What exercises should a woman do with a barbell? :: How to correctly

How to master the correct technique

The basis for girls’ success when squatting with a barbell is correct technique .

When performing exercises with violations, problem areas - the buttocks and hips do not receive stress, and the risk of injury increases.

Before removing the barbell from the rack, they rehearse in front of a mirror with a body bar.

First, the depth of the squats is worked out.

Instead of a barbell, you can use a bodybar; place a chair behind you near the mirror for safety.
Stand sideways to him, place the apparatus on your shoulders and lower your pelvis to the seat.
It is important that your knees do not peek out from behind your toes.

As soon as the muscles remember the movements, move on to working with the barbell.

Main complex

In order to evenly pump the entire muscular system of the musculoskeletal system using a barbell, it is enough to use basic exercises on the arms, legs, back, and chest.

Barbell curl

To perform this exercise, you must adhere to the following rules:

Place your feet shoulder-width apart.
Take the barbell in your hands so that your hands are turned up.
As you inhale, bend your elbows, lifting the barbell to your chin.
As you exhale, return the upper limbs to their original position.

This exercise simultaneously pumps up the biceps, forearm, strengthens the wrist and tendons that activate the phalanges of the fingers.

French bench press

The French bench press is a fairly complex exercise, the technical side of which is as follows:

You need to lie down on a bench with a flat surface so that your head is at the very edge.
Pick up a barbell with a working weight.
As you inhale, move the sports equipment behind your head as far as possible.
As you exhale, straighten your elbows, returning the bar to its original position.

This exercise effectively develops the triceps, covering this muscle from the shoulder to the top of the elbow joint.

Lifting the barbell up overhead

Lifting a barbell overhead is a simple but energy-intensive exercise that is performed in compliance with the following rules:

Place your feet shoulder-width apart.
Bring the barbell to your chin.
As you inhale, straighten your elbows and lift the barbell above your head.
As you exhale, return the sports equipment to its original position.

This exercise pumps up the entire shoulder girdle, and also creates additional stress on the triceps and upper segment of the pectoral muscle.

Squats

Squats with a barbell are a basic exercise that pumps up all the muscles of the lower extremities, as well as the buttocks.

The principle of its implementation is as follows:

You need to place your feet shoulder-width apart.
Bring the barbell behind your head, fixing it on your neck.
As you inhale, bend your knees, squatting as deep as possible.
As you exhale, return to the vertical position again.

Squats with a barbell are an effective exercise for girls to pump up the gluteal muscles.
While performing this exercise, you must ensure that your back always remains straight. Otherwise, serious injury may occur.

Pumping the calf muscle

Pumping the calf muscle is an exercise that allows you to develop the lower part of the leg from the ankle to the knee joint.

The technique for performing it requires the following steps:

Place your feet shoulder-width apart.
Bring the barbell behind your head, placing it on your shoulders.
While inhaling, bend the ankle joint, fixing the foot exclusively on the toes.
As you exhale, it again covers the entire area of the sole.

Regularly performing this exercise allows you to make your calf muscles beautiful and voluminous.

Lunges with a barbell

Lunges with a barbell are a complex and difficult exercise that is performed as follows:

It is necessary to place the barbell behind your head, placing it on the shoulder girdle.
As you inhale, take a step forward with the leg bent at the knee as deeply as possible so that you actually perform a squat.
As you exhale, the body returns to its original position.

Similar actions are performed in relation to the next limb. This exercise develops the buttocks and all muscle groups of the leg.

Deadlift

The deadlift is considered one of the most difficult, but at the same time effective exercises for developing the back.

Technique:

Place your feet shoulder-width apart.
Tilt your body forward.
Take the barbell in your hands.
As you inhale, bend your elbows, pulling the sports equipment towards your chest, and also straightening your body.
As you exhale, return the barbell and body to the starting position.

This exercise develops the latissimus dorsi muscle, forms strong chest muscles, which protect the spine from injury.

