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The 8 Best Barbell Exercises for Muscle Mass & Strength
Sculpt a Bigger & More Defined Muscles with Barbell Exercises!
Barbell exercises are the best way to build bulky muscles, as these boost functional movement patterns (standard body movement patterns, like bending down to lift a box).
In barbell exercises, the person holds the bar with both hands, engaging several muscle groups simultaneously.
Barbell exercises enhance strength, athletic performance, and posture and reduce blood pressure and bad cholesterol. However, one must perform the best barbell exercises correctly for positive outcomes.
In this blog, we will discuss the advantages of barbell workouts along with a myriad of muscle-building barbell exercises to help simplify your bodybuilding journey.
Benefits of Barbell Exercises
Table of Contents
We have been writing about “barbell exercises” constantly.
But what exactly are barbells?
For those who don’t know about this fitness equipment: it is a long metal rod or bar. Gym rats and practitioners usually use it with discs (of varying weights) attached to its ends.
Are barbell exercises workable or just a great cry little wool example?
According to a study published by the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health in 2019, resistance training with short rest as well as increased training volume contributes to muscle hypertrophy. In short, barbell exercises are top-notch resistance training workouts to enhance muscle strength and mass.
Here are the top 5 benefits of barbell exercises!
1. Enhance strength
Barbell exercises work on the hamstrings, glutes, hips flexors, quads, lats, and calves. Performing these exercises for several months ensures increased muscle strength and endurance.
2. Increase athletic performance
Athletes are fond of the best barbell exercises because these are the easiest way to enhance muscle tension, which may be beneficial for modifying biochemical responses and lowering the severity of the injury.
3. Promote balance and erect posture
Proper body posture makes the person confident and empowered. These barbell workouts target under-utilized muscle groups or patterns.
Doing a full-body barbell workout correctly for extended periods can lead to triple extension (power generated during the training involving the extension of hips, ankles, and knees).
4. Rich in versatility and adaptability
Every weight equipment usually targets one or two functional movements. On the other hand, you can do squats with barbells, carry them on your back or front, and even jump with them.
That means every muscle of your body will get stressed, which is essential for growth. Plus, one can practice these exercises at home or anywhere one wants. Add more weights to the bar, depending on your expertise.
5. Boost Testosterone
Barbell exercise eventually targets fat and help performer build strength and stamina. This helps in boosting testosterone levels which aid in maintaining muscle mass and bone density. erectile function, heart health, sleep, mental wellness, and sperm count.
Performing barbell exercises raise testosterone to improve physical/psychological well-being.
After analyzing these benefits, we can say that the best barbell exercises promote strength and muscle building without any risks of wear and tear.
Keep reading further to learn barbell exercises for men!
Top 8 Barbell Exercises for Men
What sets barbells apart from other fitness equipment is that you can’t add or remove weights to or from other workout tools (like a kettlebell or dumbbell) the way you can with barbells.
Men aspiring to lose fat, enhance strength, or increase muscle size should do the below-mentioned barbell workouts.
Here are the top barbell exercises for men!
1. Barbell Romanian Deadlift
This workout develops gluteus maximus, adductors, as well as hamstrings strength. As one performs this exercise correctly, the core and the lower body become strong.
How to perform this exercise?
- Stand straight with legs open shoulder-width apart. Try to put your feet at the mid-point of the barbell to avoid injury.
- Hold the barbell in front of your body in a way that it stands near your pelvic area. Keep the shoulders and the back straight. Keep your spine long and straight as your torso reaches toward the floor.
- Bend the knees and lower the barbell as if trying to keep it down. (But don’t keep it on the floor, though!) The upper plus lower back should be perpendicular to the thighs in this position. In other words, bend the knees so the back is 90 degrees to the hip area.
- Bring the body back to the original position of the workout.
Benefits: Practicing Barbell Romanian Deadlift strengthens the posterior chain muscles, including the erector spine, gluteus maximus, hamstrings, and adductors. RDL is also an effective exercise to strengthen both the core and the lower body with just one move.
Take a look at the List of Upper Body Exercises for Muscles Building
2. Barbell Back Squat
Barbell back squat is one of the best barbell exercises to recruit the core, hamstrings, glutes, and quad. Plus, this workout enhances metabolism as well as contributes to bone health.
How to perform this exercise?
- Stand straight with legs open shoulder-width apart. Hold the barbell on your back just below the neck. The palms should be on the same level as the shoulders.
- Bend the knees and lower the hips as if trying to sit on the imaginary footrest. Don’t touch the hips with the floor. Keep the head as well as the entire back straight.
- Bring the body back to its original position. While trying to be back in the position keep your chest high and squeeze your glutes by allowing your knees to straighten and hips to travel forward.
Benefits: A compound exercise that targets lower body muscles. If performed correctly it strengthens your core, improves your balance and posture as well as strengthens overall lower body muscles.
3. Barbell bent over row
This workout strengthens the upper, and lower back, forearms, shoulders, hamstrings, biceps, glutes, and shoulders. In addition, it also improves posture, balance, strength, as well as core stability.
How to perform this exercise?
