Lift Weights
Building a strong, lean body demands that you lift weights. The 4 Big Lifts are Bench Press, Dead Lift, Squat and Military press. The 4 Big Lifts exercises target multiple muscle groups at once, giving you the most “bang for your buck”. These 4 Big Lifts are also called Complex/Compound/Multi-joint exercises. The 4 Big Lifts are the best and fastest way to build muscle mass and get stronger. Let’s take a look at each of the 4 BIG Lifts and why they are important to master.
Barbell Bench Press
The bench press targets the chest muscles, as well as shoulders and triceps. Here are some benefits of the Bench Press:
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Allow you to overload your pec’s with a up to hundreds of pounds of weight, more than any other free weight exercise.
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Will help to greatly increase chest muscle strength, shape and size.
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Will not only strengthen chest muscles, but will also strengthen your shoulders and triceps too.
Rear Barbell Squat
Barbell squats is the most effective overall leg exercise. Here are a few reasons why many experts view Squats as the “King of All Exercises”.
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Squats work nearly every muscle in the body – Thighs, Butt, Core and Back. No other exercises place such widespread demand on the body as barbell squats.
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Since the Quads/Thighs are the largest muscle group in your body, you’ll experience a natural increase in testosterone. Testosterone is the hormone in your body that controls your ability to build muscle, lose fat, mood and much more.
Barbell Military Press
The Standing Military Press/Overhead Press is a killer shoulder exercise. Here are a few benefits of the Military Press.
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This exercise also works the triceps, upper chest and upper back muscles and core.
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Performing this exercise on a weekly basis will lead to a bigger and stronger upper body.
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The Military Press is the best exercise for pushing the most amount of weight over your head, with using only the upper body.
Barbell Deadlifts:
Barbell Deadlifts primarily works the back and legs. Let’s take a look at some of the benefits of this lift.
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The deadlift is great not for just targeting back, hamstrings, gluts, but will enable you to build more size and strength in the muscles you are not targeting.
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Due to the exercise being so taxing on the body, you’ll burn a lot of calories both during and after your training session.
Recommendation:
Perform each of these exercises at least 1 x week, on different days.
Do 4 sets of 10 and increase weight from set to set until failure. Always use proper form and if the weight is too heavy, drop the weight in order to perform the exercise properly.