If you are looking to change up your exercise routine or improve your physical fitness, incorporating strength training into your regimen can be highly beneficial. Although walking is effective for burning calories, strength training provides additional advantages that extend beyond simply calorie burning. We reached out to a fitness expert to share the top strength exercises for building lean muscle when you are seeking alternatives to walking.
“With strength training, you’re not only burning calories during the workout, but you’re also building lean muscle. This added muscle mass increases your metabolism, allowing you to burn more calories even at rest,” explains Stan Kravchenko, celebrity coach and founder of OneFit.com. “Your body will naturally expend more energy to maintain muscle mass, which supports weight loss and overall health over the long term.”
Similar to walking, strength exercises benefit your cardiovascular fitness, but they provide substantial advantages for bone density, muscles, and injury prevention as well. “Building muscle mass promotes longevity and better supports your joints, ligaments, and tendons as you age,” Kravchenko adds. “If your goal is to lose weight and build lean muscle, strength training is an effective path.”
That being said, you don’t have to choose one form of exercise over the other. A well-rounded workout routine should include both! Kravchenko recommends performing strength training on one day and utilizing walking as an active recovery exercise on another.
Below are five excellent strength exercises to get lean that are perfect for your upper body, core, and lower body. “Performing these exercises consistently will help you build strength, improve body composition, and support other health benefits, such as increased muscle size, enhanced bone density, reduced body fat, and more,” says Kravchenko.
Goblet Squat
The goblet squat is a great choice to target your core and lower body, firing up your hamstrings, quads, glutes, and core muscles. “The goblet squat is suitable for everyone, from beginners to those with more experience, as it helps keep the torso upright, making it a safe and effective option for building lower-body strength,” Kravchenko tells us.
- Stand tall, feet hip-width apart, holding a dumbbell with both hands like a goblet at your chest.
- Lower into a squat, keeping your chest tall and back straight.
- Once your thighs are parallel to the ground, press through your heels to stand up tall.
- Complete 3 sets of 8-12 reps.
Pulldown
“This exercise is ideal for working on your pulling motion and strengthening your back muscles,” explains Kravchenko. “The seated cable pulldown allows you to perform the exercise safely and effectively, with good control over each repetition.”
- Sit at a lat pulldown machine with your knees secured under the pad and feet firmly planted on the ground.
- Grab the handle and pull it down to your upper chest.
- Use control to return to the start position.
- Complete 3 sets of 10-12 reps.
Dumbbell Chest Press
“The dumbbell chest press is a great exercise for pushing movements, targeting the chest, triceps, and front shoulder muscles,” Kravchenko points out. “Unlike machines or barbells, dumbbells offer more freedom of movement, which is often safer for shoulder joints.”
- Lie flat on your back on a workout bench with a dumbbell in each hand and arms extended over your chest.
- Lower the dumbbells toward your chest until your elbows reach a 90-degree angle.
- Press the weights back up.
- Perform 3 sets of 10-12 reps.
Single-Leg Press
“This exercise allows you to work each side of your body individually, helping to balance any strength differences between your legs,” says Kravchenko. “The single-leg press prevents one side from compensating for the other, making it especially beneficial if you have one leg that is more dominant. Similar to a unilateral dumbbell chest press for the upper body, this exercise targets your glutes and legs effectively.”
- Sit at a leg press machine with one foot on the platform.
- Press the weight away from your body.
- Lower the weight using control.
- Switch legs after completing each set.
- Perform 3 sets of 8-10 reps for each leg.
Pallof Press with Rotation
“This is a fantastic core exercise, chosen specifically because it introduces a rotational movement,” Kravchenko explains. “Unlike the previous exercises, which all operate in the sagittal plane, the Pallof press with rotation works in the transverse plane, challenging your core and obliques in a different way.”
- Attach a resistance band or cable at chest level.
- Stand tall, perpendicular to the anchor point, holding onto the handle with both hands.
- Press the handle away from your body and slowly rotate your torso toward the anchor point, activating your core muscles.
- Return to the start position.
- Perform 3 sets of 12-15 reps per side.
