strength training exercises

Posts: 618 Member
edited September 2024 in Fitness and Exercise
I'm working on this program that requires me to do strength training once a week. I'm very unfamiliar with it as i typically do cardio. What are your favorite strength training exercises that I can do in 30 minutes or less??

Replies

  • Posts: 196
    Squats and lunges--both work thighs, butt, etc.

    Push-ups (or half push-ups)--these work your arms, upper back, shoulders, chest, and abs. They're tough, but very effective.

    Abs--double crunches and bicycle crunches. These are good for upper and lower abs, and the bicycle crunches target the obliques as well.

    Arms--tricep dips, shoulder presses, bicep curls, etc.. These are even more effective if you do them at the same time that you do squats and lunges. It feels more intense this way, and you also burn more calories.

    By far, if I wasn't doing any other kind of strength training, I would still stick with squats, lunges, and push-ups. They're intense, and they work a lot of different muscle groups at the same time--so it saves time, too!
  • Posts: 190 Member
    Basically along the lines of Junebug, your biggest priority is the large muscle groups legs/back/chest. To some extent they will begin working shoulders/arms as well, so you finish off with those smaller muscle groups. But you must not neglect those big groups. The most typical exercises for each might be

    Legs - Squats or Leg Presses in machine, preferably squats.
    Back - Lat pulldowns or chin-ups
    Chest - Bench press (or machine equivalent), or push ups.

    If you go to a gym, the chin-up/dip stations that allow you to counter-weight your own body-weight are brilliant, as sets of chin-ups (or dips) are very difficult if not impossible for beginners with full body weight, yet are great exercises

    For the smaller muscle groups..

    Shoulders - Dumbell or machine shoulder press
    Biceps - Dumbell or barbell curls
    Triceps - Press-downs.

    There are a myriad of different exercises but if you began with those common "core" ones you wouldn't go too far wrong.

    Junebug mentioned dips. I think they are a brilliant exercise, and I often slot them after shoulders and before arms. I think of them as a "finish off my upper body and begin my triceps" exercise. Depending exactly how you do them, they can be an overall upper body exercise, or a very specific tricep one. I personally like the stretch I feel in my chest doing them.

    We'll take abs as a given ( I assume after cardio you've always done abs?)

    Do not get tempted to neglect any big body part in favour of another. Check out anyone with strong pectoral muscles.. they will have strong lats too. They work together.
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