When you have a gym membership, multiple pieces of exercise equipment can be used to work your muscles. Because there are thousands of muscle-building exercises to choose from, this list will give you several examples. To get the best bang for your buck, perform compound exercises that involve more than one muscle group.
Chest Exercises
Incline presses, flat bench presses and decline presses target the upper, middle and lower chest area. To do incline presses, lie back on an incline bench, hold a barbell above you with an overhand, wide grip, then raise and lower it by bending your elbows. For a variation, hold dumbbells above you and lower and lift them to your sides by bending your elbows. Perform flat bench presses and decline presses the same way. The only difference is that your body is in a flat or declined position. All of these chest exercises also target your shoulders and triceps.
Thruster Push Press
A thruster push press works your shoulder muscles and legs simultaneously. Stand with your feet shoulder width apart, and hold a barbell at upper chest height with your hand shoulder width apart and palms facing forward. Slowly descend into a squat, quickly stand up and thrust the bar straight overhead. Slowly lower it to your chest and repeat. For a variation, execute this movement with a set of dumbbells.
Pull-up Bar Exercises
The conventional pull-up works your latissimus dorsi, rhomboids, trapezius and biceps. These are the muscles of your back and upper arms. To perform them, grasp the bar with an overhand, shoulder-width grip and lift and lower your chest to and from the bar in a steady motion. To place more emphasis on your biceps, perform chin-ups with your hands in an underhand position. To place more emphasis on your upper lats, place your hands in a wide grip.
Triceps Dips
The triceps are found on the back of the upper arms. To work these muscles at the gym, use dip bars. This is a single machine that has two metal, parallel bars and foot rests at the bottom. To do dips, place your feet on the rests and one hand on each bar. Lift your feet off the rests, bend your knees and cross your lower legs behind your body. From this position, lower and lift your body by bending your elbows. When lowering your body, stop when your upper arms are parallel to the floor. Lean forward slightly to also work your middle and upper chest.
Deadlifts
Deadlifts work your glutes, quadriceps, hamstrings and lower back all at once, and they are performed with a weighted barbell. Stand behind the bar with your feet slightly wider than shoulder width. Grasp the bar with an overhand grip, and pick it up as you stand upright without rounding your back. After holding the bar against your thighs for a full second, lower it back to the ground and repeat.
Back Extensions
Back extensions specifically work the long band of middle back muscles known as the erector spinae. At the gym, use a roman chair to do back extensions. Place your upper thighs against the padded brace, place your heels against the lip on the foot platform and cross your arms over your chest. Keeping your lower body still, lower and lift your upper body by contracting your lower back muscles.
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