Research gives us the most effective exercises for every major muscle in the body
Ever wonder what the best exercise is for 8 major muscle groups is?
Is the preacher curl the best exercise for activation of the biceps?
Or is deadlift the best exercise for the back?
All these questions will be answered here, backed by scientific research.
I work out a lot, and I don’t like wasting time in the gym if I don’t have to.
If you are going to focus your workouts on the 8 major muscle groups and their exercises, you need to put your effort into the best exercise for each muscle group. There are hundreds of exercises you could be doing, but if you stuck to the exercises that produced the best results, then you are half way there.
Why are you doing dumbbell chest flies on a flat bench when the more effective exercise would be the barbell bench press or cable crossover?
Should you be doing Smith machine squats or barbell squats?
Let’s find out the answers to all these questions below.
#1 What’s the Best Exercise for Abs?
Let’s start with the one you are probably most interested in.
Washboard abs are often the crown jewel of a great looking body.
You may be doing a variety of different exercises and not getting as far as you could be in your workouts.
A list of typical abdominal exercises may include:
- The crunch
- Hanging leg raise
- Cable Pallof press
- Kneeling cable crunch
- Decline medicine ball crunch
- Russian Twist
- Ab wheel roll out
- Plank
- Pike
- Sit-up
You could do any of the above exercises and achieve good ab muscle activation, but why not throw in the best ab exercise in your upper and lower abs workout routine?
The best abs exercise according to science per a 2010 study in the Journal of Orthopedic & Sports Physical Therapy, is the pike rollout.
How to do the pike rollout:
In order to do this exercise, start in a plank with your legs or feet on a stability ball or feet in suspension trainer straps. Lift your hips into the air as high as you can. Come back down to neutral position and at the same time roll the ball backwards (or push the suspension straps backwards) just enough so you feel your ab muscles stabilizing your spine. Return to starting position.
This exercise was found to be the most effective exercise to activate your upper abs, lower abs, and obliques all at once.
There are other ab exercises you probably didn’t even think of. Check out my article: 5 ABS Exercises That Crush Belly Fat and add some awesome ab exercises to the list above.
#2 What’s the Best Exercise for Biceps?
If you’re looking for the best biceps exercise for mass, look no further.
A great looking pair of biceps can reflect hours of work in the gym.
Some exercises you’re probably already doing may include:
- Standing dumbbell curl
- Hammer curl
- Preacher curl
- Incline dumbbell curl
- Zottman curl
- Concentration curl
- Decline dumbbell curl
- Cable curl
- Chin-up
- Barbell curl
- EZ curl (wide and narrow grip)
If you want the most effective biceps brachii exercise, then you need to include the concentration curl.
According to one study, the concentration curl was significantly better than any other exercise, with the cable curl coming in second.
The concentration curl is great for the biceps brachii, but make sure to incorporate some of the other biceps exercises from above.
Work different angles and squeeze at the top for the best results. Just make sure your primary focus is on the concentration curl.
How to do the concentration curl:
First, stand behind an incline bench and put your elbow on the bench with your armpit near the top. Grab a dumbbell and lay your hand flat against the bench. Curl smoothly and squeeze at the top for best results. Slowly let the weight back down to starting position.
Incorporate the concentration curl into your weekly bicep workout regimen.
If you want to maximize the effectiveness of the concentration curl, check out my article: How to Get Bigger Biceps (And 5 Mistakes to Avoid) for a comprehensive list of ways to get bigger biceps.
#3 What’s the Best Exercise for the Glutes?
Some people may argue the squat is the most effective glute exercise.
Others may say the lunge or hip extension is the best exercise to activate the glutes.
But what is the best exercise to fill those jeans and get you that big, round, strong, and powerful glute muscle?
One study separated the data into glute medius and glute maximus. The best exercise for the glute medias was the side-lying hip abduction. The best exercise for the glute maximus was the single leg squat and the single leg deadlift.
How to do a single leg squat:
Stand on left leg with the right leg lifted in front of you. Don’t let the front leg touch the ground. Keep the spine long and back flat. Bend the left knee and push the hips backward, reaching arms forward while keeping the right leg forward. Lower the body until the upper leg is parallel with the ground. Activate the glute and hamstring to stop the descent. Push through the floor to press back up to standing. Keep core engaged throughout the movement.
If this movement is challenging, you may need to practice at a higher stopping point and slowly lower over time to get to the right position.
