower back spasm. Lower the bar under control, keeping it close to your body.
Variations: close stance deads, wide stance deads, sumo style deads, deads off a box, rack pulls or pin pulls, deads or rack pulls with chains or bands. 2. Stiff Leg or Romanian Deadlifts
Stiff leg deads are a compound exercise and one of the best mass building exercises for the hamstrings. Form is especially important to avoid becoming the next victim of lower back injury. Make sure to practice stiff leg deads with lighter weight until you master the form. To setup: setup similar to a conventional deadlift except that your feet should be set in a narrower stance and your knees should just barely be bent. Use a pronated grip until you get strong enough that an alternating grip is warranted.
To stiff leg deadlift: Do not use your back! This should be another exercise where you drive with your hips and glutes using a straight back. The hips should move out and back to allow you to descend. Do NOT round your back or ‘bend over’ so to speak. Lower the weight down as far as you can without straining your hamstrings or compromising your spine.
Romanian Deadlifts
The Romanian deadlift is another good compound ham exercise. Again, form is of essence. While similar to the stiff leg deads in the sense that you have to move your hips back during the descent, but the difference is that you can bend the knees a little more through the movement. This often allows one to go lower and lift heavier weight but takes some of the focus directly off the hamstrings. Romanian deads are a bit safer for the lower back. 3. Good Mornings
Good mornings start like a squat but act like a Romanian deadlift. This is another great exercise for the whole posterior chain. To setup: the barbell rests on your upper back (traps) and shoulders (deltoids). It should not be sitting on your neck or spine. Bodybuilders tend to place the bar higher, while powerlifters usually hold the bar lower. The powerlifting style is my preference, and I recommend it because it allows you to keep your head and chest higher throughout the exercise, placing less stress on the lower back and neck.
To good morning: keep your head up and your back completely straight. Bend at your waist with your knees locked but slightly bent. Ideally you will bend until your upper body is parallel to the floor, but this is not always possible for novice lifters. Return slowly to the upper position. Work on your form in order to bend over further while keeping your head up and back straight. 4. Glute Ham Raises
A little known exercise outside of powerlifting circles, the glute ham raise has been gaining popularity in recent years. Like the push up, pull up, and muscle up, this is a bodyweight exercise that really separates the men from the boys; the weak from the strong. To setup: firstly, you will need to anchor your feet. Find a lip on something, either a machine or a bed or one of those ab benches. Face down, you want to anchor your heels underneath the lip, and if you are not on a pad you will want to place a towel under your knees. Make sure the lip is not sharp or too hard as the pressure against your heels and achillies tendon will be great.
To glute ham raise: starting with your feet anchored and your knees bent at 90 degrees, kneeling on the floor, slowly lower your upper body to the floor. You will probably need to catch yourself at the bottom, at least in the beginning, so you don’t smash your nose. Chances are you will also need to give yourself a slight push off the floor in order to get moving up again. This is a hard exercise and few people are good at it. Anyway, use your hamstrings to pull yourself back up to a kneeling position. 5. Standing 1 Leg Curls
Basically you take the lying leg curl, stand it up, and do it with one leg. The second best option is a lying 1 leg curl, since most gyms don’t have the standing leg curl machine. If you don’t have either of those machines, you could always resort to plate dragging. To setup and curl: climb on the machine and do a leg curl with one leg, then switch. That’s about all there is to it. This is especially an effective exercise for bodybuilders, but powerlifters and other athletes can do it too.
Plate Drags
Thanks to T-Nation for this idea and for the images.