Bench press

The bench press is one of the basic exercises that is performed using a barbell.

The training process technique is as follows:

You will need to lie down on a bench with a perfectly flat surface.
Take the barbell in your hands, holding it in front of you at chin level.
While inhaling, bend your elbows to such an extent that the bar of the sports equipment touches the surface of the chest.
As you exhale, bend your elbows and straighten your arms, pressing the barbell away from your chest.

This exercise allows you to simultaneously pump up not only the chest muscles, but also develops the shoulder girdle and trapezius.

Lifting the barbell upward from behind the head

Raising the barbell upward from behind the head is a simple exercise that is performed in compliance with the following rules:

Place your feet shoulder width apart
Bring the barbell behind your head, placing it on the line of the shoulder girdle.
As you inhale, extend your elbows and lift the sports equipment upward.
As you exhale, return the barbell behind your head.

This exercise allows you to develop the upper part of the latissimus dorsi muscle, trapezius, shoulder girdle, and also perfectly pumps the triceps.

Back squats for women

This multi-joint exercise involves the entire lower body. Muscles worked: abs, erector spinae, glutes, hip rotators, quadratus lumbar, gastrocnemius, ankle stabilizers.

Before you take the projectile, control your posture, pull in your stomach, and squeeze your shoulder blades together.
Grasp the bar with your hands at a distance of 35 cm between your palms. Wider placement of your hands will not allow you to maintain balance.
For stability of the body, place your feet at shoulder level, with your toes slightly turned to the sides.
Place your shoulders under the bar just above your rear delts.
When squatting with a barbell, the center of gravity falls on the heel.
When lowering your pelvis, bend forward slightly, but do not lower your chest low. The process is reminiscent of sitting on a low chair.
Lower your body as you inhale, keeping your knees straight and controlling the position of your lower back.
At the lowest point, keep the lumbar region motionless, otherwise, under the weight of the weight, the pelvis will move to the left or right.
The culmination of the exercise is the rise. By smoothly extending your knees as you exhale, straighten your body.

Let's watch a video with all the nuances of the barbell squat technique for girls:

Barbell squat technique

Before training, be sure to warm up. Below is an example of a warm-up complex that is suitable for almost everyone, even a beginner athlete.

Cardio. 10-15 minutes of exercise on a treadmill or elliptical trainer will be enough. This way you will warm up your muscles and prepare your cardiovascular system for power loads.
Leg extensions in the simulator. Do not install too much weight! Your goal is to prepare your knee joints for work and warm up your quadriceps. Three sets of 15–20 extensions will be enough.
Hyperextension. During this exercise, the muscles of the hips, buttocks and back are used. The lower back is prepared for the stress of a squat. Small muscles connected to the spine also begin to work. It is almost impossible to use them with other exercises.

Warm-up1

Cardio on the treadmill

Cardio on the treadmillWarm-up2

Hyperextension

HyperextensionWarm-up 3

Leg extension

Leg extensionAfter warming up, start the exercise. If you are a beginner, then a bar weighing 10 kg is enough. It will make it easier to control the load. To begin, perform squats with an empty barbell.

Execution technique (deep squat with weight)

The grip should be slightly narrower than shoulder width, but if you have long limbs, you can take it wider. Position the barbell so that its center is between the trapezius muscles just below the neck. For convenience, first bring your shoulder blades together. Move your pelvis back slightly. There should be a slight natural arch in the lower back.
The key point is the placement of the legs. Your feet should be approximately shoulder-width apart and turned slightly outward. Each person's position may be slightly different, but the bottom line is that you should be firmly on the floor and able to squat deeply without losing your balance.
Next, while inhaling, sit down, spreading your hips and knees to the sides. At the same time, the back remains straight and moves slightly forward, the abs are kept tense. The gaze is directed forward, but not upward. Lower yourself until your thighs are parallel to the floor.
Next, as you exhale, begin to rise. The emphasis, for the most part, should be on the heels, pushing the floor with them. Stretch up with your chest, not your forehead. The gaze remains directed forward, and the knees remain turned outward. Exhale at the top end point.

