Best Barbell Exercises for Women – Top 15 Barbell Exercises

Barbell workout is an essential component of physical fitness for women. It involves weight lifting not only 2-pounds weight but heavyweight, which engage bicep curls. A barbell put pressure your body into a hardened position, which is biomechanically helpful for creating stability on your weight load. In return, it provides stability to push and pull the muscles, which helps to engage more.

As you age, weight lifting is essential because women lose muscle mass and build an average of 5-pounds of fat every decade. The body weight remains the same if you don’t lift the weight. Here are the barbell exercises for women.

Best Barbell Exercises for Women – Top 15

Bench Press

The bench press is the best barbell workout routine for women who can start with it. It helps to develop chest mass. This workout is very simple with the classic bench press, and it can be more challenging. You need to perform it an effective way.

The bench press exercise is the best chest strengthening exercise. It also best for performing other movements and workouts. Bench press also helps to enhance push-ups, but the best news for all yoga performer is it can amazing chaturanga. It also engages your triceps and gives a workout to the upper body.

How to do?

• Lie on the bench by keeping your feet upward and use a full-length Olympic bar. Keep your hands wider than your shoulders.
• Use the bar and get it directly on your chest using your arms fully stretched and release the elbow.
• Actively press your shoulders down to your hips.
• Flex your arms and let the bar get lower to your chest.
• Get your middle part of your chest on your nipple line.
• Take a pause using the bar on the chest.
• Stimulate your chest muscles and squeeze the bar back to the starts.
• It is one rep.

Incline Bench Press

The incline bench press is similar to bench press, but it requires an incline bench to help for building upper chest muscles.

How to do?

• Force the bar to a precise load for your training.
• Lay down on the bench using your feet level on the ground, running by to your hips. Your back ought to be curved, and your shoulder bones withdrew.
• Hold grip covering the rings on the bar by taking a medium.
• Dislodge the bar from the barrack, holding the weight above your chest with your arms expanded. It is the beginning position.
• Flex your elbows and takedown the bar to the chest level.
• Keep the balance and don’t bounce the bar above of your chest.
• Keep your lats tight and elbows somewhat attracted.
• In the wake of contacting your middle with the bar, stretch out the elbows to restore the bar to the beginning position.

Close Grip – Bench Press

The close grip workout of the bench press is similar to the classic bench press. This workout is best bench press for women with a variation that boosts triceps strength, lockout performance, hypertrophy. It helps to reduce shoulders stress. It builds power, fitness, and strength. Close grip workout boosts the performance in lifts such as snatch, bench press, long press, push-ups, and handstand.

How to do?

• Lie down over a flat bench. Lift the bar from its rack by using close grip and maintain it straight on your locked arms. It is your beginning point.
• As you inhale, lower down slowly until you feel the bar on the center of your chest. Ensure that while keeping regular bench press, your elbow should be close to your torso all times to increase the triceps involvement.
• Take the bar back after taking the second pause and get back to starting position as you exhale and push the bar with your triceps muscles.
• Do the movement repeatedly according to your trainer guidance.
• When you complete, keep your bar behind in the rack.

Caution

If you are a newcomer, it is recommended to use a spotter. If you don’t have spotter, then be cautious with the amount of weight. Avoid the bar drifting more forward. Try to stay awake while bar drifting and drop the bar above the center of the chest.

Variations

This workout is also done with an e-z bar using the inner handle with dumbbells and let the palms and hands face each other.

Standing Curl

 

Standing barbell curl workout helps to build bigger arms and charming biceps and toned body. This workout work on your forearms, biceps, and shoulders.

• Stand and keep some distance between your feet.
• Hold the barbell at a distance of somewhat wider than your shoulder size.
• Put your elbows pressed by your sides and let your hands curl until your biceps are contracted.
• Perform 3-sets of 5-9 repetitions.
• It helps to build the muscles mass on your biceps.

Conventional Barbell Deadlift

Keep your feet below the barbell and keep wider distance between shoulder to make bar touch the shins. Grasp the barbell to make your forearms touch the outsides of your thighs. Connect forward at your hips and drive the glutes back.

How to do?

