5 favourite exercises for full body strength + home workout variations

If your goal is to get as fit as possible, as efficiently as possible, focus on full body compound exercises. These will work your major muscle groups all at once so you don't have to spend endless hours in the gym or at home working out.

I'll show you my favourite full body exercises in the gym and their home workout counter parts. We will also take a look at how to progress these various movements to ensure you get stronger and fitter.

How do we get stronger

Getting stronger is the result of a few factors.

Technique and skill

The first and most important factor is learning how to do each exercise properly. Lifting with proper form is the best way to move more weight, avoid injury and make real progress. Improper form holds you back, or worse, sidelines injury.

When you exercise with good technique, it's easier for your nervous system to fire up more muscles. Getting more efficient at moving the weights and engaging more muscles are both neural adaptations that lead to strength.

Muscle mass matters too. The more muscle you have, the more muscle you can use to lift. But remember: this is a secondary objective after acquiring good technique.

Think about it, there is only so much muscle mass we can put on. I've seen people with similar physiques lift vastly different weights in the gym. What differentiates a strong lifter from an average one is skill.

Exercise selection

Focus on full body, compound movements. They work more muscles and cause better hormonal responses than doing isolation exercises.

Reminder:

Compound movements work two or more joints.

Isolation movements only work one joint.

Workout intensity

If a set is too hard, your technique will suffer. Make it too easy and your body won't adapt to it.

Here is the tricky part now. Lifting heavy weights is very intense. It takes a lot of skill and concentration to do a good heavy set with proper form.

For beginners, spend enough time with moderate sets of 6-10 reps to master the technique. Then move on to more intense sets of 2-5 reps.

Doing those low reps, high weight sets builds strength faster than moderate weights, high reps sets.

The following is a list of my personal favourites that I've used myself and on my clients for strength gains. It's a non exhaustive list and more, equally beneficial exercises exist out there.

The barbell clean

This move is phenomenal for developing overall strength and power in the legs and upper body. It requires good mobility at the hip, ankles, knees and shoulders, quickly pointing out any weak spots in your body.

The goal is to move the weight quickly. This will develop your explosive power. Unlike other weightlifting movement, this exercise uses lighter weights. Because you are moving the load quickly though, you'll still be developing strength.

The caveat here is that the clean requires a high level of technique to be effective. It will feel daunting for beginners, but trust me, it's worth investing time learning this incredible and have it in your workout repertoire.

Spend 15 minutes twice a week practicing this one and watch what happens to your strength.

Basic barbell clean workout

Sets: 3

Reps: 3

Work with a weight you are very comfortable with and focus on your technique. These should be around an RIR of 4-3.

Home workout variation: Dumbbell snatch

No need for super heavy dumbbells to make this move effective from home.

Using one dumbbell and throwing it up over your head will force you to generate as much power as you can through your legs, engage a ton of core muscles and develop healthy shoulders.

Can't go overhead yet? Just bring the dumbbell to your shoulder instead.

Cues:

• Start with the dumbbell between your knees

• Think about throwing the weight through the ceiling

• It's one smooth motion. Do not bring it to your shoulder and then shoulder press it up

The barbell deadlift

Deadlifts work your hip's hinging pattern. In this movement, you bend at the hips while keeping your spine neutral, pushing your hips back to load your glutes and hamstrings, not your lower back.

This has a terrific carry-over to everyday life, in which we have to bend down to pick various things ups.

In contrast to the clean, this exercise is best used with heavier loads.

Cues

• Set your feet shoulder-width apart or slightly narrower

• Hinge at the hips to pick up the weight. Think about reaching back with your hips, instead of dropping them down

• Brace your core like you care about your spine. Pretend someone is about the punch you in the stomach, keep your back neutral while doing so, stay tight, and lift the bar

• Push the ground away, instead of thinking about pulling the bar up

Basic deadlift workout

Sets: 4

Reps: 5

Rest between sets: 2 min

Do two warm-up sets, using gradually increasing weights. Your four working sets should feel hard, but not impossible. Keep it at around RIR 2-3.

Home workout variation: Single leg deadlift

We usually won't have access to the same heavy weights at home as at the gym. Instead, we can intensify this exercise by doing it one leg at a time.

On top of engaging the same muscles as the barbell deadlift, this will help you work on your balance.

You can do all your reps on one leg first and then switch, or alternate the legs each time.

Standing shoulder press

Do your shoulder presses standing, it works your way more core than sitting down. Do these with a barbell, it's easier to manage than wrestling heavy dumbbells off the floor.

Imagine you are pressing with 95 pounds on the bar, that's two 42.5 dumbbells. Just picking them up from the floor to your shoulders is practically a workout in itself. You avoid that awkward struggle when you set your barbell on a rack.

Home workout variation: Leaning back shoulder press

This won't hit your legs at all but you'll feel the fire in your abs and shoulders. Sit on the ground, lean back slightly to wake up that core and press those dumbbells up.

You'll have to play around with how much you lean. If you go too far, you'll fall onto your back and turn this move into a chest press.

Pendlay rows or bent over rows

A back workout and leg workout combined into one move. Your back will do the lion's share of the work, but as you lift heavier weights, your legs will feel it too.

With barbell rows, the weights stay off the ground. This allows you more options with the bar path. Pull towards your chest for more upper back gains, pull towards your belly button for more lats.

The Pendlay rows start from the ground with each rep. This requires the ability to hip hinge properly and limits your pulling options.

I gravitate towards the Pendlays more often because I prefer working my lats with pull downs and pull ups.

Master the hinging pattern and deadlift before incorporating these into your program.

Front or back squat

The squat is like the Swiss Army knife of strength training. Lots of muscles worked and loads of variations you can choose from. Elevate your heels, do a front or back squat, use a safety bar or dumbbells if you need to, or attempt the ever loved Bulgarian split squats. The combinations are endless.

The main advice I have for you is to find a variation that allows you to get your hip creases below your knees at the bottom of a squat. Ideally, that's how low you should aim.

For me, hitting a certain depth is not only a strength standard (it works more muscles), it's a health standard.

Hitting depth on a squat requires good hip mobility, healthy knees and strong ankles. Increased leg strength and muscle growth are a sweet bonus.

Home workout variation: pistol squats

Like the deadlift, doing this on one leg has a lot of benefits, even if you're only using your body weight.

Balance might be an issue, so feel free to hang on to something for support.

This requires great ankle mobility, which I lack. I always elevate my heel up to make this feasible. Either on a dumbbell, a book, or a yoga block. Whatever your use, it has to be very stable.

Getting strong as a beginner

A workout by itself is like a brick. It doesn't do much. Stack a few bricks together and you have a wall. Consistently stack your bricks and you'll build a fortress.

Building strength works the same way. Show up, be consistent, track your progress and keep stacking your gym bricks.

Apply progressive overload to your lifts over months. Not days, not weeks, months. Getting stronger will take time.

Progressive overload is the process of gradually making your workouts more intense by increasing either the weights or the reps.

Here's an example with squats.

Week 1: 4 sets of 5 reps at 100 pounds

Week 2: 4 sets of 4 reps at 110 pounds

Week 3: 4 sets of 3 reps at 120 pounds

Week 4: 4 sets of 5 reps at 105 pounds

That's a 5% increase in intensity over a four week period. Your body needs time to adapt to your workout's stimulus. Go to fast and you'll burn out or get injured. Go steady.

Keep in mind that proper technique must be achieved before this style of training becomes effective. Without it, progressive overload becomes progressive self-destruction.

Now get out there, try these out, give me a shout if you any further clarification or instructions.

Happy training!

Clem