Strength Training Exercises

The Best Exercises to Build Muscle and Add to your Weight Training Routines

Welcome to our Strength Training Exercises directory!

Below you’ll find our chosen best exercises to build muscle mass—steel bending, sleeve bulging, muscle mass. Use these exercises along with our Muscle Building Tips to move from lean to LARGE. Before we get to the exercises, we’d like to give some quick insight on our methodology on choosing the strength training exercises.

Shut up and let me skip to the exercises!

Our Philosophy: Choosing the Best Exercises to Build Muscle

To build more muscle, you have to challenge your body to move more weight. Makes sense right? The important distinction, however, is not trying to move from 20 to 30 pounds on dumbbell curls, it’s moving from say 200 to 400 pounds on barbell squats.

Compound Exercises like squats, deadlifts, military press, bench press, and others allow you to pile on the weight and engage large muscle groups to build functional strength. Focusing on large muscle groups also releases more muscle building testosterone and growth hormone than isolation exercises, so what’s not to love?

To try and sum it up in four bullet points:

Stick to Compound exercises
Be bias to Barbells
Don’t you dare skip your leg workouts
Read our Muscle Building Tips

All Strength Training Exercises by Muscle Group

Below we’ve listed all of our strength training exercises sorted by primary muscle(s) trained resulting in the following sections:

Arm Exercises
Back and Shoulder Exercises
Chest Exercises
Leg Exercises

Strength Training Bicep Exercises and Tricep Exercises

	Bicep Exercises
Exercise Name	Primary Muscle(s)	Addl Equip. Required
Chin Ups	Biceps, Forearms, Lats, Upper Back	Pull Up Bar
Gironda Sternum Chin Ups	Biceps, Forearms, Lats, Upper Back	Pull Up Bar
Narrow Parallel Grip Chin Ups	Biceps, Deltoids, Forearms, Lats, Upper Back	Pull Up Bar

Check out all of our Arm Exercises or skip directly to our Bicep Exercises or Tricep Exercises page!

	Tricep Exercises
Exercise Name	Primary Muscle(s)	Addl Equip. Required
Bench Tricep Dips	Triceps, Chest, Deltoids, Lats, Upper Back	Two Benches
Close Grip Bench Press	Triceps, Chest, Deltoids	Barbell, Bench
Decline Close Grip Bench to Skull Crushers	Triceps, Chest, Deltoids	Barbell, Decline Bench
Machine Tricep Dips	Triceps, Chest, Deltoids, Lats, Upper Back	Weight Machine
Reverse Triceps Bench Press	Triceps, Chest	Barbell, Bench
Smith Machine Close Grip Bench Press	Triceps, Chest, Deltoids	Bench, Smith Machine
Tricep Dips	Triceps, Chest, Deltoids, Lats, Upper Back	Parallel Bars or Dip Station

Check out all of our Arm Exercises or skip directly to our Bicep Exercises or Tricep Exercises!

Strength Training Back and Shoulders Exercises

	Back Exercises
Exercise Name	Primary Muscle(s)	Addl Equip. Required
Barbell T-Bar Row	Upper Back, Lats, Biceps	Barbell
Bent Over Row	Upper Back, Lats, Biceps, Shoulders	Barbell
Climber Pull Ups	Lats, Upper Back, Biceps, Shoulders	Pull Up Bar
Close Grip Front Lat Pull Down	Lats, Upper Back, Biceps, Shoulders	Cable
Dumbbell Rows	Upper Back, Lats, Biceps, Trapezius, Deltoids	Dumbbell
Lat Pull Down	Lats, Upper Back, Biceps, Shoulders	Cable
Pull Ups	Lats, Upper Back, Biceps, Shoulders	Pull Up Bar
Reverse Grip Bent Over Row	Upper Back, Lats, Biceps, Shoulders	Barbell
Reverse Grip Lat Pull Down	Lats, Upper Back, Biceps, Shoulders	Cable
Seated Cable Row	Upper Back, Lats, Biceps, Shoulders	Cable
V-Bar Lat Pull Down	Lats, Upper Back, Biceps, Shoulders	Cable, V-Bar

Check out all of our Back Exercises or link directly to all of our Lat Exercises, Upper Back Exercises, or Lower Back Exercises!

