The Most Popular Gym Exercises for Men & Women in 2023

Which gym exercises are the most popular? And do men and women prefer different exercises?

We analyzed millions of workouts from over 274 890 users of our workout tracker, and in this report, we present the results.

Key findings:

  • The most popular exercise of all is the bench press – for men and women.
  • Men train the bench press 30% more, and the barbell curl 71% more than women.
  • Women train the leg press 42% more and hip thrust 830% more than men.

Where does this data come from?

This data comes from our workout log app StrengthLog. We compiled training sets from millions of workouts to determine which gym exercises are currently being trained the most.

Below are the top ten most popular strength training exercises for all users combined, broken down into men and women.

Most Popular Exercises Statistics

Below are the top 25 most popular exercises for all users combined and the percentage share of total training sets logged.

  1. Bench Press – 9.7%
  2. Squat – 7.0%
  3. Deadlift – 5.0%
  4. Lat Pulldown – 3.8%
  5. Overhead Press – 3.4%
  6. Barbell Row – 3.2%
  7. Dumbbell Lateral Raise – 2.7%
  8. Leg Extension – 2.5%
  9. Leg Press – 2.2%
  10. Barbell Curl – 2.1%
  11. Tricep Pushdown With Bar – 2.0%
  12. Incline Dumbbell Press – 1.9%
  13. Dumbbell Curl – 1.7%
  14. Pull-Up – 1.7%
  15. Cable Close Grip Seated Row – 1.6%
  16. Tricep Pushdown With Rope – 1.5%
  17. Lying Leg Curl – 1.3%
  18. Dumbbell Row – 1.3%
  19. Dumbbell Shoulder Press – 1.3%
  20. Romanian Deadlift – 1.3%
  21. Seated Leg Curl – 1.2%
  22. Hammer Curl – 1.1%
  23. Standing Cable Chest Fly – 1.1%
  24. Dumbbell Chest Press – 1.0%
  25. Face Pull – 1.0%

Below are the top 25 most trained exercises by men, and the percentage share of total training sets logged.

  1. Bench Press – 10.7%
  2. Squat – 6.7%
  3. Deadlift – 4.8%
  4. Lat Pulldown – 3.6%
  5. Overhead Press – 3.5%
  6. Barbell Row – 3.2%
  7. Dumbbell Lateral Raise – 2.8%
  8. Leg Extension – 2.4%
  9. Barbell Curl – 2.4%
  10. Tricep Pushdown With Bar – 2.1%
  11. Incline Dumbbell Press – 2.1%
  12. Pull-Up – 2.0%
  13. Leg Press – 1.9%
  14. Dumbbell Curl – 1.8%
  15. Cable Close Grip Seated Row – 1.5%
  16. Tricep Pushdown With Rope – 1.5%
  17. Lying Leg Curl – 1.3%
  18. Dumbbell Row – 1.2%
  19. Standing Cable Chest Fly – 1.2%
  20. Seated Leg Curl – 1.2%
  21. Hammer Curl – 1.2%
  22. Dumbbell Shoulder Press – 1.2%
  23. Close-Grip Bench Press – 1.1%
  24. Dumbbell Chest Press – 1.1%
  25. Romanian Deadlift – 1.1%
Bench Press
The bench press is performed 30% more …
Barbell biceps curl
… and the barbell curl is performed 71% more by male users than females.

Below are the top 25 most trained exercises by women, and the percentage share of total training sets logged.

  1. Bench Press – 8.2%
  2. Squat – 7.7%
  3. Deadlift – 5.4%
  4. Lat Pulldown – 4.1%
  5. Overhead Press – 3.0%
  6. Barbell Row – 2.9%
  7. Leg Press – 2.7%
  8. Leg Extension – 2.7%
  9. Dumbbell Lateral Raise – 2.6%
  10. Hip Thrust – 2.0%
  11. Romanian Deadlift – 1.7%
  12. Cable Close Grip Seated Row – 1.6%
  13. Dumbbell Shoulder Press – 1.6%
  14. Dumbbell Curl – 1.6%
  15. Dumbbell Row – 1.5%
  16. Tricep Pushdown With Bar – 1.5%
  17. Barbell Curl – 1.4%
  18. Bulgarian Split Squat – 1.4%
  19. Tricep Pushdown With Rope – 1.3%
  20. Seated Leg Curl – 1.3%
  21. Incline Dumbbell Press – 1.3%
  22. Lying Leg Curl – 1.2%
  23. Stiff-Legged Deadlift – 1.1%
  24. Hip Abduction Machine – 1.0%
  25. Face Pull – 1.0%
Leg press exercise
The leg press is performed 42% more …
… and the hip thrust is performed 830% more by female users than males.

Feel free to cite this data, as long as you link back to this article or StrengthLog as the original source.

Related Links:

Download StrengthLog for free with the links below:

Download StrengthLog Workout Log on App Store
Download StrengthLog Workout Log on Google Play Store
Photo of author

Daniel Richter

Daniel has a decade of experience in powerlifting, is a certified personal trainer, and has a Master of Science degree in engineering. Besides competing in powerlifting himself, he coaches both beginners and international-level lifters. Daniel regularly shares tips about strength training on Instagram, and you can follow him here.