Most Effective Strength Training Exercises You Can Do at Home

1. Most Effective Strength Training Exercises You Can Do at Home

3. If your workout routine doesn’t include strength training exercises, you’re probably not reaching your goals as quickly or effectively as you could be. Long considered the domain of meatheads looking to get buff, there’s a place for resistance training in nearly any fitness regimen.

4. For those seeking weight loss, strength training is among the best ways to burn fat. For those looking to combat the effects of aging, lifting counteracts the loss of muscle mass that begins in your 30s. And for those who want to bulk up, of course, resistance work is key.

5. Benefits of Strength Training Exercises • Burn fat When you do an intense resistance training program like A Week of Hard Labor or Body Beast, the “afterburn effect” of excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC) keeps your metabolism elevated for up to 72 hours afterward. That facilitates the burning of fat long after a workout, compared with lower- and moderate-intensity cardiovascular exercise.

6. Build muscle Fat loss is just one component of any body transformation. The other is muscular development, which can go just as far in determining how you look. For men, that may mean added size, while for women it will most often mean shape, as they lack the hormonal makeup to gain that kind of mass.

7. Boost metabolism It takes energy to sustain muscle, so the more of it there is, the more calorie-burning capacity you have. That makes your body more metabolically active and efficient, even while at rest.

8. Strengthen bones Bones under stress respond not unlike muscles under stress, stimulating the release of osteoblasts that build new bone tissue. An estimated 1.5 million people suffer an osteoporosis-related fracture every year, so resistance training is a natural complement to calcium and vitamin D intake.

9. Essential Strength Training Exercises You Can Do at Home Dumbbell bench press : • Target muscles: Chest, as well as the triceps, shoulders • Lie on a flat bench holding a pair of dumbbells directly above your chest with your palms facing forward. Your head, upper back, and butt should touch the bench, and your feet should be flat on the floor. • Slowly lower the weights to the sides of your chest, keeping your elbows close to your body (not flared). • Pause, and then push the weights back up to the starting position.

10. Dumbbell squat Target muscles: Quads and glutes, but also hamstrings • Stand with your feet hip- to shoulder-width apart, holding a pair of dumbbells at arm’s length by your sides. • Keeping your back flat and core braced, push your hips back, bend your knees, and lower your body until your thighs are parallel to the floor. • Pause, then push yourself back up to the starting position

11. Bent-over row Target muscles: Back, as well as the shoulders, biceps, and core • Stand with your feet hip- to shoulder-width apart, holding a dumbbell in each hand. • Brace your core, push your hips back, bend your knees slightly, and lower your torso until it’s nearly parallel to the floor. • Let the dumbbells hang at arms length with your palms facing back. Engage your shoulder blades to keep your shoulders pulled back (i.e., don’t hunch). This is the starting position.

12. Standing dumbbell curl Target muscles: Biceps • Grab a pair of dumbbells and let them hang at arm’s length by your thighs, palms facing forward. • Keeping your elbows tucked and your upper arms locked in place, curl the dumbbells as close to your shoulders as you can. • Pause, and then slowly lower the weights back to the starting position.