Top Chest Exercises

The Top 5 Best Chest Exercises

1. Barbell bench press
The king of all chest exercises. The flat barbell bench press has long been the standard for strength prowess. If you could only choose 3 exercise to create a full body workout, the flat barbell bench press would have to be on the list. This is also the same exercise used in any big 3 powerlifting competition. You will find people use a large number of variations of the flat barbell bench press. A close grip flat barbell bench press is used to focus more on triceps, while a wide grip flat barbell bench press is a standard pec builder. A middle grip is used most successfully to combine the strength of the triceps, pecs, and shoulders for a maximal effort bench press.
To set up: find a flat standard Olympic bench with a standard 45 lb barbell. Laying down flat on the bench, you want the soles of your feet to touch the floor. This is because we want a solid base on which to use our legs to help drive the weight up. You want your butt, your upper back, and your head to be touching the bench at all times.
You should also set up so that when you unrack the bar it will drop almost directly down to your chest; in other words you don’t want to be doing a barbell pull-over once you unrack the bar from the bench, as this will create unnecessary fatigue and increase the possibility for shoulder injury.
All that being said, put a couple plates on that bar and lets start benching!
To bench: with a medium grip flat bench press, you don’t want your elbows tucked in nor flared out. They should naturally fall at a 45 degree position away from your body, locked in against your lats for stabilization at the bottom of the rep.
From the unracked position, you will lower the weight slowly so that the bar just lightly touches your nipple area; do not bounce. Using explosive chest strength you should drive the bar through the mid-way point of the rep, which is usually a sticking point. Once you are past the mid-way point you will increase your triceps activation to press and lock out the weight. When I say lock out, I do not mean to lock the elbows out 100%, instead they should be locked out about 95% so that the elbow is completely straight.
The best way I have found to maximize triceps activation is to focus on breaking the bar in half away from you. Think about holding a stick out straight in front of your body with palms down, then break that stick away from you by snapping both forearms and wrists away from the midline of the body. Clearly the bar is not actually going to break, but you can use this concept for maximum triceps activation.
Variations: wide grip, medium grip, narrow grip; board press, floor press, pin press.
The incline bench press is often used to target the upper pecs, while the decline bench press is used to target the lower pecks. I have a bone to pick with this notion. For one thing, the incline press is great. I always work a flat incline dumbbell press into my workout. If you have studied the anatomy of the pectoralis, you will notice that there is indeed an upper pec. Your pecs will appear super powerful once you have concentrated on flat and incline benching, and developed the cut between the two muscles. That, my friend, is good stuff.
Controversial point #1: The decline bench on the other hand is quite bogus. There is no ‘lower pec’ muscle. People are most often stronger on the decline bench because the range of motion is shorter, which eliminates weakness at the bottom of the press, because you are better able to recruit your triceps and lats throughout the entire exercise, and because you use less of your weaker upper pec and more of the bigger, stronger pectoralis major. I haven’t done a decline bench press in 8 years or more, and I don’t intend to start doing them now. A close grip decline bench focusing on the triceps is a whole different story. You can read about the #5 best triceps exercises# for more information.
My only problem with the following video is that he lifts his butt off the bench during each rep. I only show you this because it demonstrates the concept of driving with your feet and legs. It is possible to drive with your feet and legs while simultaneously keeping your ass on the bench. 2. Dumbbell bench press
The flat dumbbell bench press is like core chest exercise #2. This is one awesome way to make sure you don’t have any strength imbalances between the two sides of your body. The dumbbell bench also more closely follows the intended function of the pecs by not only pressing but also by moving the weight toward the midline of your body. To set up: find a flat bench that allows your feet to touch the floor. You will once again want your butt, your upper back, and your head to be touching the bench at all times.
Most of the time I grab the dumbbells I want, stand with the bench about 6 inches behind me, and sit down slowly while transitioning the flat side of each dumbbell to rest on my thigh. From this position I can lay back, rock the dumbbells up to shoulder height, and press up the first rep all in one fluid motion. Without mastering this maneuver you will forever have people handing you the weight or spotting you on the first rep. By this point you have already completed half of your first rep.
To bench: lower the weight to finish your first rep, then at the bottom of the rep, which for me is when the dumbbells lightly touch my shoulders, I use explosive force in my chest and shoulders to power the weight past the mid-way point, and conclude the rep by using my triceps to lock it out. Again, only a 95% lock, not straight.
Many people do not advocate a full range of motion on a heavy dumbbell bench press. They would say stop short of letting the weight touch your shoulders. In fact, many would say only bring the weight down until your upper and lower arms form a 90 degree angle. I completely disagree with this. My shoulders are pretty strong and healthy, and I’ve always lowered the weight to the top of each shoulder.
Variations: incline, decline, flat. It is possible to use a wide, medium, close grip on your flat dumbbell bench, but I prefer to focus on the single medium grip motion so as not to compromise the integrity of my shoulders and rotator cuffs. Also, I think the decline dumbbell bench press is bogus, but probably more useful the decline barbell bench press. I still don’t do it.
I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to put up the infamous Ronnie Coleman dumbbell pressing 200 lbs in each hand. 3. Explosive push ups
