The Most Effective Exercises for Building Strength
- TTG Staff
- Jun 4, 2020
- 9 min read
Updated: 14 hours ago
Search for the best exercises to build strength, and you will find thousands of answers.
Some will tell you that one particular lift is essential.
Others will show you a complicated variation using equipment you have never seen before.
The fitness industry has become very good at making simple things look complicated.
Strength training does not need to be.
After coaching people for more than a decade, I keep returning to the same fundamental movements. Not because they are exciting or new, but because they allow people to train hard, improve their technique and progressively do more over time.
That is what builds strength.
There is no single exercise that every person must perform. Your injury history, mobility, experience, equipment and goals all influence which variation is right for you.
However, there are qualities that make some exercises particularly useful:
They are stable enough to train with intent.
They recruit a large amount of muscle.
They can be progressively overloaded.
They develop a useful movement pattern.
They are repeatable.
The exercises below meet those criteria exceptionally well.
They are not the only exercises that work. They are the movements I would be most reluctant to remove from a complete strength program without a good reason.
Strength Is Built Through Movement Patterns
Before choosing exercises, it helps to think about the movements the body needs to perform.
At The Training Ground, we commonly organise resistance training around seven broad patterns:
Pull
Push
Squat
Hinge
Lunge
Rotation
Gait
This is a coaching framework, not a claim that every human movement fits perfectly into one box.
The value of the framework is that it helps us see whether a program is developing the body broadly or repeating the same few actions.
A balanced strength program does not need to train every pattern equally in every session.
Across the week and throughout a training block, however, each one deserves consideration.
Pull
Pulling exercises move a load towards your body, or move your body towards your hands.
Rows, pulldowns and pull-ups all develop the back, biceps, forearms and muscles surrounding the shoulder blades.
My top choice for building pulling strength is the:
Pull-Up
Why the Pull-Up earns its place
A strict pull-up requires much more than bending your elbows and getting your chin over the bar.
You must:
create tension through the trunk
control the position of the ribcage and pelvis
stabilise the shoulder blades
produce force through the upper back and arms; and
move your entire body through space.
That whole-body demand makes the pull-up a valuable display of relative strength: how strong you are compared with your own body weight.
The lat pulldown is still an excellent exercise. It is easier to adjust, accessible to more people and useful for accumulating additional pulling volume.
However, in my experience, members who improve their pull-ups often see their pulldown strength improve with them. Improving the pulldown does not always transfer back to controlling the entire body on a pull-up bar to the same degree.
What if you cannot perform a pull-up yet?
That does not remove the movement from your program.
It changes your starting point.
can all help build the strength required in attaining your first pull-up.
The goal is not to force a full pull-up before you are ready.
It is to choose the version you can perform well and progressively reduce the assistance over time.
Push
Pushing exercises move a load away from the body or move the body away from a surface.
The bench press allows most people to lift more weight than any other upper-body pressing exercise.
If your goal is powerlifting or specifically improving horizontal pressing strength, it deserves a central place in your training.
For general, whole-body strength, however, my choice is the:
Strict Overhead Press.
Why the Strict Overhead Press earns its place
Pressing a barbell overhead while standing requires the entire body to contribute.
Your shoulders and triceps produce the movement, but your upper back must help control the shoulder blades while your trunk and lower body create a stable base.
Unlike a push press, the strict press does not use assistance from the legs to drive the bar upwards.
That makes it a clear test of upper-body pressing strength and whole-body tension.
It also develops strength in a position many people gradually stop using: reaching and controlling load overhead.
That does not mean everyone should immediately press a barbell.
Some people will be better served by using:
or a reduced range of motion while they build the mobility and control required.
The pattern matters more than protecting one exercise at all costs.
Squat
The squat pattern appears everywhere.
You use it when sitting down, standing up, lowering yourself towards the floor and producing force through both legs.
There are many excellent ways to train it, including goblet squats, front squats, box squats, safety-bar squats and machine variations.
For building maximal general squat strength, the standard remains difficult to beat.
Barbell Back Squat.
Why the Barbell Back Squat earns its place
The back squat gives you a stable way to progressively load the legs, hips and trunk.
Because the bar is supported across the upper back, the exercise can eventually tolerate more weight than most squat variations.
That creates a large strength stimulus across a substantial range of motion.
The movement also teaches you to:
brace under load
coordinate the hips, knees and ankles
maintain control while lowering
produce force from the bottom position; and
remain balanced over your base of support.
None of this means the back squat is compulsory.
Mobility restrictions, pain, previous injuries, confidence or individual anatomy may make another squat variation a better choice.
are not inferior exercises when it allows someone to train the pattern more effectively.
The objective is not to prove that you can back squat.
The objective is to build strong legs through a squat variation you can progress.
Hinge
People sometimes ask:
“If I already squat, do I really need to deadlift?”
The squat and hinge both train the lower body, but they do not challenge it in the same way.
A squat allows the knees and hips to bend together as you lower between your feet.
A hinge places greater emphasis on moving through the hips while maintaining control of the trunk.
My top strength exercise for this pattern is the:
Barbell Deadlift.
Why the Deadlift earns its place
The deadlift teaches you how to create tension and produce force while lifting a load from the floor.
It develops the glutes, hamstrings, back, grip and trunk while teaching a skill that transfers well to life: picking up something heavy without losing your position.
