6 Weightlifting Exercises for Beginners to Build Strength & Mass

Weightlifting exercises for beginners enable anyone who has just begun their fitness journey to understand what resistance training is all about.

One of the first things to focus on when adding weight lifting exercises for beginners to your routine is that the exercises need to be simple, and you shouldn’t use extremely heavy weights.

Start by using light or moderately heavy weights to develop a strong muscle-mind connection. It’s going to be helpful for muscle engagement as you begin to lift heavy weights.

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Weightlifting Exercises for Beginners

The following are six weightlifting exercises for beginners you can use to initiate your resistance training.

1) Dumbbell Squat

Squats are the king of leg exercises. It’s important that you add squats to your routine when you’re trying to make your legs stronger.

Dumbbell squats work primarily on the quads, but they can have an impact on the hamstrings and glutes as well.

You can find a guide for dumbbell squats here.

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2) Dumbbell Bench Press

The dumbbell bench press is for the chest. An advanced version of the exercise is the barbell bench press, but you should use dumbbells to understand how to engage the pectoral muscles during the exercise.

As it’s a compound exercise, the triceps and shoulders get worked on along with the chest. Hence, dumbbell bench press can help you understand the best form to use to maximize pressure on the pectoral muscles.

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3) Single Arm Dumbbell Row

Single arm dumbbell rows focus on the lat muscles. You need to keep your back straight during the exercise, and focus on one side at a time.

As lat muscles are a large muscle group, it’s better to work on one side at a time till you have a good grasp of the exercise. Once you do so, you can start shifting to double arm dumbbell rows and barbell rows.

You can find a guide for dumbbell rows here.

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4) Bicep Curl

Weightlifting exercises for beginners do not necessarily need to focus only on the bigger muscle groups. In fact, you should focus on big and small muscle groups if you want to have a well-developed physique.

Biceps are important for the development of the arms, so you must not ignore the smaller muscle groups in any shape or form. Bicep curls are the most common exercise for biceps.

You can do the exercise using dumbbells, barbells, and cables. However, some fitness establishments have bicep preacher curls as well.

You can find a guide for various bicep curls here.

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5) Tricep Extension

Tricep extensions can be done using a single arm or both. They're an excellent way to engage the tricep muscles, and is a common weightlifting exercise for beginners.

When you’re doing tricep exercises, you should try to work on all three tricep heads.

To learn more about various tricep exercises, click here.

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6) Side Bending

Core muscles are an important part of the physique. So you need to focus on weightlifting exercises that work on those muscles.

While crunches are the most common exercise the core, you can start with side bending, as it’s comparatively easier. To do this exercise, hold a dumbbell with your right hand; place your left hand behind your head, and bend towards the right.

Using the side muscles on your left, pull your upper body to the starting position. Repeat that for 10-12 reps before doing the same on your left side. Take caution to use only your side muscles and not the shoulders or upper body for the exercise.

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Bottom Line

Weightlifting exercises are useful to understand form, breathing pattern, and muscle engagement. The more basic exercises you practice, the easier it can be for you to advance to advanced variations.