- Bend the knees and tilt the upper body in such a way that it is at 60 degrees to the thighs. Hold the barbell in front of the body so that it is at the same level as the knees. Plus, the back side of the palms should be close to the body.
- Pull the bar towards your belly button until it touches the body. After that slowly lower the bar back to the starting position.
Benefits: Barbell bent-over row targets the muscle of the upper body and emphasizes the chest and lower back and forearms. It’s a good functional exercise to improve posture, by reducing lower back pain.
4. Barbell hip thrust
Barbell hip thrust is one of the best barbell exercises to build muscle in the glute region (like gluteus maximus and gluteus medius). Glute power is essential for core, lower body, and pelvic stability. This exercise requires a heavy yet lower bench so that you can lay your upper back on it during the exercise.
How to perform this exercise?
- Lean the upper back and the shoulders on the bench. Bend the knees plus keep the hips in the air with the legs shoulder apart. Keep the barbell on the pelvic area; hold it too tight to restrict its movement.
- Lift the hips high such that they form a straight line with the back and thighs and try to squeeze the glutes to get more pressure on your back.
- Bring the body back to its original position. That’s a repetition one!
Benefits: A great approach for glute activation, performing it correctly targets muscles like your gluteus maximus and gluteus medius, to get slimmer and firmer glutes.
5. Barbell biceps curl
Performing barbell biceps curls develops strength as well as the mass of the biceps. This workout is more efficient than dumbbell curls. However, you will see positive transformations in the muscles after one or two months.
How to perform this exercise?
- Stand straight with legs a little open. Hold a barbell in your hands and keep the back side of the palms closer to the thighs.
- Take the barbell near the chest area slowly as you do in the biceps curl.
- Try to keep your elbow sturdy while performing the sets.
- Bring the body back to its original position.
Benefits: Help increase overall arm and grip strength to pump up your bicep muscles. In addition, the workout form emphasizes power, strength, and fitness in the upper body.
6. Barbell skull crusher
A Barbell skull crusher is an excellent way to develop triceps muscles plus strength. One should perform these barbell exercises at home with control and slowly to induce stability in the shoulders.
In addition, if you want to build abs, this workout supports core training as it targets lower as well as upper abdominal muscles. Read on how to do skull crusher exercises.
How to perform this exercise?
- Lay straight on the sturdy bench. Clutch a barbell in your hands and stretch your arms. The barbell should be on chest level. It’s the starting position.
- Bend the elbows so that the bar/rod of the barbell stands extremely near the forehead.
- Bring the barbell to its original position. It is one repetition.
Benefits: Excellent exercise form to target the triceps muscles to strengthen and firm them. Additionally, it works on the stability of the shoulders and makes them more flexible and steadier.
7. Barbell bench press
The Barbell bench press is a great way to boost muscle mass, strength, and endurance. In addition, the workout eliminates stress, anxiety, or depression symptoms.
How to perform this exercise?
- Lay flat on the bench. Hold the bar of the barbell with an overhand grip. The hands should be away from each other up to shoulder-width.
- Take the bar of the barbell closer to the chest and inhale.
- After that, extend the arms to take the bar of the barbell above the chest. At the same time, exhale deeply.
- Lower the bar again near the chest. Starting with the barbell near the chest, then taking it above the chest while extending arms, and then bringing it near the chest again is one repetition.
Benefits: A muscle-strengthening activity promotes and enhances stamina in the upper body. Furthermore, increases muscle mass, reduces fat, firms the body, and boosts fat-burning effects.
8. Barbell landmine rainbow
This exercise is somehow akin to Russian Twist. It strengthens the core and the shoulders. In this exercise, you need to shift the weights from one end of the barbell to the other. In other words, one end of the barbell should be empty.
How to perform this exercise?
- Hold the weighted end of the barbell with both hands and bring it near chest level.
- Lower the barbell end towards the left hip while twisting the right foot inwards.
- Bring the barbell overhead and then lower it towards the right hip while twisting the left foot inwards.
- Keep doing the exercise with a number of repetitions.
Benefits: An upright variation of the Russian twist works on strengthening cores and shoulders. It can also help in building strength and increasing muscle mass.
Undoubtedly, these best barbell exercises help build stronger muscles. They also increase the body’s stamina and workout capacity.
Try to consume protein, carbs, and healthy fats to witness a positive transformation in your body.
Consuming processed or deep-fried food as well as expecting muscle hypertrophy at the same time is mere foolishness.
Last but not least, sometimes diets don’t render enough nutrients to the body. For that vitamin/ mineral supplement ingestion can be beneficial.
Final words
Fitness fanatics admire barbell exercises due to their muscle mass/stamina-enhancing capabilities.
In addition to offering the flexibility to add more weights to the barbell bar, the workouts also save time as they work on several muscle groups at the same time.
You don’t even have to hop from equipment to equipment for long hours in the gym to work on muscle groups, as it can be easily achieved with the help of barbell exercises in one go.
Those tired of obesity/overweight will benefit from performing barbell exercises, as it burns calories by accelerating metabolism. However, always try to keep weight in check to avoid serious injury.