5 Best Weightlifting Exercises For Body Composition Improvement

Weightlifting exercises are the most effective way to improve body composition, but it's not enough to only do the same old exercises over and over again. You need to mix up your routine and try new weightlifting exercises to maximize your results.

In this article, we will have a look at a few weightlifting exercises to help take your body composition workouts to the next level.

Best Weightlifting Exercises For Body Composition

Here's a look at five weightlifting exercises:

#1 Squat

The squat is a full body exercise that targets the legs, hips, back, and core. It's a compound exercise, involving multiple muscle groups working in unison to complete the lift.

Nevertheless, you can perform squats using either barbells or dumbbells — and there are a few things you should keep in mind when doing so:

The conventional back squat requires the use of a rack set up with pins just below shoulder height and works best with heavier loads (80% of your max).
The key here is to keep your chest high throughout the movement so that your upper body stays upright while lowering yourself down into position before rising back up again.

#2 Deadlift

Deadlifts are one of the best weightlifting exercises. (Image via Freepik)

The deadlift is a great exercise, as it works multiple muscle groups at once and is necessary for creating strength and muscle mass.

Deadlifts can be performed with a barbell or dumbbells, but it's best to start with barbell so that you can focus on your form. Move on to dumbbells once you've got all of your kinks worked out.

To do this exercise:

Stand with feet shoulder-width apart, with knees slightly bent
Grasp the barbell in both hands, with arms straight down by the sides (or hold two dumbbells by the ends)
Hinge forward at the waist, and drill your feet into the ground.
As you inhale, pull the weight up with an overhand grip till your back is fully extended and the weight is adjacent to your waist.
Lower the weight down, and repeat for reps.

#3 Power Clean

The Power Clean is a full body exercise that can help you build muscle, burn fat and improve overall fitness.

It's a compound exercise that works multiple muscle groups, including the upper back, core, and lower body. The movement requires high levels of strength to pull the bar from the floor to your shoulders, where it ends in a front squat position, before returning back down to complete the rep.

The main muscles activated during the exercise are the quads (front of thighs), hamstrings (back of thighs), spinal erectors, trapezius (traps), deltoids (shoulders), and rhomboids.

Here's how it's done:

Get into a deadlift position, and lower down as you would for the same.
Pull the weight up while keeping your back arched.
Using your wrists, spin the bar onto the top of your palms, and bring your wrists under the bar as you level the barbell out with your chest while standing tall.

Spin it back to its starting position, and repeat.

#4 Lunge

Add lunges to your weightlifting exercises routine. (Image via Freepik)

Lunges are a great workout for the lower body. They are a compound exercise, as they work multiple muscle groups at once. They improve strength and balance in the quads, hamstrings, glutes, and calves to help improve overall body composition.

Lunges also have the added benefit of improving coordination. Many people struggle with balance due to postural issues or bad habits, such as sitting in front of a computer all day without any breaks for movement throughout the day (this is called a sedentary lifestyle).

That makes lunges a good choice of weightlifting exercises if you want to take your fitness programme up another notch and become more active overall.

To do a lunge:

Stand tall with your hands on your waist. Step forward with one leg.
Lower down till your front knee is at 90 degrees and rear leg is almost touching the floor.

Stand back up, and repeat.

#5 Push Press

The push press is great for developing power, strength, and explosiveness. It can be used as either the first or second exercise in your workout, depending on your training type.

To perform this lift:

Start with your feet shoulder-width apart. Your toes should be pointed straight ahead or slightly outwards, with a short arch in your lower back.
Hold the weight at mid-chest level with arms extended out in front of you.
Stand up till you're fully erect, and extend your arms overhead. Hold for a second before lowering back down to begin another rep.

The most common mistake people make when first performing this lift is to bend over too much during their standing position. That causes them to lose balance when they start lowering again, making it difficult to get a full range of motion from their hips down till they come back up again.

Make sure that only a slight movement occurs at both ends of each rep so that your form doesn't suffer too much from being bent over at any point during the movement.

With the above information, you should be able to go out and start working on your weightlifting exercises.

Remember that there's no one right way to do weightlifting exercises, so feel free to experiment with different techniques, and see what works best for you. As always, have fun while working out.