• Level your shoulders on the bar and withdraw your shoulder blades to stimulate the back muscles.
• Breath in and breath out and force your heels.
• Stand up by using your hamstrings and glutes.
• Put the barbell near to your body and pile your shoulders straight on your hips.
• Shift back your heels and use your hamstrings and glutes for standing up.
• Put the barbell near your body and pile your shoulder straight on your hips.
• Push your hips backside and flex your knees to get back to the beginning point. Let your shoulders on the bar all the time.

Sets-3 Reps – 8 to 12

Tips

• Balance long, engage core, and neutral spine.
• Connect at your hips.
• Keep your back flat, and shoulder blades withdraw.
• Let your palm face to you, or you can get help from flipping one-hand grip for mixing over.

Barbell Push Press

The barbell push press workout is a powerful compound exercise that helps to strengthen the upper and lower body. This exercise put pressure on the muscles of hips, shoulders, and core. Put your elbows tucked inside and near to your shoulder to balance the tension over your shoulders while pressing the barbell overhead.

How to do?

• Keep the barbell under your shoulder height over the rack.
• Grip the bar with hands somewhat wider than your shoulder size, keep your palm facing upward.
• Let your legs straight and take a step ahead to unrack the barbell.
• Put your feet at your shoulder width.
• Let bar rest over your collarbone.
• Push your hips backward and flex knees to insert into a light squat. Let your core engage and take a breath.
• Do a swift movement, breath-out, quickly press from heels, straighten your legs to stand up. Keep your arm straight and press the barbell overhead. Put your knees soft.
• Gently lower the bar back to your shoulders and return to the beginning point.

Sets-3 Reps – 8 to 12

Tips

• Let your elbows pointing to the floor
• Slightly move out your toes
• Put your weight over heels
• Press straight upward, not ahead
• Look ahead
• Biceps outline ears at the top of the movement
• Keep spine long and core engaged
• Engage glutes

Barbell Glute Bridge

The barbell glute bridge exercise focus on strengthening glute muscles. Many lifters believe that it requires to build an entire and powerful set of glute workouts such as deadlift and squat. However, it’s not true. Achieving more isolation target glutes exercises such as the barbell glute bridge which the best choice for aesthetics, strength, and bring functionality.

How to do?

• Sit comfortably on the floor in front side of a bench keeping your legs stretched. Put the bar on your thighs.
• Take a position by raising your hips and rolling back over the bench.
• Place your shoulder blades over the bench, flex knees, and place your heels firmly on the ground.
• Place the bar on your hips joint to begin. Take a breath.
• Breath out and push from your heels to lift your hips toward the roof and level your knees to your shoulders.
• Press the glutes at the top of the move. Balance and gently return to the beginning point.

Sets-3 and Reps: 8 to 12

Tips

• Keep the bar directly on the hip bones
• Elevate chin
• Rest your hands over the bar close to hips for balance
• Push your knees out.
• Wrap a towel to feel comfort and bad par over the barbell.

Barbell Front Squat

The barbell front squat is a workout for the lower body using a barbell. It will help to strengthen your hips and legs specifically, your quads, which are thigh muscles and glutes.

The front squats are the same as back squats. However, it requires barbell to keep around the front side of the shoulders rather than the upper back. It shifts the middle of the mass front and allows you to be in a straighter posture. It lets your spine lift smoothly.

How to do?

• Keep the bar under your shoulder height over the rack. Grab the bar with your hands somewhat wider than your shoulder size. Keep your palm facing upward. Place the bar on your collarbone.
• Keep your legs straight and take step backside to unrack the bar.
• Hold the bar on your collarbone and put your feet at your shoulder width separated and move toes lightly out.
• Support your core, breath in, and move your hips back.
• Flex your knees and squat backside until thighs form the parallel to the ground.
• Keep your core and glutes engaged until your thighs get parallel to the ground. Keep your weight over your heels. Breath out and push from your heels to stand up.

Sets – 3 and Reps – 8 to 12

Tips

• Flex your knees to get below the bar
• Push your knees out
• Put weight in the hips and heels
• Let your elbows pointed ahead with triceps parallel to the ground.

Barbell Bent-Over Row

A barbell row or bent-over row is a form of weight training workout. It targets the muscles of your back. This workout is often used by powerlifting and both bodybuilding. It is a good workout for building size and strength.

How to do?

