Weightlifting barbell exercises at home

If you're thinking about adding a barbell to your home, there are a few things you need to know. A barbell is the ideal addition to a home gym, as long as you have the right space to work out safely.

Weightlifting barbell exercises at home

If you're thinking about adding a barbell to your home, there are a few things you need to know. A barbell is the ideal addition to a home gym, as long as you have the right space to work out safely.

Remember that the measurements of a weightlifting bar are 220 centimeters long and 20 kilograms in weight if we use the male one, and 201 cm and 15 kg if we use the female one.

This is very important to keep in mind as we must have a space large enough to be able to work safely. We must also find some kind of surface to support the bar both for the beginning of some exercises and for it to rest on when we are not using it.

The most common are rubber tiles, but if we want even more protection against noise or vibrations that we may cause, we can opt for Drop Pads or shock-absorbing mats.

Whatever your choice, weightlifting at home is possible and very beneficial.

Benefits of practicing weightlifting at home

You will improve your technique

Since you won't have the pressure of a boxing stopwatch, you'll be able to dedicate time and attention to technique, which is the basis of all improvement. A bar without discs will be your best ally for the repetition of movements that involve large muscle chains. This repetition will lead to a much more natural and fluid chain of movements.

You will improve your grip

The hook grip or trigger grip requires time and adaptation. At first it is very uncomfortable and can even cause discomfort and even injuries to the hands. Practicing it at home with an empty bar will make us feel much more confident in our next class.

Extra exercises

Good morning, snatch balance, Romanian deadlift… these are just 3 options for exercises that are tremendously useful, but which we cannot always do due to time and programming in the box or in weightlifting classes. Dedicating some of our rest days to performing them with light weights will be of great help to us for other lifts.

We have already seen what we need; a bar and some discs (if they are bumper type, even better). We have also cleared a work area of ​​at least 250 cm wide by 100 cm deep where we can lift the bar and stand. Now we just need to know what to do with it.

Top 5 Weightlifting Exercises to Do at Home

Dead weight

Depending on whether you train in a garage or in a room on the fifth floor, the weight on the discs you place will be different, but the technique will be very similar. If the basic exercise is very easy for you, do it with long tempos of ascent and descent, try to go up very slowly, at least 8 or 10 seconds. This way you will feel the muscles in tension and it will be easier for you to get into position when you feel them in each position you are in.

Back Squat or back squat

Start with an empty bar and work on slow lowering until you break parallel (the hip passes under the 90-degree line formed by the knee). Then, push yourself up and pull yourself up with power, so much so that when you reach the top the bar even separates slightly from your shoulders. Work on this speed of execution to improve your pull-ups with heavy weights.

Lunges or lunges

This exercise has it all, it helps us maintain a proper position, it involves more balance and we work our legs and glutes with different stimuli. You can start with the bar behind the neck and other days with the bar in the front rack position.

Thruster

Only have 15 minutes to train? Grab the barbell, raise it above your head and extend your arms. If you can't reach the ceiling or lamps, get ready for what's next. Going from a front squat to a push jerk position in one movement is a thruster. Warm up for the first 5 minutes, do some front and back squats and then some push presses.

Then choose a number, not too high, and start a 10-minute EMOM. EMOM stands for Every Minute on the Minute. In each of those 10 minutes you must do the number of repetitions you have set for yourself, the time left over between minutes is for resting. Have fun!!

Bring Sally Up Overhead Squat Edition

Look for the song Bring Sally Up, there are different authors for each version, but the lyrics are the same for all of them. Press “play”, grab your barbell with a snatch grip (open), place it over your head and let’s get started: every time you hear Up you must stand up (always with the barbell over your head) and when you hear the word Down you must lower yourself into an overhead squat and stay down until you hear Up again. It’s 3 and a half minutes of guaranteed fun.

There are dozens of other exercises to do with an empty bar or with light weights. We could certainly have chosen exercises for heavy weights, but at home we try to do what is not always possible in the box or training center.