How to do a side-lying hip abduction:
This one’s straight forward. Lay flat on your side with your legs straight. Lift your top leg as high as you can and squeeze at the top. Lower slowly.
How to do a single leg deadlift:
Stand on both legs. Lift one leg straight behind you and try to touch your toes of the leg on the ground with your hands, keeping your back flat and in a neutral spine position. Use your glutes and your hamstrings to pull yourself back up. Hold weights for added resistance.
These three lifts will maximize the effectiveness of your glute workout.
#4 What’s the Best Exercise for the Deltoids?
A great pair of deltoids will go hand in hand with a great set of biceps.
Have you ever watched one of those strong man competitions where they lift the giant atlas stones onto the platforms?
Their deltoids need to be crazy strong to get the giant boulders onto the platforms without dropping them.
The combination of exercises one might do to increase shoulder activation include:
- Barbell standing press
- Arnold press
- Lateral raise
- Bent over reverse fly
- Upright row
- Dumbbell press
- Front raise
But what is the most effective shoulder exercise?
According to one study, there’s several exercises you need to be doing to effectively strengthen all heads of the deltoid.
The study recommends you do the dumbbell shoulder press to target the front deltoids, and the 45-degree incline row or the seated lateral raise for the rear shoulder.
How to do a dumbbell shoulder press:
Stand with feet at shoulder with and knees slightly bent. Start with arms to the side and elbows bent to 90 degrees at shoulder level. Press the dumbbells straight up and slowly back down. When doing the dumbbell press, remember to bring your elbows slightly forward and look up at a slight angle when doing the press.
#5 What’s the Best Exercise for the Back?
Many people neglect their back muscles, even though they hold your body up, give you good posture, and allow you to do many non-back exercises with added strength and power.
With the amount of sitting we do on a daily basis; it only becomes more crucial that you add the best back exercises to your weekly workouts.
Neglect your back muscles and you may experience a hunched back, rounded shoulders, shoulder, neck, and hip pain, nerve damage, herniated discs, and the appearance of a lack of confidence.
Abs are not the only core muscle you need to be working on. The back is just as important.
Some back exercises you may be accustomed to may include:
- Bent over row
- Deadlift
- Renegade row
- Single arm row
- Inverted row
- Seated cable row
- Lat pulldown
- Pull-up
- Kettlebell swings
- Front squat
With the abundance of back exercises, which back exercise is best?
The answer here is similar to the deltoids. You need to do a variety of exercises to optimally hit the musculature of the back.
According to one study, the best exercises for individual back muscles are as follows:
- The best exercises for the middle trapezius is the bent over row, inverted row, seated row, and I-Y-T raises.
- The best exercises for the lower trapezius are I-Y-T raises.
- The best exercises for the latissimus dorsi are the pull-up and chin-up
- The best exercises for the infraspinatus is the bent over row, inverted row, chin-up, pull-up, and I-Y-T raises.
- The best exercises for the erector spinae is the bent over row.
With three out of 5 back muscle groups opting for the bent over row, we could declare it as the winner.
How to do a bent over row:
While holding a barbell or set of dumbbells, bend at the knees and the waist and bring your upper torso forward while keeping your back straight and strong. Keep your head up. As your arms hang perpendicular to the floor, lift the barbell toward your lower chest and squeeze your back.
Note: To better protect your lower back, stagger one leg forward and one leg back.
#6 What’s the Best Exercise for the Hamstrings?
Most exercisers have some of the most underdeveloped hamstrings.
They tend to be one of the last things people work on, especially beginners, when they should probably be one of the most cared about muscles in the body.
The main function of the hamstrings is to flex the knee and rotate the lower leg inward when the knee is bent.
The strong and powerful hamstring muscle also serves to decelerate the lower leg, absorb the shock of high velocity movements, and stabilize the knee, hips and spine.
There are an abundance of hamstring exercises you can do:
- Deadlift
- Romanian deadlift
- Single leg deadlift
- Glute bridge
- Barbell hip thrust
- Leg curl
- Swiss ball or suspension trainer leg curl
- Kettlebell swing
What is the best exercise for the hamstrings?
One study shows the kettlebell swing to be the most effective exercise to activate the biceps femoris which means you need to grab a kettlebell and start swinging.
How to do a kettlebell swing:
Brace your back, hinge at the hips and allow the kettlebell to drag you down. Perform an explosive thrust using the hips to drive the kettlebell upwards to where the kettlebell is parallel to the ground. Keep the core strong and try to allow the hips and not your arms to elevate the kettlebell to its highest point.
