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The 10 Best Exercises for Men

Provided by American Council on Exercise

Bench press. Lat pulldown. Biceps curls. Ab crunches. Leg press. For many men, these are their go-to choices for strength-training workouts. While these exercises can certainly help increase strength or improve definition, each one focuses on just one body part or muscle group at a time, which isn’t actually the way muscles are designed to function. And men who’ve been doing these exercises for an extended period of time might find they’ve hit a plateau and their workouts aren’t producing the same results. The solution is to change up a workout routine to add new exercises that use different muscles or, at the very least, use the same muscles but in different ways.    

The body is made to move while using multiple joints and muscles at a time. The fundamental patterns of movement are the bend-and-lift (hip hinge or squat), single-leg (lunge or step-up), push (to the front and overhead), pull (from the front and overhead) and rotation. Exercises based on these fundamental movement patterns use multiple muscles at the same time, which can help develop greater levels of strength while burning more calories during a workout.

If you are looking for ways to level-up your workouts and add more strength, give these options a try. Each exercise includes one modification to give you more control so you can learn how to do it properly, as well as one option for increasing the challenge, so you can add more strength. An added bonus: Exercises that use the hips and shoulders at the same time are performed from a standing position (such as a bent-over barbell row or a squat to shoulder press) can increase the activation of core muscles to enhance overall levels of strength.

Each movement pattern includes two exercises plus modifications for progressing or regressing the movement. To design a great workout focused on increasing strength: 1. Complete a 5-10-minute warm-up that elevates your heart rate. 2. Select one exercise from each movement pattern for a total of five exercises. 3. Select a weight that makes 10 repetitions challenging (for body-weight exercises, complete repetitions to a point of fatigue). 4. Rest 30 to 45 seconds between exercises. 5. Complete two to four sets, depending on available time. To increase the metabolic demand (burn more calories), perform the workout as a circuit, moving from one exercise to the next with little-to-no rest and allow 60 to 90 seconds of rest after completing all five exercises.
Exercise	Movement pattern	Regression	Progression
Dumbbell goblet squat	Bend-and-lift	Bodyweight squat	Squat to overhead press
Barbell Romanian deadlift (RDL)		Barbell hip bridge	Barbell deadlift
TRX push-up	Push	Standard push-up	Feet in TRX cradles
Barbell shoulder press		Seated overhead press	Single-arm overhead press
Barbell bent-over rows	Pull	Standing cable row	Body-weight chin-up
Single-arm cable row		Kneeling single-arm row	Lunge to single-arm row
Bulgarian split-squat	Single leg	Reverse lunge	Forward lunge
Step-ups		Single-leg RDL (inverted flyers)	Single-leg curl on ball
Standing rotational chop	Rotation	Two-hand press	Lateral lunge with chop
Medicine ball chop		Kneeling lift (hay-bailer)	Rotational slams

When compared to traditional muscle-isolation exercises, performing workouts based on movement patterns might feel different at first because you will be performing new movements that involve multiple muscles at the same time. After a few workouts, however, you should start to feel like you’re moving better and experiencing less post-workout soreness while increasing your overall levels of strength.

AUTHOR

Pete McCall

Health and Fitness Expert

Pete McCall, MS, CSCS, is an ACE Certified Personal Trainer and long-time player in the fitness industry. He has been featured as an expert in the Washington Post, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Runner's World and Self. He holds a master's degree in exercise science and health promotion, and several advanced certifications and specializations with NSCA and NASM.