Weight training exercises, there are so many, which should you do? Just stepping foot in the gym can take a lot of courage and motivation for beginners. This can be a question for intermediates as well.

What if you’re short on time, what are the exercises that will give you the most bang for your buck for the limited time you have? This post will be diving into some of the BEST compound exercises you should be focusing on to build the most muscle and strength. They will also aid you on your weight loss journey. These exercises are for men AND women.

Really craving some pizza right now, I could be good and make some at home, or I could go out and get some. I still have tons of calories left for the day and I worked my legs out today, so maybe I’ll bring home some pizza!

Many people ask things such as “best weight training exercises for weight loss”, “weight training exercises for weight loss”, “gym workout for beginner to lose weight” or “workouts to lose weight” and I’m here to answer those questions!

Anyways, what are some of the best weight training exercises to start off with?? I would recommend compound exercises. What’s a compound exercise? It’s an exercise that engages multiple muscles at the same time.  These aren’t necessarily exercise to just start off with, but exercises to do long term. I still do them! I’ll be going through some of my favorite ones!

This post will be all about the best compound weight training exercises!

Best Weight Training Exercises

First and foremost before jumping into the exercises, if your goal is to lose fat or even gain weight, that is awesome! Whether you can or lose weight first and foremost depends on CALORIES IN AND CALORIES OUT. If you are burning more calories than you are consuming, you will lose weight.

You can’t just focus on weigh training for weight loss. The are no best workouts to lose belly fat if you’re eating excess calories all day. There’s actually no ideal workout for every single person, actually.

If you are eating more than you are burning, you will gain weight.

Don’t know many calories you need? Check out my post on calculating calories and it will be EVERYTHING YOU NEED to figure out how many calories your body needs: Calculating Calories.

Throughout the article, I also post video tutorials from youtuber that I’ve been following for years of how to perform the exercises at end of each section. They are youtubers that I really trust.

1. Barbell or Dumbbell Bench Press3

How much you bench bro??? People LOVE to ask this question, that’s why I put it first on the list. It just so happens, that’s it’s a compound movement as well! It’s considered one of the “big three”

A regular bench press is used primarily to target the following:

1. Chest (both the pectoralis major and minor part of the chest)
2. Shoulders (anterior deltoid – front part of the shoulders muscles)
3. Triceps brachii muscles
4. Serratus anterior

You get some other muscles activated too, but there are the main ones.

So as you can see, you’re working out your chest, shoulders and triceps all with one exercise. You could go and do an exercise such a triceps rope pushdown to isolate your triceps, but if your short on time, it’s better to bench over doing those triceps rope pushdowns.

I’m not saying isolation exercise don’t have their place, they do. I do the triceps rope pushdown on the days I workout my chest, but I wouldn’t prioritize them over my dumbbell bench press.

I prefer to use dumbbells over the barbell. The first reason being, I’m too socially awkward to ask someone to spot me. I don’t want the bar to fall on me, that could be fatal. You can just drop dumbbells if you have to.

You can also get a deeper stretch with dumbbells to work your chest even more.

Now, there are different forms of the bench press such as flat, incline and decline. At this time, I’m talking about the regular flat bench press.

Here’s a video of how to perform the exercise:

2. Deadlift7

The second of the “big three” is the deadlift. Just as with the bench press, there are different forms of the this exercise. For the purpose of this post, I’ll be talking about the conventional deadlift. What must be kept in mind is, this exercise is hard on the lower back and you have to perform it with strict form or you could hurt your back.

Anywho here are the muscles it primarily targets:

1. Lower back (Erector Spinae)
2. Upper back (latissimus dorsi [lats], rhomboids and trapezius muscles)
3. Legs (quadriceps, hamstrings and adductors muscles)
4. Booty (gluteus maximus muscle)
5. Core (Abs and obliques muscles)
6. Forearms (barchioradialis muscles)

I haven’t been deadlifting lately, it’s very taxing on the body and I just needed a bit of break from it. Other than that, it helped me grow my back quite a bit when I started weightlifting.