An excellent pair of kettlebells are the 3-Piece HDPE Kettlebell Exercise Fitness Weight Set. With wide and controllable grips these heavy duty kettlebells are easy to handle and help promote excellent hamstring growth.
#7 What’s the Best Exercise for the Quads?
I know a lot of people who only work their upper body and completely neglect the lower.
This results in small legs holding up a large torso, a recipe for disaster.
The quadriceps are powerful extensors of the knee joint, flex the hip and need to be trained just as much as any other muscle group.
You may have done some of the exercises below:
- Leg extension
- Bulgarian split squat
- Double or single leg squat
- Sumo squat
- Leg press
- Lunge
- Deadlift
With all these quad exercises at your disposal, there must be one that comes out on top.
One study showed the step-up and the lunge were best for activation of the vastus medialis. The squat, lunge, and step-up were all equally effective at activating the vastus lateralis, the largest and most powerful part of the quadriceps femoris.
So, get to squatting, lunging, and stepping up, and you’ll adequately activate the entirety of the quad muscle.
How to do a squat:
With your feet about shoulder width apart and your feet turned slightly outward, squeeze your butt, screw your feet into the ground and turn your knees out. Keeping your back flat and your shins vertical, drive your knees out and lower into the bottom position until your thighs are parallel with the ground. Squeeze your butt, keep a neutral spine and explode up to starting position.
#8 What’s the Best Exercise for the Chest?
A strong, broad chest can do wonders for your physique.
But if you’re spending hours doing push-ups, you’re not giving your chest muscles the best chance for them optimally develop.
Don’t get me wrong, the pushup is a great exercise, but if we are looking for the best chest exercise to most effectively activate the chest muscles then we need to dig a little deeper.
If you think chest exercise, you’re most likely thinking of the below exercise list:
- Barbell or dumbbell bench press
- Incline or decline bench press
- Chest fly
- Cable crossover
- Peck deck
- Dips
- Regular or plyometric pushup
- Standing one-arm landmine press
There are many variations of the above exercises that will hit the chest in various ways.
One study concluded that the barbell bench press, the peck deck, and the bent-forward cable crossover elicited the greatest chest muscle activation.
How to do a barbell bench press:
Lay flat on a bench with hands and feet a bit wider than the shoulders. Pull your shoulder blades back and try to bend the bar with hands to create a stable shoulder position. Screw your feet into the ground, drive the knees out, squeeze the glutes and elevate the hips. Un-rack the weight and slowly lower the weight to the lower chest area. Keep your forearms as vertical as possible and explode the weight back up to starting position.
#9 What’s the Best Exercise for the Triceps?
A large and strong set of triceps can make the biceps and muscles on the arm really pop.
As your triceps strength increases, the strength of the shoulder and elbow increase, as well as the functionality, flexibility, and range of motion of the arm.
This three-headed muscle is principally responsible for the extension of the elbow.
Some good triceps exercises are as follows:
- Bench press
- Triangle pushup
- Tricep pulldown
- Dips
- Skullcrusher
- Dumbell press
- Tricep extension
- Tricep kickbacks
One study showed the triangle pushup to be the most effective tricep exercise, just beating out the dips and tricep kickbacks.
How to do a triangle pushup:
Start in standard pushup form and bring your hands together under your chest and make a triangle with your thumbs and first fingers. Lower yourself slowly to the ground and explode upward.
If you need some excellent functional fitness equipment ideas to achieve some of these lifts, check out my article: Top 20 of the BEST Pieces of Functional Fitness Equipment. This list of functional fitness equipment can help take your workouts to the next level.
Summary: 8 Major Muscle Groups and Exercises
There are literally hundreds of exercises out there you could be doing to train your body. But why not focus the core of your workouts on the most effective muscle activating exercises? A workout routine that includes the pike rollout, concentration curl, side-lying hip abduction, single leg squat, single leg deadlift, dumbbell shoulder press, 45-degree incline row, seated lateral raise, bent over row, seated row, inverted row, chin-up, pull-up, I-Y-T raises, kettlebell swing, step-up, lunge, squat, barbell bench press, peck deck, bent-forward cable crossover, and triangle pushup are necessary to create an optimal workout environment. If you are not training with the best possible exercises, you will never be the best. Train smart, train for growth, and make every rep count.
Have you been incorporating these exercises into your workouts? Let me know below!!
