How do you know that you’re working all your major muscle groups?
Looking at each muscle individually can get tricky and overly complicated.
A simpler alternative is to use a rule of thumb and make sure you include the four fundamental movements of resistance training.
They are four movements that, together, cover a large part of what we can do with our bodies.
The idea is that if you do at least one exercise for each fundamental movement, you will have worked almost all your major muscle groups.
At least one exercise from each of these four basic movements should be included in every comprehensive strength training program.
The four fundamental movements are:
- Push something away from you. Examples: bench press, overhead press, push-ups, machine chest press.
- Pull something towards you. Examples: pull-ups, lat pulldown, barbell row, dumbbell row, cable row.
- Hip hinge. Examples: deadlift, good morning, Romanian deadlift, clean, kettlebell swing.
- Squat. Examples: squat, front squat, Bulgarian split squat, goblet squat, leg press.
Push, pull, hinge, and squat. That’s it.
Below is an example of each.
Generally speaking:
- Pushing exercises work your chest, shoulders, and triceps.
- Pulling exercises work your lats, traps, and biceps.
- Hip hinge exercises work your lower back, glutes, and hamstrings.
- Squat exercises work your quads, glutes, and adductors.
Pick one exercise from each category and train it once or more per week, and you will have an excellent strength training program for basically your entire body.
- If you train with a barbell and pick one exercise from each category, you might choose the bench press, barbell row, deadlift, and squat.
- If you train with kettlebells, you might choose the kettlebell press, kettlebell row, kettlebell swing, and goblet squat or front squat with the kettlebells in the rack position.
- If you train with machines, you might choose the chest press, machine row, back extension, and leg press.
The above is well and good, and if one exercise from each category was all you ever did, you’d never have to think about exercise selection again.
Really, you should leave now in peace, while you still can!
But What About …?
Can’t we leave a nice thing alone?
Alright.
If you want to get fancy, there are two things you can add.
1. Abdominal Training
While the back of your core gets plenty of training in most hip hinge and squat exercises, your abs and obliques (the front and sides of your core) don’t.
To rectify this, you could add a few sets of an ab exercise once or twice per week.
2. Vertical and Horizontal Pushing and Pulling
For even more comprehensive upper body training, you could split up the pushing and pulling movements into horizontal and vertical planes of motion.
Horizontal movements have your arm working about 90 degrees out from your body, i.e., where the arm would be horizontal if you were standing upright.
Examples:
- Horizontal pushes: bench press, dumbbell chest press, and push-ups.
- Horizontal pulls: barbell row, dumbbell row, and cable row.
Vertical movements have your arm working over your head.
Examples:
- Vertical pushes: overhead press, dumbbell shoulder press, and kettlebell press.
- Vertical pulls: lat pulldown and pull-up.
Horizontal and vertical movements emphasize slightly different muscles or regions in large muscles, which can lead to more complete training.
Push:
Pull:
Training Programs Focused on The Four Fundamental Movements
Here are some programs centered around these big four.
- Beginner Barbell Program. 2–3x/week. Simple and effective, this training program gives you a perfect start in your training career. You will build muscle and strength swiftly by doing two to three barbell-based, whole-body workouts per week.
- Beginner Machine Program. 2x/week. Don’t want to head into the free weight section just yet? Check out this machine-based program. Machine training offers a safe start in the gym and time-effective workouts. Train two times per week, or up to three to increase the tempo.
- Upper/Lower Body Split Program. 4x/week. One of our most popular programs. Four workouts per week, emphasizing getting stronger in the compound lifts. For both muscle growth and strength gain!
For more options, check out our full list of training programs here!