You have to admit, aside from using the smith machine, that it’s pretty hard to do any maximally explosive benching. Sure, you can use a Westside Barbell style dynamic effort day in which you use 45-50% of your 1 rep max for 9 sets of 2 reps. Read about the Louie Simmons Westside Barbell theories on dynamic effort and speed lifting on the Westside Barbell Articles page. If you are a strength athlete or powerlifter and you haven’t yet read every article on that page, do it now and come back to Project Swole later.
In any case, this exercise will be used to develop explosive power in your chest, shoulders, and triceps. The two main methods I recommend are clapping push ups and plyometric push ups where you jump your hands up onto an object for each rep. For the purpose of this article we will talk about plyo push ups.
To set up: choose to do push ups either on your palms or on your knuckles. As you lay on the floor, your body should be in a straight line, touching the floor only at the hands and toes. If you are female and struggle with push ups, you may start by doing push ups on your knees, but within a month or two you must practice and master doing push ups from your toes.
Opinions differ as to how to position your head during push ups. When you are doing explosive push ups by jumping up onto objects, you won’t have much choice but to look down so that you aren’t missing your target. Ideally you would look up and forward while doing push ups.
Your hands should be placed 2-3 inches outside of your shoulder width. The closer your hands, the more you will activate your triceps. Since this is for explosive power in the chest, you will choose a wider hand position.
Select two large hardcover books, weight plates, or blocks that are at least one inch thick. Place one of these object directly beside each hand. At the beginning of each rep your hands will be on the floor. At the end of each rep your hands will be up on the blocks. As you get better at this exercise you will want to increase the height of the blocks.
To push up: the starting position is as low to the ground as possible without touching your chest, belly, legs, or chin. The initial movement should be to drive your body off the floor with as much force as you can muster. At the top of the rep, stopping before you fully extend your elbows, the last bit of effort should be a 100% maximal force that will propel your body up into the air, allowing you to execute a clap or to jump your hands up onto the blocks.
After a clap you will land in the original position and descend in preparation for the next rep.
After a plyo push up you can choose to either: 1. Walk your hands back down to the starting position and descend in preparation for the next rep. 2. Descend down into another rep and execute another plyo push up, jumping back down to the original starting position. Then descend in preparation for the next rep. 4. Variations: clapping, hopping, palms, knuckles, variable height boxes, alternating arms, incline, decline, super wide (more chest), narrow (more triceps), legs elevated.
Here is one of the best plyo push up videos I could find on YouTube.
Just so you can see how many examples of plyometric push ups there are, here is an example of a girl executing some mighty fine lateral plyo push ups. 5. Chest dips
Similar to the triceps version, chest dips closely resemble what you would be trying to accomplish with decline pressing except that you are focusing on building triceps strength for chest pressing rather than trying to work the phantom ‘lower pecs’. If you have bad shoulders consider skipping this exercise or work at it slowly by shallow dipping rather than deep dipping. To set up: find yourself a dip station. Grab a weighted belt and some plates or a dumbbell if you need to add weight for your dips.
To dip: start at the top with your arms almost fully extended. The goal is to lean slightly forward in order to keep tension more so on the pecs than the triceps. Now dip down until your upper arms are parallel to the floor, or lower if it doesn’t bother your shoulders. Do not bounce at the bottom, instead pause for half a second. Squeeze your pecs and use your triceps to push yourself back to the top. Never lock your elbows.
Variations: assisted, bodyweight, weighted. You will also find dipping stations with adjustable handles so that you can use a wider or narrower hand position. Keep your body completely upright to focus on triceps instead of chest.
I could not find a chest dips video on YouTube that I approve of, so here’s one with a guy who is clearly going super heavy. Aside from locking out his elbows randomly throughout his sets, this is a pretty good demonstration of the chest dip. 6. Dumbbell flyes
How important are flyes? In my opinion not very important, but I needed a fifth exercise for this list. Honestly I would rather fill up my chest workout with flat and incline benching and dumbbell pressing, and end off with some heavy weighted chest dips. Some people just insist that flyes are the key to growth and flexibility, and I will admit flyes do have a purpose when it comes to bodybuilding. There are many variations of flyes including dumbbells, cables, and any angular position you can put yourself in by either using an adjustable incline bench, or by standing and leaning over with the cables.
I highly recommend that if you are not into this for bodybuilding purposes, that you might want to consider dumbbell rather than cable flyes.
Most importantly, rather than doing dumbbell flyes at the end of your chest workout, choose dumbbell flyes as a recovery exercise a day or two after a heavy chest workout. This will allow you to stimulate your sore chest muscles with a free weight exercise that is dissimilar to what you used to tear them up in the first place. You will be able to get a good stretch and increase blood flow to all areas of the pec.
To set up: for dumbbell flyes, you want to assume an identical position to either the flat or incline dumbbell bench press; one dumbbell in each hand. You want to start the exercise from the top position rather than with your arms out to the sides. Start by pressing the weights straight overhead.
To flye: once the weights are fully extended overhead, keep your arms straight except for a very small bend at the elbow. Lower the weights out to your sides with each arm at the same time. At the bottom position your arms should be parallel to the floor. Pause for just half a second and rapidly bring the weights back to the top position, still without moving your elbows.
At the top position of this exercise you should find that your arms are not straight up and down, perpendicular to the floor. This would only remove the tension from the muscles. Instead, stop 15 degrees short of straight overhead.
This entire motion should be controlled by your chest and front del

