4 Must-Do Exercises to Build Muscle and Burn Body Fat

If you opened this article thinking there were magic exercises that would solve all of your muscle-building and fat-loss problems, I’m sorry to disappoint.

There is no such thing as an exercise that magically builds muscle and/or burns body fat. However, there are exercises that can make both of those process far easier.

Before we get in to specific movements, we need to briefly discuss what is at the root of muscle building and fat loss in order to fully understand and appreciate the contribution that these exercises can make.

THE ROOT OF MUSCLE-BUILDING

I’ll be honest, building muscle is far more complicated than losing fat. Luckily, there are some things we can keep in mind to keep from over-complicating the process.

Your body builds muscle when it is in the right environment and when it is given a proper signal. What is the “right environment?” Sound health, good sleep, proper nutrition/nourishment, and good hormone function all play a role in have the right environment. What is the “proper signal” that the body should be receiving? The proper signal is a signal that is telling your body that it must get stronger and build muscle. This signal is provided through weight training. There are many factors (sets, reps, rest, etc.) that go into using weights to send that signal. In general, lifting weights with the intent of getting stronger (heavier weights and longer rest periods) and setting personal bests can lead to strength and muscle gain.

THE ROOT OF FAT LOSS

You may have heard of calories in vs. calories out by now.

Calories are the units we use to measure the amount of energy in foods. When we consume more calories in the day than we burn, we gain weight. When we burn more calories in the day than we consume, we lose weight. Eating more than you burn is what is called a caloric surplus. Burning more than you eat is called a caloric deficit. Eating enough to maintain your current body weight is what we call caloric maintenance.

Although it is possible to lose body fat without being in a caloric deficit, being in a deficit may make fat loss far more likely.

Now that we understand the basic concept of building muscle and burning body fat, let’s talk about four exercises that can greatly contribute to your fat loss and muscle building goals.

EXERCISE #1: BARBELL SQUAT

The squat is one of the most revered exercises in fitness.

The squat is a compound movement, meaning the squat involves more than one joint. The ankles, knees, and hips are all involved during a squat. Since this is a compound movement, it involves multiple muscle groups including the glutes, quads, and a little bit of the hamstrings. Outside of the direct muscles that play a role in getting you from the bottom position to a standing position, other muscles are at work.

In order to keep the load (weight) from negatively impacting your spine, your entire core must be braced. The obliques, abs, and many other muscles help you maintain a tight and braced position as you move the weight.

Due to the involvement of so many major muscle groups, the squat likely burns a large amount of calories in comparison to say, a bicep curl. The squat also asks a lot of the heart as it needs to be able to pump blood and get oxygen to the major muscles of your lower body. Do a set of heavy barbell squats for 12-15 reps and you’ll see what I’m talking about.

In regards to building muscle, the squat carries lots and lots of potential. Remember that the movement involves more than one joint. This will allow you to apply a heavier load to the bar, potentially sending a louder signal (that’s the thing we talked about earlier) to build muscle.

Squatting - and squatting heavy should be a regular, consistent part of your training routine.

EXERCISE #2: Barbell Overhead Press

One of the things that shocked me most as a personal trainer was so many people’s inability to reach their hands over their head without pain, pinching, or complete breakdown in posture.

It may seem strange to you to think that some people can’t reach over their head well. But take a second to think about how often the average person needs to reach over their head. Almost never. We often need to reach up and out to grab a cup from the cabinet, but almost never straight up to the sky.

This causes many dysfunctions in posture, as well as a lack of shoulder mobility.

My years of personal training allowed me to fall in love with the overhead press as I saw it transform the way my clients felt and moved.

Aside from posture and a higher quality of life, the overhead press can involve many similar benefits that the squat does.

You see, the overhead press is a compound movement, too. The shoulder joint and elbow joint are both involved, causing the triceps and deltoids to take over a majority of the work. Not only is the upper body benefiting from this movement, but the core is as well. In order to properly press overhead without breakdown, the core, glutes, and legs, must be engaged.

Again, being that this movements involves multiple joints, it brings great potential for muscle building as a heavier load can be applied. More muscles being worked means more calories burned, too.

EXERCISE #3: BARBELL DEADLIFT

Thankfully, the deadlift has become so popular in recent years, as it should. The deadlift has so much to offer.

In our modern lifestyles, we spend a lot of time using the muscles on the front of our body. We reach forward, we slouch, we sit and stand from a chair, and we press some things from time to time. We don’t have enough actions in our lives that call us to use the backside of our body. Thankfully, the deadlift helps us make up for all that work on the frontside.

