Workout Trainer Recommends Top Six Exercises for Newcomers to Gain Overall Strength and Muscle Mass
Fitness First trainer Olly Banks has shared six beginner-friendly exercises for building full-body strength. These exercises, each with specific benefits and proper techniques, are designed to provide a balanced foundation for beginner strength training.
Squat
- Benefits: Strengthens the entire lower body including quads, hamstrings, glutes, calves, and core; improves mobility and balance.
- Proper Technique: Stand with feet shoulder-width apart, keep chest up and back straight, engage your core, and sit back as if sitting in a chair, lowering until thighs are parallel to the floor. Keep knees tracking over toes and press through heels to stand back up, squeezing glutes at the top.
Plank
- Benefits: Builds core strength and stability, supports posture, and improves endurance in abs, back, and shoulders.
- Proper Technique: Start on forearms and toes, keeping elbows under shoulders. Maintain a straight line from head to heels, engage core, and avoid sagging hips or raising them too high. Hold the position steadily focusing on controlled breathing.
Push-up
- Benefits: Strengthens chest, shoulders, triceps, and core; improves upper body muscular endurance.
- Proper Technique: Position hands slightly wider than shoulder-width, body in a plank position. Lower chest toward the floor by bending elbows, keeping body in a straight line. Elbows should be at about a 45-degree angle to the body. Press back up fully extending arms.
Lunge
- Benefits: Targets legs and glutes, improves balance and hip mobility, and engages core stabilizers.
- Proper Technique: Step forward with one leg, lowering hips until both knees are bent at about 90 degrees. Keep front knee above ankle and back knee just above the floor. Maintain upright torso and engage core. Press through the front heel to return to standing and repeat with the other leg.
Dumbbell Biceps Curl
- Benefits: Isolates and strengthens the biceps, improves arm muscular endurance and aesthetics.
- Proper Technique: Stand with dumbbells at sides, palms forward. Keep elbows close to torso and curl the weights while contracting biceps. Avoid swinging or using momentum. Lower weights in a controlled manner to the start position.
Dumbbell Bent-Over Row
- Benefits: Strengthens upper back, lats, rhomboids, and biceps; improves posture and shoulder stability.
- Proper Technique: Hold dumbbells with palms facing the body, hinge at hips keeping back flat and knees slightly bent. Pull dumbbells toward the waist, squeezing shoulder blades together. Lower weights slowly and maintain a neutral spine throughout.
Olly Banks emphasizes consistency and proper form to build full-body strength effectively and safely. These exercises collectively target major muscle groups and provide a balanced foundation for beginner strength training. While Olly Banks is best known for promoting exercises like skipping for cardiovascular benefits, these six strength moves complement a full-body routine to enhance muscle strength, stability, and functional fitness.
In this health-and-wellness regimen, these fitness-and-exercise routines – the squat, plank, push-up, lunge, Dumbbell Biceps Curl, and Dumbbell Bent-Over Row – are beginner-friendly workouts shared by Fitness First trainer Olly Banks, each offering specific benefits for different muscle groups and maintaining total body wellness through their proper techniques. Science has revealed that these exercises, designed by Olly Banks, serve as a balanced foundation for building full-body strength, promoting a comprehensive approach to beginner strength training.