Top Back Exercises

Top 5 Best Back Exercises

Update: Deadlifts Because I have received so many comments ripping me for not including deadlifts on this list, let the record show that I did indeed mention deadlifts right here at the top of the list, but decided not to include them in the list because they are already in the top 5 best hamstring exercises. Deadlifts are probably the 3rd best back exercise after barbell rows and pull ups, so include them in your back workout as you see fit. Similarly, you could include good mornings in this list. To reduce the angst of hardcore weightlifters, I have revised this list to include deadlifts as the #5 best back exercise. My original comments regarding deadlifts are as follows: Of course deadlifts are part of this list, but I intend to target exercises that train the upper and mid back directly. For more information on deadlifts and other lower back exercises, see my post about the 5 best exercises for hamstrings. 1. Barbell Bent Over Rows – Horizontal training
Bent over rows with a barbell is arguably the most important back exercise you can do for pulling strength and thickness in the upper body. This is a compound movement that works everything from traps to lats to lower back and hamstrings. Using proper form, bent over barbell rows will help you stand apart with thickness and strength, from the people who only do pull ups, chin ups, or (God forbid) pull downs. To set up: you should start by standing on a box or platform with the loaded barbell. This is necessary to avoid the plates hitting the floor when you use 45 lb plates. Your stance should be shoulder width for conventional barbell rows. Now, keeping your knees slightly bent, your head up, and your back straight, bend over until your upper body is lower than 45 degrees to the floor. My goal is always to get as close to parallel with the floor as possible.
The weight should be hanging straight down from your arms at this point, directly below your chest. You should have a pronated grip on the bar; your palms should be facing towards you. Feel free to use a bit of chalk if you are rowing really heavy. NO STRAPS!

To row: to start a row, use your back muscles to pull the bar straight up to touch your chest. The elbows should be tucked in, head up, back straight, and you should NOT bounce. Lower the weight under control and repeat.

