Everywhere you look, someone claims to have the "best exercise" for building muscle. When you want to get stronger, it's actually less complicated to pick the best strength exercises. Building strength means your muscles can exert more force, so all you need are the big exercises that let you move a lot of weight.
There are quite a few exercises that work, but we think there are a handful that stand out as being the most important – exercises that will build your entire foundation. Here are the most essential muscular strength exercises you need to work on.
What is Muscular Strength?
Let's first define what we mean by "muscle strengthening."
That may seem silly, but the term is often used loosely to refer to any activity that involves resistance training. However, there is a particular meaning that needs to be understood.
Here are 3 terms related to strength training to help clarify the topic.
1. Muscle Strength refers to the maximal amount of force that your muscle can exert.
2. Muscle Strengthening refers to increasing the maximal amount of force your muscle can exert.
3. Strength Training refers to resistance training performed to increase strength. This is important as not all fitness training is geared to increase strength.
And finally, strength exercises. While just about any exercise can improve strength to some extent, a strength exercise generally refers to one that provides optimal gains.
Absolute Strength Vs. Relative Strength.
Yep…there are really two different types of muscle strength.
- Absolute Strength
- Relative Strength
We're going to go through what those are real quick.
1. Absolute Strength - Absolute strength is what we generally think about when we hear the term "strength". It's how much force a person can produce – how much weight they can lift.
2. Relative Strength - Relative strength is how strong someone is compared to their body weight. For example, you have probably heard someone say, "You should be able to bench press your bodyweight".
Absolute strength is a good indicator of an individual's athleticism, as well as their body composition. Look at these two examples;
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A 300lb man can bench press 400lbs
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A 150lb man can bench press 300lbs
Although the 300-pound man has more absolute strength, the 150-pound man possesses great relative strength. If you can visualize the two in your head, the 150lb man is likely jacked and shredded, while the 300 lb man is sitting at a very high body fat percentage.
With that said, we’re focusing on increasing absolute strength as relative strength is just a measure of strength and body composition.
Variables Of Strength Training
As mentioned above, many people confuse "strength" with "muscle growth.
Use Heavy Loads
While you can increase strength using a relatively broad range of loads, to optimize strength, you need to use greater loads. This is especially true as you advance. New lifters seem to have strength improvements with increasing load or reps.
However, if you want to optimize your strength, you need to focus on increasing the weight on the bar. This is especially true as you become more experienced.¹
Remember that increasing strength means increasing the amount of force a muscle can exert – this is done by placing heavier loads on it.
While there isn't an exact load, it will generally be greater than 80% of your 1-rep max, ideally 85% or greater.
Use Compound Exercises
Compound exercises are essential for building strength – the bigger, the better. This is due to several reasons;²
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Bigger compound exercises allow you to lift more weight and produce more force
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Compound exercises use more muscle mass – multiple muscles must work together, increasing neuromuscular efficiency
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These exercises generally follow normal movement patterns, allowing you to lift more weight safely.
This means when focusing on strength, you need to pick big exercises.
Check out some of the most essential compound exercises for your training.
Progressive Overload
Progressive overload is a foundational principle that simply states that to continue progressing, you must continually place a greater demand on your muscles.
However, this appears to be a bit different for strength training.
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Muscle Growth - Increase total volume
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Muscle Strength - Increase total volume with emphasis on increasing the load
The primary difference is that strength training typically involves less total volume than hypertrophy training. This is because strength training utilizes heavier loads but fewer reps.
While you should be doing more, this can be achieved by increasing the load.
The Most Important Muscular Strength Exercises
We're now going to go through the most important exercises you have to increase strength.
These will be foundational movements that you need to concentrate on during your lifting career if optimizing strength is your primary goal.
For a more comprehensive list, consider reading this other article on strength training and exercises.
Upper Body Strengthening Exercises
These are going to be your primary strengthening exercises for your upper body. Collectively they train primary movement patterns and muscle.
Bench Press
The bench press is a classic strength exercise that improves upper-body pushing strength. This primarily includes your;
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Chest
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Shoulders
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Triceps
It's an important exercise to begin your strength training with. With that said, there are other variations including;
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Incline bench press
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Close-grip bench press
Regardless, it's a great exercise to build a foundation, especially if you're younger.
Chin-Ups
Chin-ups are our favorite vertical pulling strength exercise and a top choice for back exercises.
The reason we choose it over the pull-up for strength is that you can generally lift more weight.
This is because it utilizes more muscle mass which leads to great loads which should theoretically lead to greater strength gains.
To be clear, the pull-up is also an awesome exercise, but if we had to choose one for strength, it would be the chin-up.
Overhead Press (Military Press)
Many people lack strong overhead strength because it is a challenging movement, which leads them to do it less frequently. Don't let that be you!
The overhead press is a formidable strength exercise. We strongly encourage you to incorporate this into your routine, especially when you first start. Its transfer to other strength exercises will be huge!
Barbell Row
The barbell row is an excellent complementary strength exercise to the chin-up. It will still train your back, but work on your horizontal pulling strength.
However, it won't just strengthen your middle and upper back; it's also an excellent exercise for building your lower back and erector spinae. You perform the bent-over row by bending over, forcing your entire core, especially your back, to stabilize the spine.
Lower Body Strengthening Exercises
We're now going to go over the primary lower body strength exercises.