• Stand back of the barbell by keeping your feet at shoulder width.
• Keep the feet below barbell and flex your knees and move hips backward.
• Grasp the barbell with your overhand grip. It should be moderately wider than your shoulder width.
• Take breath and breath out.
• Move from your heels to stand up, balance your back straight, legs stretch and torso upright.
• Join forward using your hips and get your chest front and move back your glutes.
• Reduce the barbell until it comes under your knees to begin.
• Breath out and center-back to move the bar upward and backward to lower your chest with the help of elbows.
• Press your shoulder blades at the top of this movement.
• Gently balance and take down the barbell to return beginning point.

Sets – 3 and Reps – 8 to 12

Tips

• Keep your shoulders on the bar
• Keep your head up and back flat
• Widen your spine and retract your shoulder blades
• Gently bend your knees
• Completely stretch your arms

Reverse Curl

Reverse curl is important for building forearms and biceps.

How to do?

• Use an under grip rather than holding a barbell.
• Put your elbows near your side and press the barbells upward to the chest.
• Gently lower down.
• Perform this in 3-sets of 7-11 repetitions.

Wrist Curls

The wrist curl workout is a weight training workout for building muscles of wrist flexor of forearms. Therefore, it is an isolation workout. It requires to be done in combination using reverse wrist curl for equal growth of wrist flexor and muscles of wrist extensor.

Wrist curls can be done using dumbbell or barbell.

How to do?

• Relax on the bench for preparing wrist curl.
• Flex your knees and make your forearms rest on your thigh or the bench and keep hands dangling off on the edge.
• Retain your palm facing up and let your hands-free to move upward and down. At the opening point, the wrist should be bent back to make fingers point down at the ground.
• In regular motion, the lifter has to lift the weight by using muscles of forearms to get the hand upward as far as likely for yours. The forearm should remain and place on the thigh. The weight should be slowly reduced back to the beginning point.

Overhead Press

The overhead press is a weight training workout with different variations. It is generally performed while standing. In this workout, the weight is pressed upward from racking point until your arms are locked overhead, while your legs, abs, lower back require to balance. This workout helps to develop the muscular shoulders with large arms. It is one of the more challenging compounds upper body workout.

How to do?

• Perform this workout in standing position by using barbell down in forwarding or backward direction.
• Grasp the barbell using light and wider than your shoulder size.
• Gently lower down the bar to your front or back of the neck.
• Perform 3-sets of 8-12 repetitions.
• This workout effectively helps to build your shoulders.

Deadlift

The deadlift is another barbell exercise for women. It may seem scary and difficult than it is. It targets your butts and sculpts and tone your thighs.

How to do?

• Hold a barbell, and bend forward.
• Push backward and upward.
• Balance your head upward to avoid putting neck strain or injury.

Sumo squat

It is the next level of your squat workout using a barbell to increase your whole exercise routine.

How to do?

• Stand by keeping your legs at a wide distance.
• Squat down and lift the barbell slowly up as your body begins to level out. For best result, you can keep the barbell near to your body as much as possible.

Benefits of barbell work

Improve your health

Your health is like the first wealth you can earn. Doing weight lifting is similar to winning a lottery. According to research, it serves your risk of health problems such as heart disease and stroke. It suddenly improves joint and bone health.

According to the University-of-Michigan-study of 2018, the people who have stronger muscles are likely to live 50% longer. Strength training also increases the mental power in women and improve mental health such as self-esteem, self-worth, and confidence. It also helps to build emotional and personal level.

Boost your Metabolism

Lifting heavy weight helps your body to release testosterone and growth hormones, which help the body to build lean muscles. Having leaner muscles naturally, help to fire up your metabolic rate.

Lean muscles are more active metabolic wise than the fat said by Vonda Wright (MD and Orthopedic surgeon at Northside-Hospital-in-Atlanta. It means that muscles burn more calories to function, whereas fat may not burn more calories. In other words, when you build muscles, your calories get removed while exercising as well as in resting mode.

Strengthen your body

Having weaker muscle make you more prone to injury and falling. Lifting heavy weight helps to use more muscles and balance. According to Dr. Wright notes, managing lean muscles helps to provide 20 years advantage comparing to those who don’t build muscles.

It Challenges You

Building strength and sustain lean muscle is important for women. Women are naturally more adapted to endurance activities, but men depend more on testosterone to get the strength.

Women should keep testing their abilities to have a holistic routine of fitness. Pick up the barbell and start taking challenges. Regular barbell workout routine keeps gaining more muscles strength.