Variations: close grip, wide grip, medium grip, two arm dumbbell rows, supinated rows (palms facing away).
There is also a machine called the T-Bar that can be used for rowing. Old school lifters might even put one end of an Olympic bar in the corner of a room, and use the other end as a T-bar and a neutral grip cable attachment as the handle. 2. Pull Ups and Chin Ups – Vertical training
Pull ups and chin ups are a true measure of strength. They are one of those exercises that can be used to gauge a person’s physical strength relative to their body weight. For example a powerlifter might be able to bench press 600 lbs at a body weight of 280 lbs, but maybe he can only do 4 pull ups. Meanwhile a 175 lb guy can only bench 315, but he can bust out about 30 pull ups. So let me ask you, who is really stronger? Better yet, which person’s strength would you wish to have? Sorry, but I’d rather be the smaller guy.
To set up: stand on a box or a platform if you need to, or just jump up, so you can reach the bar. Pull ups are typically harder than chin ups, but I recommend you switch off between the two. Pull ups use a pronated grip (palms down, or in this case palms facing away), while chin ups use a supinated grip (palms up). Hands should be just wider than shoulder width for a medium grip pull up, or just inside shoulder width for a medium grip chin up.

To pull up: the goal is to pull yourself up until your chin is over the bar. Keep your head up, possibly looking at the ceiling, and get that chin over the bar, pause just long enough to get a full contraction. Lower yourself back down so that your arms are about 99% straight, don’t bounce.
If you can’t do a pull up, most gyms have assisted pull up machines. Start there and work your weight towards your first bodyweight pull up.
If you can do more than 10 pulls up with bodyweight, it might be time to consider weighted pull ups and weighted chin ups. You can do this by hanging a dumbbell between your legs or ankles, or by using a belt with a chain to suspend the weight between your legs.
Variations: wide grip, medium grip, narrow grip, neutral grip (palms facing each other), pull ups, chin ups, towel pull ups to blast your grip and finger strength. Many people do lat pull downs on machines or with cables, but I’m telling you not to. Stick with free weights! 3. Barbell Shrugs – Upper back
Shrugs are specifically a traps only exercise. The lats don’t come into play at all. You can go pretty heavy on shrugs. I built a decent set of traps back in the day by working up to 10-12 reps with between 495 and 585 lbs on a standard Olympic bar. To set up: unless you feel like deadlifting the weight off the floor, your best bet is to unrack the bar at thigh height from a platform, squat rack, power rack, or whatever else you can use. This is one of maybe 2 exercises for which I condone using straps. You want to avoid using an alternating grip if possible, and sometimes using chalk just doesn’t cut it if you are using heavier weight than you typically deadlift.
To shrug: take a pronated grip on the bar just outside your hips and unrack the weight so that it hangs to mid thigh. Always stand straight with your head up, and knees just barely bent. Try to touch your shoulders to your ears by shrugging straight up, as high as you can. Hold for half a second to really get that contraction. Lower the weight under control back to mid thigh.
Variations: dumbbell shrugs are good too, but you can’t use as much weight.
The guy in this video shrugs really fast and I would prefer a longer pause at the top, but this is really what a heavy barbell shrug will look like. 4. One Arm Dumbbell Rows – Horizontal training
This is a great way for you to isolate each side of your back in turn. While you can’t go as heavy as barbell rows, you can still go pretty heavy and you can get a fuller contraction with a greater range of motion because the barbell does not restrict your scapula from fully retracting on each rep. To set up: grab a dumbbell and place it beside a bench. Now kneel with one leg on one end of the bench and place your hand on the other end for support. At this point your upper body should be parallel to the floor, and your free leg should be planted just behind you and to the side of your body for support.
