If you’re looking to supercharge your strength and pack on some muscle, the barbell is the G.O.A.T. It's one of the most versatile pieces of equipment (alongside a pair of dumbbells) that you can target your entire body with and sculpt your muscles. If you're unsure where to start though, this simple five-move workout is just what you need and will help you on your way to a stronger, more chiselled physique.
Barbell exercises often consist of compound exercises, movements that work multiple joints in the body at once (such as squats, deadlifts etc). Not only are these type of exercises excellent for functional strength and helping with you with everyday activities, but they're also great for your cardiovascular health too as they elevate your heart rate. So, you basically get the best of both worlds.
This workout comes from Centr trainer, Bobby Holland Hanton (Chris Hemsworth's fitness app) and it consists of five compound exercises. Ideally, this workout is best performed in a gym, as you'll also need a weight bench and probably access to a squat rack. But if you have these at home, then excellent! You'll do each exercise for eight reps and complete three rounds of it in total, before moving onto the next exercise. Take a 90 second break after each round and a two minute break before moving onto the next exercise. Here's your workout:
Make sure you incorporate some dumbbells workouts into your strength training schedule too. This is important because, while barbells are great, all the movements performed with them are bilateral (meaning they use both limbs and don't isolate individual muscles). This means any muscle imbalances could go amiss. To avoid this, here's a five-move upper body dumbbell workout and a three-move lower body dumbbell workout for you to slot into your training.