3. Barbell Squat6

The final and third of the “big three” compound weight training exercises is the barbell squat! I usually always start off my leg day with this. Lately, I’ve been doing barbell squats followed by the hack squat, absolutely destroys your legs.

Here are the muscles it primarily targets:

1. Legs (quadriceps, hamstrings adductor muscles)
2. Butt (gluteus maximus, minimums and medias muscles)
3. Core (abs and obliques muscles)

Some secondary muscles targeted include calves, hip flexors and adductors.

So as you can see, a lot of different muscles being targeted in the lower body.

4. Overhead Press5

This is outside of the “big 3” compound weight raining exercises, but is a compound movement, nonetheless. So which muscles does it target? That’s the whole idea of this article, right? No talking about me eating an entire pizza, right? Anyways, here’s the muscles it targets lol:

1. Shoulder (anterior and lateral deltoids muscles)
2. Triceps barchii muscles
3. Core (abs and obliques muscles)

This exercise can be down using a barbell or dumbbells, you can also perform it while sitting or standing. I prefer to perform it using dumbbells and sitting. There are many shoulder weight training exercises, but these are definitely some of the best.

5. Pull-ups4

I know I know, not everyone can do a pull-up. That’s no big deal, I couldn’t do one when I started either. You can build up to doing pull ups by doing assisted pull ups! Gyms typically have a machine to make pull-ups easier.

Here are the muscles that are trained when performing pull ups:

1. Upper back (infraspinatus, latissimus dorsi, rhomboid muscles, subscapularis, teres major and trapezius muscles)
2. Biceps brachii muscles
3. Shoulders(posterior deltoids – back of shoulders muscles)

These largely engage the lats and biceps. You could even work on your lats and biceps if pull-ups are too tough for you. You can do exercises such as the lat pull down or straight arm pulldown for you lats. For biceps, barbell curls in the squat rack (just kidding, please don’t do these in the squat rack), dumbbell curls, incline curls or preacher curls.

6. Bent Over Barbell Rows2

Another back weight training exercise, I know. To be honest, this is the one I’m currently doing instead of deadlifts. Though, deadlifts work way more muscles than bent over barbell rows. Nonetheless, it’s a compound weight training exercise. So which muscles does this does it work out? Here they are:

1. Back (latissimus dorsi, rhomboids, spinal erectors and trapezius muscles)
2. Biceps brachii muscles
3. Forearms (brachioradialis muscles)
4. Shoulders (posterior deltoids muscles)

7. Dips1

If you thought about dippin dots, I have bad news for you. I don’t even know when is the last time I had dippin dots, I’ve only had them once when I think about it.

Anyways, dips, as in the exercise, it’s considered one of the compound weight training exercise.

The muscles this exercise primarily targets, depends on how much you lean in. The more you lean in, the more chest that is targeted. The more upright you remain, the more triceps that are targeted. Both forms primarily target the chest and triceps regardless though.

Here is a complete list of the muscles targeted:

1. Chest (pectoralis major and pectoralis minor)
2. Triceps (triceps brachii)
3. Shoulders (anterior deltoid – back part of the shoulder)
4. Upper back (latissimus dorsi, levator scapulae, rhomboids, trapezius, teres major)

You can do seated dip or assisted dips or which ever ones you prefer.

Well, that’s a complete list of the compound weight training exercises you could potentially focus on!

They don’t all need be done in one day. You could split your workouts into upper and lower body days. Or you could isolate each muscle on it’s own day of the week! Check out my article, Weightlifting For Beginners to get recommendations on how many sets and repetitions (reps) you should be doing! The article also include a completely FREE WORKOUT ROUTINE.

Now, these may be considered the best weight training exercises, but they are NOT a must do. If you don’t like them or can’t perform them, find alternatives!

Give these exercises a shot and let me know how you like them!

Disclaimer: I’m not your doctor. Please consult your doctor, nutritionist or any health care professional before making any changes in your own lifestyle. These blogs are just me sharing my knowledge for you reading entertainment purpose only. None of this is medical advice.

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