To row: grab the dumbbell with a neutral grip (palm facing your body), arm fully extended and lift the dumbbell off the floor. From this point you want to row the weight up and back, pulling your hand in just above your hip, and getting your elbow also up and back as far as possible. Experiment with wrist angles to make this exercise harder, easier, or more comfortable for you.
Variations: you can use a machine or a cable exercise for this, but I highly recommend you stick with free weights. 5. Barbell Deadlifts Deadlifts belong in this list as well as in the top 5 best hamstring exercises, so here it is: 
Deadlifts are one of the primary, fundamental exercises for all serious weight training programs. Deadlifts work 100% of your legs and they require functional stability from 95% of the rest of the muscles on your body. Using proper form, deadlifts will help you get stronger, gain more muscle, and burn more calories than any other single exercise after the squat.
To set up: the barbell rests on the floor, sitting just above the ankles right in front of the shins. Your stance should be shoulder width for conventional deadlifts. Bending your knees, reach down and grab the bar so that your knees are actually inside your elbows. When going heavy, it helps to alternate your grip where one hand is pronated (palm facing you) and the other hand is supinated (palm facing away).
To deadlift: to start a deadlift, use your whole body to begin to lift the bar off the floor. Arms should be straight, knees should be bent. The object is to lift the weight with your legs, glutes, and hips, rather than with your lower back. In fact your lower back should not bend that much, should in fact be pretty straight, and should definitely NOT be rounded. You accomplish this by keeping your head up and by driving with your hips. It is of utmost importance to keep the bar close to your body during the lift.
At the top you should stand up straight, but do not over extend your lower back as if you were doing some kind of hyper-extension. The driving force at the top should be more of a hip thrust than a lower back spasm. Lower the bar under control, keeping it close to your body.
Variations: close stance deads, wide stance deads, sumo style deads, deads off a box, rack pulls or pin pulls, deads or rack pulls with chains or bands.
 Honorable mentions: pull overs, cleans, snatches, and… Dumbbell Reverse Flyes This exercise used to be listed at the #5 best back exercise, but I really couldn’t live with myself for including it in that list. Therefore, read this section while keeping in mind that dumbbell reverse flyes are probably somewhere in the top 10 best back exercises, but it is not top 5. OK, you might be thinking this exercise is foo-foo, but it really works the smaller muscles in your upper back, including your rear delts. I guess I wouldn’t really recommend this as a staple exercise for powerlifters or other strength athletes, but it is mandatory for bodybuilders. This will really help to separate the muscles in the back, and will build the rear delts, which are typically very hard to cultivate. To set up: standing or sitting, grab some dumbbells, bend over so that your upper body is parallel to the floor. Allow the weights to hang at your sides, arms fully extended. To reverse fly: keeping your back flat and straight, raise the weight vertically until your hands are at their highest possible position. Hold for half a second to contract. Lower the weight under control, but stop a couple inches short of where you started. The goal is not to pause at the bottom of the movement for rest. Tension should be kept on the muscles at all times. Variations: because this is not a compound exercise, reverse flies on any number of machines or cables are usually an acceptable alternative to dumbbells.

