Strength Training - Exercises For Specific Muscle Groups

Exercises For Specific Muscle Groups

Main article: Weight training exercises

Weight trainers commonly divide the body's individual muscles into ten major muscle groups. These do not include the hip, neck and forearm muscles, which are rarely trained in isolation. The most common exercises for these muscle groups are listed below. (Videos of these and other exercises are available at exrx.net and from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.)

The sequence shown below is one possible way to order the exercises. The large muscles of the lower body are normally trained before the smaller muscles of the upper body, because these first exercises require more mental and physical energy. The core muscles of the torso are trained before the shoulder and arm muscles that assist them. Exercises often alternate between "pushing" and "pulling" movements to allow their specific supporting muscles time to recover. The stabilising muscles in the waist should be trained last.

Strength training exercises
Quadriceps (front of legs) Squat (c) · Leg press (c) · Lunge (c) · Leg raise (c) · Leg extension (i)
Hamstrings (back of legs) Deadlift (c) · Leg curl (i)
Calves Calf raise (i)
Pectorals (chest) Bench press (c) · Chest fly (i) · Machine fly (i) · Push-up (c)
Lats and trapezius (upper back) Bent-over row (c) · Chin-up (c) · Pulldown (c) · Pullup (c) · Seated row (c) · Shoulder shrug (i) · Supine row (c)
Deltoids (shoulders) Front raise (i) · Handstand push-up (c) · Lateral raise (i) · Military press (c) · Shoulder press (c) · Upright row (c) · Rear delt raise (i)
Biceps (front of arms) Biceps curl (i)
Triceps (back of arms) Close-grip bench press (c) · Dip (c) · Pushdown (i) · Triceps extension (i)
Abdomen and obliques (belly) Crunch (i) · Sit-up (i) · Leg raise (c) · (any rotational movement will engage the obliques)
Lower back Back extension (i) · Deadlift (c) · Good-morning (c) · Hyperextension (c)
See also: · Calisthenics · Bodyweight exercise · Weight training (List of exercises) · Bodybuilding · Weightlifting · Gym
Legend: (c) - compound exercise, (i) - isolated exercise


Read more about this topic:  Strength Training

Famous quotes containing the words exercises, specific and/or groups:

    Close to the academy in this town they have erected a sort of gallows for the pupils to practice on. I thought that they might as well hang at once all who need to go through such exercises in so new a country, where there is nothing to hinder their living an outdoor life. Better omit Blair, and take the air.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    Patriotism is proud of a country’s virtues and eager to correct its deficiencies; it also acknowledges the legitimate patriotism of other countries, with their own specific virtues. The pride of nationalism, however, trumpets its country’s virtues and denies its deficiencies, while it is contemptuous toward the virtues of other countries. It wants to be, and proclaims itself to be, “the greatest,” but greatness is not required of a country; only goodness is.
    Sydney J. Harris (1917–1986)

    In properly organized groups no faith is required; what is required is simply a little trust and even that only for a little while, for the sooner a man begins to verify all he hears the better it is for him.
    George Gurdjieff (c. 1877–1949)