A barbell deadlift requires the entire back to be at work. It calls for the glutes and hamstrings to fully engage and fire, too. It is a wonderful exercise for the backside. Performing a proper deadlift on a regular basis can help you regain and/or maintain good posture, as well as send one of the loudest muscle building signals to the body.

EXERCISE #4: BARBELL BENCH PRESS

Ahh the bench press, loved by bros and hated by most females, this exercise did in fact make the list.

You may be thinking, “wait a minute, bench pressing works the front of our body. If we spend so much time working the front in everyday life, why do more of it in our workouts?” It’s because most people don’t do the bench press properly.

A proper bench press calls your entire body to be engaged, even your back. Keeping your glutes and shoulderblades engaged will reinforce good posture as you work you chest. As a result, your chest, triceps, and shoulders can get stronger without risking poor forward posture, otherwise known as upper crossed syndrome.

The bench press is also one of the better muscle building exercises. Remember, multiple joints means more load which meals a louder muscle-building a strength-building signal to your body. More muscle also means more calories.

I’d like to wrap it up with this:

For those of you reading, thinking that it seemed like these exercises were only for muscle-building, they’re not. Remember that there is no such thing as a fat-loss exercise, but rather exercises that have a bigger contribution to fat loss. If you don’t know, the amount of muscle on your body is one of the biggest contributing factors to the amount of calories your body burns in a day. The stronger you get, the more lean muscle that your body has, the more calories you automatically burn. Burning more calories automatically is a fat-loss goldmine. And I’m not talking about bodybuilder muscle here. I’m talking about the muscle that gives you that lean, defined, and toned look. Even if your goal is fat loss, focus on getting stronger, as you get stronger, the fat will come off easier.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Adam is a fitness professional, baseball fan, and cookie fanatic based in Fort Collins, Colorado. After hanging up the cleats, he found a strong interest in the human body and how it performs. Since then, Adam has been transforming lives through fitness in a fun and encouraging atmosphere. As an ACE CPT and Fitness Nutrition Specialist, he is constantly moved to help people improve in all walks of life.

WANT MORE FREE CONTENT?

Download any of our ebooks or guides for FREE in the “free” tab at the top of the page.

Muscle-Building Myths Debunked

In most of the articles I write, I enjoy talking about “how to do…,” or, “5 ways to…” but this week I wanted to switch it up.

Other than how-tos and ways to improve your health and fitness, one of my favorite things to do is to call out b.s. and debunk common myths in the health and fitness space. I absolutely love shedding light on things that have lead people astray for far too long.

That is what I’m here for today. We are going to shed some light on some muscle-building myths in order to give you more insight on what you REALLY should be doing to improve your lean muscle mass.

MYTH #1 - YOU HAVE TO BE IN A CALORIE SURPLUS TO BUILD MUSCLE

Calories in and calories out seems to be the name of the game when it comes to building muscle and losing body fat.

And it should be. Well, most of the time.

When it comes to nutrition, the law of thermodynamics basically says that our body needs to be expending more calories than we are taking in to lose weight, and taking in more calories than we are expending in order to gain weight. So in theory, we would need to be taking in more calories than we are burning in the day in order to build lean muscle, a.k.a., calorie surplus.

This is true most of the time, but not all of the time. We also have this thing in the world of health and fitness that we like to call nutrient partitioning. All this means is that your body may send calories certain directions for certain results. The body may send calories that you are taking in for fat gain, or for muscle gain. It all just depends on the signal you are sending to your body.

If you are sending a signal to your body to get stronger and build muscle (a common signal you would send if you are weight lifting properly), the body may “partition” calories to build muscle. All it needs is calories.

We know that calories come from the food that we eat. But, we also have stored energy in our body. So in theory, it is possible for you body to use stored energy to benefit the muscle building signal that you are sending through your training program. In theory, you may not have to be in a calorie surplus at all.

Is this all talk, or is it really a thing?

It’s really a thing.

There is tons of evidence suggesting that the body can use stored calories for muscle building if it isn’t getting excess calories from food. I’ve seen it first hand in plenty of the clients that I’ve trained over the years. Their goal is fat loss, so we have them in a slight calorie deficit (burning more than they take in), yet the body builds muscle.

The body can take stored energy and use it to build muscle! Does this mean that your body turns fat into muscle? Well, not really. All it may be doing is using the stored calories as energy to benefit the muscle building response that the body is getting from lifting. Crazy.

