Time constraints can prove a stumbling block in your life when the demands of work and family commitments increase, but wait! Do you have a barbell lying around? Be a Barbell Boss with these 7 Top Exercises!
By digging that out or investing in a barbell and a few weight plates, you’ll find this useful when time is restricted or when you can’t (or have no inclination to) visit your gym. So, if you fancy taking your stress and energy out on the iron (instead of on people), try the following exercises to gain strength, muscle and power with minimal equipment!
1. Power Cleans
It`s important to learn this power-building exercise, to get the barbell to your shoulders in order to prepare for other exercises such as overhead presses and front squats.
Speed, balance, coordination, strength and power are all dramatically improved with consistent practice of this exercise. Hang cleans are an excellent alternative if these prove to be a bit too technical.
2. Overhead Press
Massive amounts of shoulder and tricep strength can be built from this basic exercise.
Your upper back and midsection (core) muscles are also powerfully recruited to stabilize the weight being hoisted over your head. If your goal is a strong bench press, overhead pressing will help you to achieve it.
3. Zercher Lift
This lift works a huge range of muscles: quads, hamstrings, glutes, traps and rhomboids being amongst them.
The biceps and forearms also get sufficiently challenged in this unconventional lift! If you only have a barbell and a handful of weight plates, try high reps on this old-school strength exercise for a serious physical (and mental) workout.
4. Front Squats
In a workout where you have no access to a power rack or squat stands, simply power clean or hang clean the barbell to your shoulders and execute a set of front squats.
Obviously, without the aid of squat stands you’ll need to use lighter weights. A slower tempo on the negative portion of the rep will torture your quads and compensate for the shortage of heavy weight, so don’t you worry about that!
5. Floor Press
Another old-school strongman classic. Plenty of chest, tricep, shoulder strength and muscle can be earned with dedicated work on this lift. Plus, it won’t hurt the shoulders like the bench press often can.
6. Curls
Narrow grip, wide grip, reverse grip, cheat curls and drag curls are some variations in an endless list of curl variations. Now you know it’s impossible to really get stale in your workouts!
7. Rollouts
You’ve heard of hanging out, now it’s time to roll out! Finish off your workout with this tough core exercise using a barbell to literally roll out with. Abs, obliques, lats and shoulders will gain rapidly from this challenging exercise.
So there you have it folks, don’t underestimate the power of simplicity in your training -one barbell and a few circular chunks of iron give you an abundance of variety and virtually endless combination possibilities. Feel free to let us know what workouts you come up with and the results you get!