Squat

Classic barbell squat

Classic barbell squat The number of approaches and repetitions depends on your level of physical fitness and your goals. If you want to lose weight, then use high-repetition training. For example, 3-5 sets of 15-20 reps with light weight. If your goal is to gain muscle mass, then stop at a low number of repetitions (5-10 times) in 3-5 approaches. The weight should be enough so that you can perform the exercise correctly, but at the same time the last approach is performed with all your strength.

Common exercise mistakes, let's do it right

Lack of attitude. If today for any reason you feel sluggish and relaxed, it’s better not to approach the barbell. This is a strength exercise, and the lack of general tone can lead not only to a lack of results, but also to injuries, falls and other unpleasant consequences.
Asymmetrical neck position. One of the most common mistakes among beginners. The center of the bar moves to the side, as a result of which the bar can tilt and cause the athlete to fall.
Bringing the knees inward. In this position, the knee joints become very vulnerable. When working with heavy weights, there is a risk of seriously damaging them.
Lifting your heels off the floor. If this problem is relevant to you, then first practice confidently squatting without a load. Often this problem is a consequence of bringing the knees forward, beyond the toes.
Rising on tiptoes. At the top end of the exercise, your feet should also be firmly on the floor. Forget about ballet tricks!
Tilt of the body forward. The consequence of this mistake will be loss of balance and insufficient squat depth.
Incorrect height. Excessive lowering of the pelvis (below parallel with the floor) increases the load on the hips. If your goal is to build muscle mass in your legs, then this is allowed. But if you dream of a round butt, then your hips at the lowest point should be parallel to the floor. Insufficient depth of squats does not allow the muscles to fully engage in work. The knees, on the contrary, are subject to excessive stress, which can lead to damage to the knee joint.

Front squats with a barbell for girls

Depending on the position of the hands and the apparatus, squats with a barbell give different results. The bar is held not only with straight arms, but crossed in front of you.

The standard wrist position is safer when lifting heavy weights.
The second option is often chosen by experienced athletes, keeping their elbows parallel to the floor, which significantly complicates the process. The mechanics of movements and the principle are similar.
This option puts more stress on the quadriceps.

When performing front squats, girls can grab a kettlebell instead of a barbell . This allows you to polish your technique and practice coordination.

What problems do barbell squats solve?

We will not consider this exercise from the perspective of powerlifting, since there it is a competitive discipline and the task is one - to perform a single repetition with the maximum possible weight. That is, we are talking purely about increasing strength parameters, training is performed according to specific programs and only in the classical version (plus “box squats”).

The second point is that a girl is unlikely to do squats with a barbell in order to “pump up” her huge legs (unless, of course, she is a professional bodybuilder). However, you cannot do without some hypertrophy (increase in muscle volume), especially since this is only a plus for the gluteal muscles. And the larger this plus, the better.

Barbell squats allow girls to:

– get beautiful and firm buttocks;
– strengthen the muscles of the legs, back and abs;
– strengthen ligaments;
– increase leg flexibility;
– increase leg strength and overall endurance;
– get rid of excess fat deposits.

The last point requires comment and is associated with a common myth about local fat burning. Firstly, this is impossible in principle. Secondly, any exercise relieves you of excess weight in only one way - during the workout you burn calories. There are no other mechanisms here (for more details, see our articles on weight loss methods and running/walking).

Therefore, as such, barbell squats do not give girls any special bonuses in terms of fat burning. Without a well-designed diet that creates a calorie deficit (you spend more than you consume), there will be no reduction in volume. But the increase due to hypertrophy – yes, especially in the buttocks area. But here many ladies forget about one nuance: squats with a barbell are a guarantee of an increase in the butt, but not a guarantee of its aesthetics. Why?