It is also the foundation of more explosive weightlifting movements. Before someone learns to produce speed with a load, they need to understand how to organise their body around it.
The deadlift is often described as dangerous because it involves the back.
That is precisely why learning it matters.
Avoiding load does not prepare your back to tolerate load.
The solution is to begin with an appropriate variation, develop the required technique and increase the demand gradually.
may be the right entry point before pulling a conventional barbell from the floor.
Good coaching does not ask whether the deadlift is good or bad.
It asks which version is appropriate today.
Lunge
Squats train both legs together.
Life does not always give you that symmetry.
Walking, running, climbing stairs, changing direction and recovering your balance all require one leg to accept more responsibility than the other.
That is why unilateral and split-stance training belongs in a complete program.
My choice for building strength in this pattern is the:
Barbell Split Squat.
Why the Barbell Split Squat earns its place
The split squat places most of the working demand through the front leg while the rear leg helps maintain balance.
This makes it useful for identifying and training differences in:
strength
stability
range of motion
balance; and
confidence between sides.
A difference between sides is not automatically an injury waiting to happen. Human bodies are not perfectly symmetrical, and they do not need to be.
However, a meaningful limitation on one side can affect how you move and what you can confidently do. Split-stance training gives each leg the opportunity to develop rather than allowing the stronger side to complete more of the work unnoticed.
The barbell variation can eventually be loaded heavily, but it should not always be the starting point.
can help you establish control before increasing the challenge.
Rotation
Many strength programs are dominated by movements performed directly forwards and backwards.
Life and sport are not.
We turn, reach, throw, change direction and transfer force across the body. Training should prepare us to control those movements rather than pretending they do not exist.
For accessible rotational strength, my choice is the:
Dumbbell Woodchop.
Why the Dumbbell Woodchop earns its place
The woodchop teaches you to produce and control force across the trunk while coordinating the upper and lower body.
It can be adjusted easily by changing:
the weight
the speed
the direction of the movement
the range of motion; and
whether the hips rotate or the trunk resists the movement.
The Turkish Get-Up is another outstanding whole-body exercise with a rotational component.
It challenges mobility, shoulder stability, trunk control and coordination from the floor to standing.
It is also technically demanding.
The dumbbell woodchop wins this category because it is easier to teach, easier to scale and more likely to be trained with enough intent to improve rotational strength.
The aim is not to twist as far or as aggressively as possible. It is to control the movement, transfer force and gradually build tolerance.
Gait
Gait is the way we walk and run.
It is easy to dismiss because walking is something most of us do automatically. But carrying a load while maintaining posture, balance, and a consistent stride turns a basic human movement into an impressive strength exercise.
My top choice for loading gait is the:
Farmers Carry.
Why the Farmer’s Carry earns its place
Pick up something heavy in each hand and walk with control.
It sounds simple.
Done properly, it challenges:
grip strength
upper-back strength
trunk stability
hip and leg strength
posture under load
breathing; and
the ability to maintain an efficient gait while fatigued.
It is also one of the most obviously transferable exercises in the gym. Carrying groceries, luggage, equipment or children all require the same general capability.
The load should be heavy enough to demand focus without causing you to shorten every step, lean excessively or lose control of the weights.
As your capacity improves, you can progress the weight, distance, duration or carrying position.
Are These Really the Best Strength Exercises?
They are some of the most effective exercises for building broad, measurable strength.
That is not the same as saying they are mandatory for every person.
An exercise earns its place when it helps you train the intended movement, suits your current capacity and can be progressed without creating a problem elsewhere.
For one person, the back squat may be the perfect choice.
For another, it may be a safety-bar squat.
One person may be ready for strict pull-ups.
Another may need assisted repetitions or pulldowns.
That is not failure or compromise.
It is appropriate exercise selection.
The mistake is becoming so attached to a particular lift that you forget why it was included in the first place.
A List of Exercises Is Not a Program
You could perform every exercise in this article and still make very little progress.
Exercises provide the tools. Programming determines how those tools are used.
To become stronger, you still need:
an appropriate training frequency
enough challenging working sets
suitable rest between those sets
gradual progression
recovery between sessions
consistent technique; and
enough time for the work to compound.
Changing exercises every week may feel varied, but it makes progress difficult to measure.
You need enough repetition to become skilled at a movement. As your skill improves, you can express more strength. As the load gradually increases, your body receives a reason to adapt.
Strength is not built by finding a secret exercise.
It is built by repeatedly performing effective exercises inside a structured plan.
Where Should You Start?
Do not begin by asking:
“What is the hardest version of this exercise?”
Ask:
“What version can I perform well enough to start progressing?”
Your first step may be:
an assisted pull-up;
a dumbbell overhead press;
a goblet squat;
an elevated kettlebell deadlift;
a supported split squat;
a light and controlled woodchop; or
a short farmer’s carry.
That starting point does not define where you will finish.
It gives you somewhere productive to begin.
At The Training Ground, our role is not to force every member into the same exercise. It is to understand what the movement is trying to develop, choose the variation that fits the person and build their capacity from there.
The best exercise today is the one that moves you towards what you want to be capable of tomorrow.
Ready to Build Your Strength?
If you want to become stronger but are unsure which exercises or progressions are right for you, we can help.
Our coaching team can assess your current movement, establish an appropriate starting point and provide a structured plan that progresses with you.
header.all-comments