Top Shoulder Exercises

The Top 5 Best Shoulder Exercises

1. Hang Clean & Press
This is the ultimate shoulder exercise if you ask me. The hang clean resembles a power upright row and if you press without hesitation you can utilize momentum and the stretch reflex to press more weight than you could from a dead stop. However, when using momentum like this, the press tends to turn into more of a push (using the legs and other joints to generate momentum). This is not an exercise designed for any specific kind of training. The hang clean and press mixes Olympic lifting with standard weightlifting and can be used with heavy weight to develop strength or light weight to develop speed and power.
To set up: you will want to load a standard Olympic barbell with some weight, or if you are female you might consider one of the small pre-built barbells that are sometimes setup on weight trees in the free weight area of your gym.
Position your feet on the ground and your hands on the bar, both just outside shoulder width. Keeping your back flat and chin up, deadlift the weight into a standing position with the bar resting against your thighs. This is the starting position.
To hang clean & press: from the starting position you should lower the bar down to just above your knees bending at the knees and waist. From this position you will perform a hang clean to get the bar up to your shoulders.
When you execute a hang clean you want to extend your ankles, flex your knees, flex your traps, and execute something that resembles a 3/4 upright row in order to bring the bar up in a straight line in front of your body until it reaches your shoulders.
At this point you want to rotate your elbows under the bar, catching it on the front of your shoulders, chest, and upward-facing palms. Bend at the knees slightly to assist with the catch.
Immediately press the bar up to full extension. Lower the bar back to your shoulders and drop it back down to your thighs to complete the rep.
The hang clean is not a reverse curl. The movement itself is a combination of a quarter squat, a calf raise, a shrug, and a 3/4 upright row. It is a power movement and should be explosive.
Variations: clean and press, hang clean and push, clean and push. 2. Standing Overhead Press / Military Press
The military press is in league with squats, deadlifts, and bench presses as one of the mandatory exercises for all serious weight lifter. If you are not overhead pressing you are not really lifting. This is the ultimate compound pressing exercise for your shoulders. To set up: either set the bar up in a power rack or squat rack, or you will have to clean the weight up to your shoulders to start the exercise. This is usually what I do since my gym lacks a decent rack of any sort. Grip the bar 2-3 inches outside of shoulder width.
To press: starting with the weight resting on your upper chest and shoulders, press the bar up in front of your face, extending the elbows just short of lockout. Return the weight under control to your upper chest to complete the rep.
Like the guy in the video below, you can take advantage of the stretch reflex by not pausing at the bottom.
Do not bounce, use your legs, or use your hips to get the weight up, as this would be a push press. Push presses are really great too, but we are talking about plain old military presses right now.
Variations: push press, standing dumbbell press. 3. Dumbbell Shoulder Press (3 variations)
In this case I have to point out 3 important variations of the dumbbell shoulder press, all of which I think are important in different scenarios. 1. Standing One Arm Dumbbell Press
I chose this exercise because sometimes you can lift more when you alternate sides in rapid succession. To set up: while standing, clean both dumbbells up to shoulder level or have someone hand them too you if you are a wuss.
To press: lift one dumbbell straight up while resting the other on the opposite shoulder. As you return the first dumbbell to your shoulder, the second dumbbell should already be moving. There should not be any rest between reps.
Variations: seated one arm dumbbell shoulder press.
I could only find a seated version of this exercise with someone doing it the way I would do it. 2. Seated Dumbbell Press
Because you are seated, you are able to drive more with your legs and press back against the bench for added strength and stability. To set up: while seated, rest the dumbbells on each respective knee. When you are ready, use your legs to pop each dumbbell up to your shoulders. You will most likely have to pop up one at a time or have someone hand them to you if you are a wuss.
To press: keeping your feet flat on the floor and your back straight against the bench, press both dumbbells up simultaneously, stopping just short of full lockout. Return the dumbbells to your shoulders to complete the rep.
Variations: standing dumbbell shoulder press – this is one of the few exercises that I find to be awkward, which probably means I should do it every workout until it becomes habit. The standing alternating one arm version is much less awkward in my opinion and I can lift more weight when I alternate. 3. Seated Arnold Shoulder Press
This is a slightly awkward exercise that is very beneficial because it hits the front and side heads of your delts. Don’t plan on using super heavy weight though, as this is a more difficult exercise than regular dumbbell or barbell presses. To set up: start just like a seated dumbbell press, but start with the dumbbells in front of your face, palms facing towards you, the sides of the dumbbells will probably be touching.
To press: rotate the dumbbells externally and press them up at the same time. By the time you reach full extension your palms should be facing away from you and you will have rotated the dumbbells 180 degrees. Return the weights to the front of your face to complete the rep.
Variations: standing Arnold shoulder presses are awkward. I don’t like to do them standing, which again probably means I should. 4. Upright Barbell Rows
Some people seem to indicate that upright barbell rows are tough on the rotator cuffs, but I don’t find this to be true so long as you don’t attempt to rotate the bar higher once it has reached shoulder level. Rather, I believe upright rows are a great exercise for the medial or outside heads of the shoulders. To set up: you will have to choose between straight bar or ez curl bar, but I prefer ez curl. Standing, grab the bar roughly one inch inside of shoulder width.
To upright row: bring the bar straight up alongside the front of your body, bending only the elbows. Your elbows should end up point straight out to either side and the bar should end up just under chin-level.
Variations: two arm, one arm, wide grip, medium grip, close grip, high pulls, dumbbell cleans, barbell cleans, upright cable rows, upright dumbbell rows (slightly awkward).
 5. Lateral Dumbbell Side Raises
Definitely not compound by any means, lateral dumbbell raises are the equivalent of dumbbell curls for the shoulders. I recommend this exercise more for bodybuilding than for powerlifting, strongman training, Olympic lifting, or martial arts. To set up: standing up, hold a pair of dumbbells in your hands with your arms hanging straight down to the side.
To raise: using the medial delts (the side of the shoulders), raise the dumbbells straight up to the side until both arms are parallel to the floor. Bend your elbows as little as possible. Technically your arms should be straight the whole time.
Then lower the dumbbells back down, but not such that your arms or the weights touch your thighs, nor should your arms ever be perpendicular to the floor. You always want to keep tension on the shoulders.
Variations: one arm side raise, cable side raise. Honorable mentions: internal rotations and external rotations for the rotator cuffs, bent over reverse dumbbell or cable flyes.

