Weight training is a key element to maintaining a fit and healthy body, as well as improving athletic performance. Most people live relatively sedentary lifestyles resulting in a reduction in muscle tissue. This reduces metabolism, and leads to weight gain in the form of increased fat accumulation. Weight training is one way to reverse this trend.

Many people are put off by weight training, thinking that it is something for serious athletes and bodybuilders alone. However, weight training is certainly not something to fear. Also, many women worry that lifting weights in the gym will build bulky muscles, but this is not the case. Also, with good equipment and some basic guidance, weight training actually is a relaxing form of exercise.

There are many different weight training exercises, and different ways to perform these exercises. What follows here is a set of 20 basic beginners weight training exercises that you can perform in most gyms, and also with free weights.

You do not have to perform the exercises below in this order. However, generally the large muscles of the lower body are trained before the smaller muscles of the upper body, because these exercises require more mental and physical energy. The core muscles of the torso are trained before the shoulder and arm muscles that assist them.

Exercises often alternate between “pushing” and “pulling” movements to allow their specific supporting muscles time to recover. The stabilising muscles in the waist should be trained last.

Upper Body Exercises

1. Bench Press
2. Bicep Curls
3. Flyes
4. Lateral Raises
5. Pushdowns
6. Shoulder Press / Military Press
7. Triceps Extension / French Curl
8. Upright Rows

Lower Body Exercises

1. Leg Curl
2. Leg Extension
3. Leg Press
4. Seated Calf Raises
5. Standing Calf Raises
6. Squat

Back Exercises

1. Back Extensions
2. Bent Over Row
3. Deadlift
4. Pulldown

Core Exercises

1. Crunches
2. Leg Raises

References and Recommended Reading

• Delavier, Frederic (2001). Strength Training Anatomy. Human Kinetics Publishers. ISBN 0-7360-4185-0.
• Schwarzenegger, Arnold (1999). The New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-684-85721-9.