A workout is made up of only so many sets and exercises. Constructing a workout without a purpose, and without the use of the best available tools will only waste your time. If you want to gain muscle and strength at the fastest rate possible you have to choose the best possible exercises.

The following exercises are the best of the best. You will notice that they fall into three categories:

1. Barbell Exercises.
2. Dumbbell Exercises.
3. Bodyweight Exercises.

When you begin to explore the Primal Training workouts, you will notice that they generally avoid the use of machines, cables and fancy gadgets. While some machines can be beneficial, they are rarely as good as their barbell or dumbbell counterpart.

A Smith machine bench press is not as good as a barbell or dumbbell bench press. A leg press is not as effective as deep squats. And lat pulldowns are nowhere near as effective as deadlifts.

Squats. Squats are the king of all muscle and strength building exercises. No workout should be without deep squats. They are performed with a barbell, generally in a squat rack. Squats not only build massive legs, but also stress most of the upper body. They are like a hormonal nuclear bomb – destroying the entire body, forcing it to get bigger and stronger with ever rep.

Deadlifts. Second only to squats in effectiveness (and a very close second at that), deadlifts are another manmaker that will pack on slabs of muscle mass while helping you become as strong as a bear. Like squats, deadlifts are a barbell only exercise.

Dips. Dips are often called the upper body squat, and for good reason. Dips work the shoulders, chest and triceps very hard, and are a great overall exercises for building a beefy upper body. Dips should be performed at a parallel bar dipping station.

Pull Ups. It seems that even the strongest and most fit lifters can barely squeak out more than a few pull ups. The pull up is an excellent exercise for building the back and biceps, and should be used instead of inferior exercises such as the lat pull down when possible.

Bench Press. The bench press is an upper body staple. There are several highly effective variations including the flat bench barbell press, flat bench dumbbell bench press, incline bench barbell press and incline dumbbell bench press.

Overhead Press. As with the bench press, there are numerous quality variations of the overhead press that can be used. Nearly all seated and standing dumbbell and barbell overhead presses are solid choices. You may also use the Arnold dumbbell press, and behind the neck overhead presses. Another popular press variation is the standing push press.

Rows. Both barbell and dumbbell rows are tremendous upper back exercises. Old school barbell T-bar rows are also a solid choice.  While cable and machine lifts are generally sub-par, seated cable rows can be very challenging and effective.

More Quality Exercise Choices

Other quality exercise choices include:

• Front squats
• Romanian deadlifts
• Zercher squats
• Box squats
• Rack deadlifts
• Power shrugs
• Power cleans
• Overhead squats
• Barbell static holds
• Side bends
• Weighted sit ups
• Sit up, stand up
• Planks
• Upright rows
• Primal laterals
• Primal plate raises
• Yates rows
• Pendlay rows
• Chin ups
• Dumbbell curls
• Power curls/cheat curls
• Hammer curls
• Pinwheel curls
• Donkey squats
• Leg press
• Lunges
• Sumo deadlifts
• Good mornings
• Wide stance squats
• Sumo Romanian deadlifts
• Trap bar/shrug bar deadlifts
• One arm overhead press
• Push press
• Pin presses
• Board presses
• Close grip bench press
• French press
• Barbell calf raises
• Donkey calf raise

If you feel an important exercise has been left off this please, please contact Primal Lifter.