Best Triceps Exercises

1.Close grip bench press Close grip bench is probably the best tricep exercise on the planet. This exercise allows you to go heavy and put maximum stress on the muscle that can help you bench stronger and better.
You want to set up like a regular bench press, but position your hands no wider than shoulder width. On the decent, you want to keep your elbows in. Do not let your elbows drift away from your body like you would with a regular bench press. At the bottom of the movement, you want the bar to come to the lower portion of your chest; at the top, the bar should be over your upper chest.

2. Dips (weighted) A classic tricep builder. Keep your body as upright as possible to put the stress on your triceps rather than your chest. 
Use a belt with a chain to add weight to your body if you can do more than 5 reps at bodyweight. 
Be careful to always respect the flexibility and stability of your shoulders. Be sure not to lower your body so far that your shoulders become compromised, and always use strict form and a bounce-free concentric movement.

3. Rack lockouts or board press True powerlifting exercises, these two can be used interchangeably but only choose to use one of these exercises in any given workout. For the most part they train the same muscles. 
The goal here is to train the top portion of the bench press, where triceps rain supreme. I prefer rack lockouts because if I do use too much weight I can just rack the bar, and I don’t have to worry about carrying around a bunch of boards nailed together as if I didn’t already carry enough equipment around in my gym bag. 
Rack Lockouts

Board Press
However, most powerlifters that I have ever known prefer the board press to rack lockouts. I believe this is because the board press is identical to a regular bench press, except that the range of motion is much shorter (and there’s a big board on your chest). You can also vary the thickness of the boards from 1 inch to 10 inches or whatever you need for your workout.

4. Lying French press (aka skullcrushers, nosebreakers) This is as close as I’ll get to recommending a tricep extension type exercise. The reason I like this exercise so much is that you really can work up to a decent weight, and it works your triceps from a different angle than any of the pressing movements.
I suggest using an EZ curl bar and positioning your hands shoulder width apart. Lower the bar under control down to your nose, your hairline, or behind your head. If you feel any pain in your triceps, opt to lower the bar behind your head. 
In the following video we split the difference… this guy lower the bar to his hairline. I typically prefer behind the head.

5. Close grip (diamond) push ups (with a clap) What? How did this get in here? No seriously, if you can bang out a set of 10 diamond push ups that’s great, but can you clap after each rep. This is an exercise that will really condition your triceps to contract with maximum force. 
You want to position your hands underneath your chest with index fingers and thumb tips touching. The space between should form a diamond. As soon as you can do 10 of these without the clap, add the clap. In order to clap properly you will need to push yourself up high enough to execute the clap and return your hands to their proper diamond position for the next rep. 
If this is too hard you can work up to it by placing plates or books beside your hands, and ‘jump’ up onto them. This is initially a shorter range of motion than a clap.
In the following video this guy is just doing regular diamond push ups without a clap. We do these in thai kickboxing class.