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6 Strength Training Exercises You Haven't Tried Yet

We’ve all done strength training exercises like push-ups, bench presses, squats, lunges, and pull-ups, but now it’s time to mix things up and get creative! You’ll find that adding new movements into your workout routine can do wonders for your muscle-building efforts. Not only will they add a bit of variety to keep things fresh and fun, but they will hit your muscles from new angles and push your body in a whole new way.

Here are the best exercises to add to your workout routine.

Bear Crawl

It looks easy, but wait until you try it! This movement (walking on your hands and feet, with your knees parallel to but just above the ground) takes a lot of core strength, and it will work your shoulders, triceps, and chest muscles as well. A few laps with this exercise will have your muscles quivering and begging for mercy.

Side Lunges

Everyone does forward lunges, but that only targets the middle of the thigh muscles. To hit both the outside and the inner thighs, do lunges off to one side. Keep your head up and back straight, and start with just bodyweight until you get the feel for the posture. You’ll find your legs feel the burn in a whole new way.

Step Up Reverse Lunge

This is a combo that takes two classic exercises (step ups and reverse lunges) and doubles down on the awesome. Basically, you step up onto a box, and when you come down, you step back into a reverse lunge. This shreds your entire upper leg in one go, and it will hit those muscles twice as hard. Just a couple of sets will be all you need to finish your lower body workout.

Alternating Dumbbell Bench Press

Take the classic bench press and add a new core-focused twist! Use dumbbells to perform a bench press on your bench, but only use one arm at a time. This will force your chest, shoulder, and arm muscles to work extra hard to keep one weight steady while the other arm pushes upward, and your core muscles will be forced to engage to keep you from slipping off the bench.

Dumbbell Shoulder to Shoulder Press

This exercise targets your shoulders together and one at a time, mixing up the movements so your core is engaged and you get a better workout for your triceps and deltoids. Start with the dumbbells in place above your shoulders, then push first one up until your arm is extended, then the other. Lower them one at a time, and repeat until you feel that burn!

21s

This barbell exercise is wonderful for your biceps, and it will make sure to hit those muscles from every angle. Start with the barbell (or EZ Bar) in resting position hanging in front of you, and curl it upward until your arms reach a 90-degree angle. DO NOT continue past 90-degrees, but lower it to your initial position and repeat for 7 reps. Without stopping, curl upward from the 90-degree mark to your chest, and only lower until you hit that 90-degree mark. Repeat for 7 more reps, then finish off the set with 7 regular barbell curls. Your biceps will never feel the same again!

[Image via Shutterstock]

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