I will say, though, that this is far more common in untrained and overweight individuals. Those that are intermediate, advanced, and/or lean lifters may very well need to be in a caloric surplus to build muscle.

MYTH #2 - DO 8-12 REPS TO BUILD MUSCLE

There are times when I am skeptical toward scientific studies, and this is one of them.

If you were to look at a collection of studies that look at what rep ranges build the most amount of muscle, you would come to a conclusion that most will tell you 8-12 reps is the sweet spot for muscle building.

This conclusion has lead many people to lift between 8-12 reps forever in order to build muscle. Yet, they find themselves getting stuck.

Something that is very hard to take into account during studies is the many individuals’ history with exercise, as well as how long the outcomes of the study affect the individuals. For example, a study may show that 8-12 reps was the best rep range to build muscle for the 6-week study. But what about after that?

If there is one thing that training hundreds of individuals has taught me, it’s that “it depends” is almost always the right answer to any question. Same goes for the best rep range to build muscle.

The best rep range to build muscle depends on what your body has been used to. We know that the body is an adaptation machine. Lift weights and it will get stronger. Do long distance running and it will be come more efficient. It’s pretty fascinating. The same applies for rep ranges and muscle-building. If you’ve been doing 8-12 reps for the past 6 months, it’s likely you haven’t been building muscle for quite some time. You may build more muscle doing 12-15 reps, or maybe even 4-8 reps. If you’ve been feeling like you’re spinning your wheels, it’s time to change it up.

People build muscle doing 4-6 reps. People build muscle doing 15-20 reps. It all just depends on what the body is used to, and what it hasn’t been exposed to.

MYTH #3 - SHOCK THE BODY BY CHANGING YOUR ROUTINE OFTEN

Shocking the body is something that got popular somehow someway with the stereotypical gym bros. The idea is that you always want to keep your body guessing that way it can never adapt and you will continually see progress.

The obsession with shocking the body got out of control, and those wanting to build serious muscle started changing their workouts up far too often.

As we know, more isn’t always better.

Changing your routine is good, but it should only be done every 3-6 weeks. You see, it is good to shock the body and make sure it isn’t getting too used to what it’s doing. But we still want to give it the opportunity to reap the most benefit from the exercise we are giving it. If we change things up too often, our body won’t have a chance to adapt and change for the better.

Our body has to be exposed to a certain routine and stimulus for a period of time for it to improve. Think of it like a skill in a sport. If you want to improve your ability to swing a bat, you wouldn’t want to practice swinging a bat one day and then swinging a tennis racket for another. You would want to get plenty of reps in with the bat. It’s a similar concept with your training. If you want your legs to become stronger, you need to allow them to become as strong as they can with certain exercises, sets, and reps. As soon as progress begins to slow down, that’s the time to switch it up. This window is about 3-6 weeks depending on the individual.

Remember, there is no right answer 100% of the time. It depends on you, so take note of how your body responds, and change things up when it’s time.

THE TAKEAWAYS

If you’re wanting to build muscle, keep the following in mind.

You do not always have to be in a calorie surplus to build muscle. If your body has the right training protocol and stored energy to use, it may be able to build muscle at calorie maintenance or even deficit.

The best rep range for you is the one that you haven’t been doing. You can build muscle in low and high rep ranges.

Don’t spend too much or too little time in a routine. Change things up every 3-6 weeks.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Adam is a fitness professional, baseball fan, and cookie fanatic based in Fort Collins, Colorado. After hanging up the cleats, he found a strong interest in the human body and how it performs. Since then, Adam has been transforming lives through fitness in a fun and encouraging atmosphere. As an ACE CPT and Fitness Nutrition Specialist, he is constantly moved to help people improve in all walks of life.

WANT MORE FREE CONTENT?

Download any of our ebooks or guides for FREE in the “free” tab at the top of the page.

This is Why You're Not Building Muscle

"Well, I got my butt kicked, so I'd say the workout was great!"

I can't stand it when I hear this, even if it's immediately after one of my classes that I teach. I would say that I hear a statement similar to this AT LEAST once per day, and at this point it kinda just goes in one ear and out the other. But at first, oh at first it drove me crazy.

What's so wrong with a butt-kicking workout?

Hehe.

Nothing is wrong with a butt-kicking workout at all. It's not the workout that's the problem. It's the approach to the workout that's the problem.

Or lack thereof.

Most of the time, people appreciate a butt-kicking workout because they feel exhausted and their clothes are drenched in sweat. Which usually means they worked hard and they burned some 300 or so calories. 