Because if you build muscle, but don’t work on burning calories, then your buttocks will increase due to muscle hypertrophy, but “outside” the muscles will remain covered with fatty deposits, which look, to put it mildly, not at all aesthetic. That is why “a beautiful, toned butt” is not only squats, it is also a diet that creates a calorie deficit.

This was just the first common misconception associated with barbell squats for girls. Let's briefly look at the rest, because some of them make the fair sex literally shy away from the barbell.

Other squat options for girls

It is safest to work in a Smith machine, where the main load falls on the legs and buttocks, and the stabilizers of the machine are not used.

When spreading the legs in a plie, the buttocks and inner thighs work;
when the feet are narrowly brought together, the quadriceps are involved in the process.

Myths about barbell squats

– Squats increase your waist. It is this myth that gives many girls immunity to squats. In fact, this is not true - there is not a single professional bodybuilder who has “pumped up his waist” with squats. There are also no real-world studies to support this “side effect.”
– There is no alternative to squats. This is also not true, many professional bodybuilders who, for physiological reasons, cannot squat correctly, perfectly develop the muscles of the legs and buttocks with other exercises5, for example, leg presses, deadlifts, squats with dumbbells or kettlebells.
– Squats lead to an “unreal” surge of the main male hormone. Squats, using a large number of muscles, stimulate overall muscle growth, but they increase the production of this hormone in exactly the same way as other basic exercises. There are no studies confirming a special connection between squats and the main male hormone.
– Only squats with heavy weights give effect. For the vast majority of girls, a bodybar is enough, and their limit is an empty bar6. In addition, the concept of “heavy weight” is individual.

Correct technique for performing barbell squats

It is important to know how to squat with a barbell correctly, because the final result, as well as health, depends on it. After all, failure to comply with the technique can lead to serious injuries.

Firstly, before starting a workout, you need to warm up and stretch your muscles. Naturally, special attention should be paid to leg exercises.

Trainers recommend bending to the floor with your left and right legs in turn.

A good stretching exercise is to bend from a sitting position with your legs straight, to the toe of each foot. It is also better to do stretching exercises for the abdominal muscles, back and arms.

Secondly , before squats, you should install the barbell at the optimal height, 10 cm below the waist level of the upper limbs.
Third, it is necessary to wear tight-fitting clothing in order to increase the sensitivity of the body.
Fourthly , your hands should be placed on the bar with an overhand closed grip at a distance slightly wider than your shoulders. Then try to squeeze your shoulder blades together and bend your back slightly.

Next, you need to dive under the bar while moving your shoulders back. You need to place a barbell on the resulting muscle cushion. After this, the chest should be bent forward and pulled up. This position helps you easily remove the barbell and control its position using your elbows down.

When performing a squat, the chest should be pulled up. In a classic squat, the feet are placed approximately shoulder-width apart, but squatting with legs wide apart is also common. The normal depth of a squat is the depth at which the back remains flat without unnecessary tension.

When performing the exercise, try to control and maintain the extended position of your knees. After the squat comes the rise: the pelvis straightens first, then the knees and then the whole body. At the end of the exercise, you must either exhale sharply or shout out, this helps you return to the starting position.

Are squats good for girls?

Squats are beneficial for girls. This type of exercise helps strengthen muscles and build muscle mass in the lower body, that is, hips, buttocks, quadriceps.

And also strengthen the muscles of the back, especially the lower back. In addition to growing muscle mass, squats train the heart, strengthen joints, train coordination in space, and develop correct posture.

Overhead squats

This type of exercise is quite difficult. To perform it, it is necessary to develop the joints and overall flexibility of the body.

The barbell is installed in the same position as for classic squats. Next, you need to sit down under the bar and grab the barbell with a wide grip. Then remove the bar from the rack and take a step back.

The barbell should be held behind your head with outstretched arms and maintain the lumbar curve of the spine. Then you need to carefully squat until you reach an angle of 90° at the knee. It is better to squat while inhaling, and rise while exhaling.