Regular exercise, nutrition, and supplementation, with good supplements like BCAA powder, creatine, or any other supplement are some of the best practices for muscle building. However, the practices are more effective with the correct strength and muscle-building exercises. This article will discuss five of the best exercises for improving your strength and muscle mass. It doesn’t matter whether you will be practising from your home gym or in a public gym, but the following exercises will be more practical. So check them out.
Best exercises for muscle gain and strength
- Pull-ups. Pull-up is one of the few best and easiest muscle exercises that challenge back muscles and biceps together. It is a core and upper-body exercise. They are, however, sometimes considered as full-body exercises, as you can work out almost all skeletal muscle, including lats, traps, glutes, biceps, and rectus femoralis, among other muscles depending on your grips and the variations of pull-ups. Pull-ups, when done right, can build your muscle mass and strength pretty fast. The best thing about pull-up moves is that they are ideal for all bodybuilders from beginner to advanced levels. However, they can be the hardest moves for beginners. Fortunately, there are several suitable methods for mastering pull-ups, including the use of resistance bands. It is advisable to focus on negative moves (eccentric) to improve your muscle strength.
- Squats. Squat focuses on core and lower-body muscles. However, you can integrate the basic squats with workout equipment like a barbell or incorporate other moves to work out upper-body muscles. Usually, the muscle worked in basic squats include hamstring, squads, abs, glutes, and calves. Integrating with other moves or devices will also challenge chest, shoulder, and arms muscles. Squats are also strength and tone exercises that are ideal for all genders in various workout levels. Like in pull-up exercises, there are several variations of squats that include jump squats, barbell squat (also known as back squat), and sumo squat.
- Planks. Plank is a full-body exercise – challenges upper-body, core, and lower-body muscles. They are mostly used for strength. However, planks can also help grow muscle mass significantly, especially if you are a beginner. Planks involve balancing your body weight on your hands and toes. Therefore, the weight is distributed across all skeletal muscles. Rectus and transverse abdominis, however, carry the most weight. There are two variations of plank – low and high plank. Low plank involves holding your body weight on elbows and toes, while high squats involve engaging hands and toes, thus challenging even the forearm muscles.
- Press-ups. Press-ups also engage almost all skeletal muscles – they are also full-body exercises. They are a close variation of planks. The only difference is that push-ups involve concentric and eccentric movement while planks only involve isometric contractions. Also, push-ups focus on improving muscle mass and strength, while planks focus on strength. Here, more stressed muscles are core and upper-body muscles – shoulder, arms, abs, gluteus, and wing muscles. There are several variations of press-ups, but modified press-ups are the easiest variation.
- Burpees. Burpees is a combination of three movements – squat, press-up, and jump. The movements challenge all skeletal muscles, from upper-body muscles, core to lower-body muscles. Burpees are a general type of exercise that offers all fitness benefits, including muscle mass building, increasing muscle strength, boosts cardio fitness, and losing fat. The best thing about burpees is that they are pretty easy to practice yet challenging and highly effective. There are over ten burpee variations, which influence muscles differently. The variations include, but no all, burpee box jump over, burpee pull-up, burpee muscle-up, kettlebell upright row burpee, ball slam burpee, and tuck jump burpee.
Final thoughts
Practising these five exercises can increase your muscle strength and mass significantly. However, ensure to consume healthy meals with all crucial nutrients, including vitamins, proteins, and glutamine, for fast results. You may also opt for dietary supplements like whey protein, creatine powder, BCAA supplement, among other approved supplements. This will help you grow more strong muscles pretty fast.
Adam Mulligan did his degree in psychology at the University of Hertfordshire. He is interested in mental health and well-being.