Barbell Back Squat
The barbell back squat is often referred to as the "king of leg exercises."
One of the reasons this strength exercise is so important is that the squat is a fundamental movement pattern. Begin light with this exercise and then add load over time – it will pay off big.
Other variations which have easier mobility requirements could include;
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Safety squat bar
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Trap bar squat
Deadlift
The barbell deadlift is a glute-focused lower body exercise that, in reality, trains the entire body. It is the primary exercise you need to build raw strength.
At the same time, other variations work great as well.
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Trap bar deadlift
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Deficit deadlift
Leg Press
The leg press is one of the few machine-based exercises that we would recommend for strength training.
It's an awesome option to load the legs without straining the back. This allows you to add more volume to your lower body without worrying about injury.
At the same time, you can make slight alterations in your foot placement to target different muscles. Or, you can train unilaterally if you want!
Alternative And Functional Strength Exercises
Apart from the traditional exercises, there are more alternative exercises you can use to build strength.
Farmer Carry
The farmer carry comes from the sport of Strongman and is an incredible full-body strength exercise. Its benefits are enormous and include;
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Increasing upper back strength
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Increasing core strength
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Increasing grip strength
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Improving anaerobic capacity
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Improving lower body strength
Plus, it's simple to perform! This is a massive movement and one we definitely belong in any strength athlete's training program.
Sled Work
Sled work is another great option for total body strength and conditioning. There are a ton of movements you can do, including;
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Sled push
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Sled drag
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Sled pull
One reason we love it is that it has a very low technical movement. You can use very high intensity with minimal risk of injury.
At the same time, the reverse sled drag is a phenomenal knee builder, whether you're rehabbing or prehabbing your knee.
How to Build a Muscle Strengthening Routine
Building a strength routine is relatively simple, at least during your first couple of years of training. For a deeper dive into this, we have an awesome article upcoming that goes over building a muscular strength routine in greater detail.
With that said, here is a quick summary of the most important strength training variables.
1) Best Loads for Strength - Beginners can make strength gains with a relatively large range of loads, extending down to 60% of their 1RM. However, as you become more advanced, you need to use higher loads and greater weights.
Use loads of at least 80% of your 1RM, but ideally use 85-95% of your 1RM.
2) Best Reps for Strength - To some extent, you won't have much choice in choosing how many reps to do. If you're using 90% of your 1RM, you won't be able to do 6 reps, even if you wanted to.
With that said, strength training is typically performed with 1-5 repetitions per set. However, this doesn't always mean you perform as many as possible.
For example, if you have an 85% 1RM, you may only do 2-3 reps using maximal intent, trying to move the load as quickly as possible.⁴
3) Best Rest Intervals for Strength: Strength requires the improvement of your neuromuscular system. This means you need plenty of recovery between sets to allow your body to recover and perform another set.
This results in rest periods of 2:00-3:00 (and sometimes longer) to produce optimal results.
If you want more detailed info, check out our article on Rest For Strength Training.
Sample Beginner Strength Routine
Here is what a sample Upper and Lower strength routine looks like. It’s a simple format yet extremely powerful for beginners. You can rotate through these on a 3-day or 4-day split.
Upper Strength Routine
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Bench Press - 4x4
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Chin-Up - 5x5
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Shoulder Press - 4x6
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Bent Over Row - 4x6
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Farmer Carry - 5x10m
Lower Strength Routine
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Back Squat - 4x4
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Deadlift - 5x5
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Leg Press - 3x8-10
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Sled Work - 5x10m
Every week, increase your lower body lifts by 5-10lbs and your upper body lifts by 2.5-5lbs.
If you’re serious about your strength training, check out our personal training options! We’ll talk to you and get your specific situation to build the perfect strength training routine.
Using Strength Exercises For Optimal Results
Strength training doesn't need to be complicated. In fact, we believe that the most effective exercises are often the simplest ones. Above, we went over the fundamental strength exercises. If you want to build your strength, your goal should be to increase these lifts, or their variations that use similar movement patterns. If you keep this as the backdrop of your overall training, you will see consistent results over all your years of training.
References
- Chaves TS, Scarpelli MC, Bergamasco JGA, et al. Effects of Resistance Training Overload Progression Protocols on Strength and Muscle Mass. Int J Sports Med. 2024;45(7):504-510. doi:10.1055/a-2256-5857 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38286426/
- Schoenfeld BJ, Grgic J, Ogborn D, Krieger JW. Training for strength and hypertrophy: an evidence-based approach. J Sports Med Phys Fitness. 2019;59(7):1141-1149. doi:10.23736/S0022-4707.18.08841-3 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/332469715_Training_for_Strength_and_Hypertrophy_An_Evidence-based_Approach
- Grgic, J., Schoenfeld, B.J., Skrepnik, M. et al. Effects of Rest Interval Duration in Resistance Training on Measures of Muscular Strength: A Systematic Review. Sports Med 48, 137–151 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-017-0788-x
- González-Badillo, J. J., RodrÃguez-Rosell, D., Sánchez-Medina, L., Gorostiaga, E. M., & Pareja-Blanco, F. (2014). Maximal intended velocity training induces greater gains in bench press performance than deliberately slower half-velocity training. European Journal of Sport Science, 14(8), 772–781. https://doi.org/10.1080/17461391.2014.905987
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