My Top 5 Gym Exercises

Today I want to share my 5 favourite exercises in the gym, and why I think they are so great. These are common bodybuilding moves that can be added to any exercise routine to become stronger, build more muscle and add more shape to the body!

Squats: The squat is a compound, full body exercise that trains primarily the quadriceps, hamstrings, and gluteus maximus, as well as strengthening the bones, ligaments and insertion of the tendons throughout the lower body. Squats are a great exercise for increasing the strength and muscle size of the lower body, as well as developing core strength. The lower back, upper back, abdominals and shoulders and arms are all essential to the exercise and are trained when squatting with the proper form.

Lunges: This is everyone's favourite exercise! Well, not really. But it should be, because lunges are an amazing exercise for strengthening, sculpting and building several muscle groups, including the quadriceps, the gluteus maximus as well as the hamstrings. Lunges can be performed many ways, for example, stationary lunges and walking lunges. Lunges are unilateral exercises, meaning that they train one side of your body independently from the other. Training one side at a time improves your balance and coordination. This compound leg exercise is hailed by many as the ultimate lower body functional exercise. Lunges are essentially an exercise that directly improves your performance of natural, everyday movements. Lunges also build strong, muscular, sexy legs.

Push-ups: A push-up is a common calisthenics exercise performed in a prone position by raising and lowering the body using the arms. Push-ups not only work the pectoral muscles, they also work the triceps, anterior deltoids, and your abdominals. Push-ups are a basic exercise used in civilian athletic training or physical education and commonly in military physical training. If you can perform proper push-ups and keep practising them, your strength will increase dramatically.

Pull-ups: Pull-ups are one of the most difficult exercises that exist. They have a number of benefits overall, including the fact that they rely on bodyweight and therefore do not need special equipment or machines. Many people avoid these exercises because they are very difficult, but the pull-up is an exercise with great potential to improve your fitness in many ways.

Pull ups are a great upper body exercise. Your latissimus dorsi, also known as "lats," are the muscles that receive the greatest benefit from a set of pullups. These muscles run from the top and outside of each shoulder and down the back. As you contract your arms and pull yourself up in the motion of the pullup, the latissimus dorsi muscles are the ones primarily responsible for making this motion. Therefore, they are likely to be the set of muscles most benefited by this exercise. This is the part of your back that gives the desired V-shape. If you cannot perform this workout, you can always use the assistance of a band, or an assisted pull-up machine.

Stiff Legged Dead Lift: The stiff-leg deadlift is a resistance exercise that targets your hip and trunk extensors, which include the gluteus maximus, hamstrings and lower back. This exercise is a great way to develop the hamstrings and gluteus, which is a good way to create great shape from behind, and we all know we want to look good from behind! The stiff legged dead lift will also strengthen your lower back.

Consult a personal trainer to learn proper technique and to determine how these exercises should fit into your gym routine.