	Shoulder Exercises
Arnold Press	Deltoid, Trapezius, Chest, Triceps	Dumbbells
Seated Military Press	Deltoid, Trapezius, Chest, Triceps	Barbell
Barbell Shrugs	Trapezius	Barbell
Clean and Press	Shoulders, Arms, Back, Chest, Forearms, Legs	Barbell
Dumbbell Shoulder Press	Deltoid, Trapezius, Chest, Triceps	Dumbbells
Dumbbell Shrug	Trapezius	Dumbbells
Hang Cleans	Shoulders, Arms, Back, Chest, Forearms, Legs	Barbell
Machine Shoulder Press	Deltoid, Trapezius, Chest, Triceps	Machine
Smith Machine Shrug	Trapezius	Smith Machine
Standing Overhead Press	Deltoid, Trapezius, Chest, Triceps	Barbell

Check out all of our Shoulder Exercises!

Muscle Building Chest Exercises

Exercise Name	Primary Muscle(s)	Addl Equip. Required
Bench Press Exercise	Chest, Deltoids, Triceps	Barbell, Flat Bench
Decline Bench Press	Chest, Deltoids, Triceps	Barbell, Decline Bench
Incline Bench Press	Chest, Deltoids, Triceps	Barbell, Incline Bench
Wide Grip Bench Press	Chest, Deltoids, Triceps	Barbell, Flat Bench
Wide Grip Decline Bench	Chest, Deltoids, Triceps	Barbell, Decline Bench
Chest Dip	Chest, Deltoids, Triceps	Parallel Bars or Dip Station
Tricep Pushups	Chest, Deltoids, Triceps, Upper Back	N/A
Decline Dumbbell Bench Press	Chest, Deltoids, Triceps	Dumbbells, Decline Bench
Dumbbell Bench Press	Chest, Deltoids, Triceps	Dumbbells, Flat Bench
Dumbbell Incline Press	Chest, Deltoids, Triceps	Dumbbells, Incline Bench
Hammer Grip Incline Press	Chest, Deltoids, Triceps	Dumbbells, Incline Bench
Smith Machine Bench Press	Chest, Deltoids, Triceps	Smith Machine, Flat Bench
Smith Machine Incline	Chest, Deltoids, Triceps	Smith Machine, Incline Bench

Check out all of our Chest Exercises!

Muscle Building Leg Exercises

Exercise Name	Primary Muscle(s)	Addl Equip. Required
Barbell Deadlifts	Back, Forearms, Legs, Traps	Barbell
Barbell Hack Squat	Forearms, Legs	Barbell
Barbell Lunge	Legs	Barbell
Barbell Squats	Legs, Lower Back	Barbell
Barbell Squats to Bench	Legs, Lower Back	Barbell
Dumbbell Lunge	Legs	DBs, Bench
Dumbbell Step Ups	Legs	DBs, Bench
Front Squat	Legs	Barbell
Front Squat to Bench	Legs	Barbell, Bench
Jefferson Squats	Legs, Lower Back	Barbell
Leg Press Exercise	Legs	Machine
Lying Squats	Legs	Machine
Machine Hack Squats	Legs	Machine
Narrow Stance Leg Press	Legs	Machine
One Arm Side Deadlifts	Abs, Legs, Lower Back, Traps	Barbell
Overhead Squat	Legs, Lower Back, Shoulders	Barbell
Power Clean	Forearms, Legs, Lower Back, Shoulders	Barbell
Reverse Barbell Lunge	Legs	Barbell
Romanian Deadlift	Back, Forearms, Legs	Barbell
Smith Machine Hack Squats	Legs	Smith Machine
Smith Machine Squats	Legs, Lower Back	Smith Machine
Step Ups	Legs	Barbell, Bench
Stiff Leg Deadlift	Back, Legs	Barbell
Sumo Deadlift	Back, Forearms, Hip Adductors, Legs, Traps	Barbell
Walking Lunges	Legs	Dumbbells
Wide Stance Squats	Legs, Lower Back	Barbell
Zecher Squats	Legs, Lower Back	Barbell

Check out all of our Leg Exercises or link directly to all of our Calf Exercises, Hamstring Exercises, or Quadriceps Exercises!

Well there you have it, all of the best exercises to build muscle. Now that you’ve learned all our strength training exercises, check out some of our related pages below and get started on your quest for colossal gains.

Final Related Pages:

Muscle Building Workouts
Full Body Strength Training Routine
Get Jacked Muscle Building Workout
Muscle Building Tips
Weight Gain Tips

You know the Strength Training Exercises. Learn the Workout Routines. Start at our Home Page.