Whoopdie freaking doo. 

Here's a thought. When you set out on your fitness journey, did you tell yourself, "ok, my goal for the next 6 months is to get my butt kicked three times per week"? Absolutely not. I really hope not. Your goal was most likely along the lines of, "I wan't to have a six pack", "I wan't to lose 10 lbs of body fat", or "I want to gain 1/4 inch of muscle on each of my arms." You had a "why" to your "what" that meant something significant to you. 

It's easy to lose sight of a "why" (the why is your purpose) with a bunch of butt-kicking workouts that only serve one purpose: burning calories. 

For the sake of this article, I want to keep things on one track, the track that I know most about, and it's building muscle. 

If you're going to the gym each and every day, mindlessly lifting weights with no strategic approach, no prior research on how to properly train, etc., building rock-hard muscle can (most likely WILL) be extremely difficult. 

I want to break this down into two different aspects of fitness since I'm both a functional fitness instructor as well as a bodybuilding style enthusiast. 

Functional Fitness

When you sign up for a class at your local functional fitness gym, you most likely have no clue what body parts the instructor is going to have you train. THAT'S OK. 

So the question is, how do you adjust and make sure that the workout assigned to you for the day lines up with the goals that you have?

Well, going frequently is going to be your first bet. The more often you attend, the higher the chance of working your entire body each week. 

When you are in class, then what? How should you approach the workout? 

MUSCLE ACTIVATION

That is the answer. Activating your muscle fibers with every single exercise is the key to lean muscle tissue growth.

I tell my students in class almost every single day. SQUEEZE. I want their focus to be on how they can best squeeze and stretch the designated muscle group in order to promote the best possible stimulation which can ultimately lead to growth. I would much rather have them grab slightly heaver weights, do slightly slower, more controlled reps rather than grab light weights and do 30 repetitions in the given amount of time. It's too easy for form to get sloppy and take attention off the primary muscle group if you're racing to get 30 reps in 20 seconds.

But it all depends on the workout. If your instructor has given you a workout full of supersets with chest, back, shoulder, arm, and leg exercises, then you've struck gold. If your instructor has given you a workout with box jumps, plyos, agility ladders, and other forms of interval cardio, no worries there either! You've just completed a cardio session for the week, and you didn't have to come up with the workout on your own!

Let's say you get one of those cardio workouts, and you've got another muscle group left to work that week, what to do now?

Resistance Training

If your functional fitness gym has an open gym time, or you belong to a separate gym with weights, machines, etc., it's time to put some work in.

"You mean like, butt-kicking work?"

Well, no. Eh, yes, kind of. Butt-kicking in the sense of your muscles are absolutely screaming and full of blood by the end of it, rather than your lungs begging for air.

Let's say you've worked everything but your biceps and triceps for the week, so you're headed to the gym, pre-workout in hand, ready to blow up your arms.

"But Adam, what are you suggesting that I do different from my usual arm day?"

Solid question. Remember what I said earlier about squeezing? Yeah, that's all I need you to do. One of the biggest reasons people plateau with their muscle building is because they don't have any mind-muscle connection (they don't squeeze).

I'll put some real world application to this so it makes more sense. Let's take a staple exercise for bicep growth, the barbell bicep curl.

You find your hand placement, grab the bar, get your core and back in position, and begin curling. Rep 1,2,3,4... It begins to burn a little.

Just a little, though. We want that arm pumped and full of blood.

Let's address the common mindset when it comes to lifting weights. It usually goes like this: If I lift the weight, it will activate and work my muscle. So if I lift the bar, it will activate my biceps.

We need to flip that upside down.

From now on, think about it this way: I am going to flex my bicep, which will cause the weight to move in order to complete the curl. Always flex your muscle BEFORE you begin the movement. As you go through the motion, don't think about moving the bar up with your hands, think about moving the bar up by squeezing your biceps even harder. Your hands just happen to be holding the bar. 

It's magic.

After using this tactic, you'll be able to command so many more muscle fibers to work and it will spark growth that you've never experienced before. 

Regardless of where you're at, on a machine or in a class, always be thinking about the activation of your muscle rather than the movement itself. The movement will take care of itself as long as the muscle is doing the work.

Use this tip, and send me a message or email (adam@poehlmannfitness.com) letting me know how it worked out for you. Remember, muscle growth and maintenance is top priority for a lean, great looking physique. 

For more tips like this, follow me and SUBSCRIBE to my YouTube channel!

Thanks for reading!