When it comes to beginner exercises, it is really hard to narrow down what is ideal. There are a variety of factors that include goals, past injuries, the person’s current condition and much more. That being said, it is absolutely common to see beginners getting puzzled when they first step into the gym. With the countless amount of machines, Bosu balls and the girl on the treadmill wearing yoga pants, it’s easy to get distracted from the main goal — training hard.

I composed this article in an effort to help beginners select some exercises. Despite the countless exercises out there, I’ve narrowed them down into 5 movement categories: Squat, Hinge, Press, Pull and Core. Hitting all 5 of these movements will train your entire body and will help you in your journey of becoming stronger.

So here are the 5 exercises beginners should do:

5 Beginner Exercises

Squat Movement: Front Squat

You might be thinking why I recommend the front squat over the back squat.

The answer here is simple. The front squat is an easier exercise to learn when compared to the back squat and many experts also find it to be more effective. Similarly, most beginners often lack adequate thoracic extension and have a core weaker than a pre-pubescent girl. Because of this, the back squat is executed with form so bad that I feel like jumping on a thousand Lego blocks to ease my agony.

The front squat shifts the weight from the back to the front, allowing the bar to stay in a more vertical position. This will help improve thoracic extension while preventing the rounding of the lumbar spine. That being said, the loading position also help reduces the shear force on the lumbar spine which also suits people recovering from injuries.

Because of the weight loading position, the anterior core needs to be engaged to help stabilize your body to prevent you from tipping over. This acts as counter balance and can help teach beginners how to stay upright. Most importantly, front squats will help turn your stick thin legs into Godzilla size quads.

Hinge Movement: Deadlift

It is without a doubt that I am a fan of heavy deadlifts. What could possibly be more awesome than lifting some heavy weights off the ground and putting them down?

That being said, the deadlift is the best mass builder out there because it works a heck lot of muscles in your body. It is also recommended by legendary strength coach Pavel Tsatsouline as the main movement in one of his training programs. When Pavel speaks, you better listen.

The deadlift, when performed properly, will help you pack on muscle and will give you massive posterior chain strength. If you are not including this in your training routine, you are missing out on a ton of benefits. The variation of deadlifts are also countless and allow you to switch up your routine a little bit to keep things interesting as you develop.

I personally pull in a Sumo stance which places my feet wider than the normal, but beginners should start with a trap bar or a kettlebell to learn proper technique. After nailing down the proper movement patterns, you can then proceed to a conventional deadlift.

Pressing Movement: Push Up

You might hate me for recommending the push up instead of the bench press for building your chest. However, the push up is an exercises that everyone should include into their training. Also, I personally think that a beginner can build an impressive chest without ever doing a barbell bench.

Send me your hate mail, I am ready.

The reason the push up reigns supreme for beginners is because it helps engage the entire body into the lift. It activates the triceps and chest, the core will be needed to stabilize the body and even the ankles will be put into a slight dorsiflexed position.

Competing in powerlifting, I know that the bench press is a full body lift. However, it takes a very long period of time to learn how to engage the entire body while benching. Moreover, most beginners are benching with form that will cause more injuries than gains to their bodies. The danger outweighs the benefit in the bench press which is why it’s not my preferred push movement when it comes to beginner exercises.

The push up, being a close chain movement, will not beat up the shoulders as much as the barbell bench press. In addition, when the regular push up starts feeling too easy you can load up with chains, weight plates or even human beings on your back! At that point, you will develop a chest even Superman is proud of.

Pulling movement: Chest Supported Dumbbell Row

This is exercise will make your back so big it will eclipse the sun.

This is our preferred pulling movement when it comes to beginner exercises because doing this exercise will teach you how to properly engage the back muscles instead of using body momentum as in the barbell bent over row.

Lying on a bench helps for this exercise does justice in reducing excessive momentum and engaging your upper back will be easier. Start adding this into your training and watch you back undergo some new muscle growth.

Men with a huge chest and no back muscles are like cardboard, but men with both are like brick walls.

Core movement: Farmer Carries

There is nothing more kick ass than carrying some heavy weights in your arms and walking it out like a bad ass.

Farmer carries helps you build crushing grip strength, massive traps and hammer your upper back and arms like you’ve never felt before. It also helps create stability in the core, strengthen the rotator cuffs and beat long treadmill walks any time of the day when it comes to conditioning.

Besides, all you need is a heavy dumbbell and some guts. Farmers do this, you should too.

Bonus: Bicep Curls

Just because big arms attract the ladies and when the sun is out, the guns come out.

Wrapping Up

If you’re wondering what comes next after you start to nail these beginner exercises, I’ve actually laid out a sample training program at my site that uses every single exercise mentioned in this article.

It might not be suited for the advance guys, but for those pretty new to lifting, I’m sure it will help you pack on some muscle to your frame. You can check it out right HERE.

That is all for now, try the exercises above and I’m sure it will add new life (probably muscle) to your training.