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Exercises

Exercises for weightlifting: the main lifts and the Olympic lifts

Published October 24, 2026

The best weightlifting exercises are the back squat and front squat for the legs, the deadlift and good morning for the back and hips, the bench press and overhead press for pushing, the Pendlay row and pull-up for pulling, and the plank for bracing. If you train Olympic weightlifting, add the snatch, the clean and jerk, the power clean and the snatch-grip deadlift. A weightlifting workout starts with the most technical lift, then one squat or hinge, one press and one pull, with sets ending 2 to 3 reps short of failure so technique holds.

  1. Barbell Back Squat Quads, Glutes, Adductors
  2. Front Squat Quads, Glutes, Adductors
  3. Barbell Deadlift Glutes, Lower Back
  4. Barbell Bench Press Chest
  5. Barbell Overhead Press Shoulders
  6. Pendlay Row Upper Back, Lats
  7. Pull-Up Lats
  8. Power Clean Glutes, Hamstrings, Traps

Squats

The squat is the leg strength base. The back squat lets you go heaviest; the front squat matches the catch of the clean.

Leg strength, the base of every program

Barbell Back Squat

Quads, Glutes, Adductors

The back squat loads more muscle than almost any other lift and is easy to progress in small steps. Whatever your goal, a stronger squat carries over to it.

How to do it

  1. Set the bar on your upper traps, hands just outside your shoulders, and walk it out of the rack.
  2. Stand with your feet about shoulder-width, toes turned out a little, and take a big breath into your belly.
  3. Sit down between your heels until your hips are at least level with your knees.
  4. Drive up out of the bottom, chest proud and knees tracking over your toes.

Cues

  • Big breath, then descend
  • Knees out over the toes

Common mistakes

  • Cutting depth as the weight goes up: keep every rep at the same depth and use safety pins set just below it.

Swap for: Front Squat, Box Squat, Goblet Squat

Build a session with Barbell Back Squat

Upright squat for the clean and quads

Front Squat

Quads, Glutes, Adductors

The bar sits on the front of your shoulders, which forces an upright torso and loads the quads more. It is the squat position you catch a clean in, so Olympic lifters train it constantly.

How to do it

  1. Unrack the bar onto the front of your shoulders, fingertips under it and elbows pointing forward.
  2. Keep your elbows high as you squat straight down as deep as you can.
  3. Stand up with your elbows leading, so the bar never rolls forward.

Cues

  • Elbows high the whole rep
  • Sit straight down

Common mistakes

  • Elbows dropping out of the bottom, tipping the bar forward: lift them first as you start to stand.

Swap for: Goblet Squat, Zercher Squat, Dumbbell Front Squat

Build a session with Front Squat

Deadlifts and hinges

Pulling from the floor and hinging build the back, hips and grip, and the snatch-grip version adds position work for the snatch.

Pulling heavy weight from the floor

Barbell Deadlift

Glutes, Lower Back

The deadlift trains your whole posterior chain and grip with the heaviest weights you'll lift. It is also the base of the first pull in the clean and snatch.

How to do it

  1. Stand with the bar over the middle of your feet, stance about as wide as your hips.
  2. Hinge down and grip the bar just outside your legs, shins touching it.
  3. Flatten your back, take the slack out of the bar, then push the floor away until you are standing tall.
  4. Lower the bar along your legs to the floor.

Cues

  • Bar stays against your legs
  • Push the floor away

Common mistakes

  • Jerking the bar off the floor with a rounded back: pull the slack out first, then lift.

Swap for: Trap Bar Deadlift, Rack Pull, Sumo Deadlift

Build a session with Barbell Deadlift

Snatch pulling strength

Snatch-Grip Deadlift

Glutes, Lower Back

With your hands at snatch width, you start lower and hold the back angle longer, building the strength and positions for the first pull of the snatch.

How to do it

  1. Take a wide grip on the bar, about where your hands go in a snatch.
  2. Set your hips a little lower than a normal deadlift, chest up, shoulders over the bar.
  3. Lift with the same back angle until the bar passes your knees, then stand tall.

Cues

  • Shoulders over the bar
  • Hold the back angle until the knees

Common mistakes

  • Letting the hips rise faster than the shoulders: slow the start and use a lighter weight.

Swap for: Barbell Deadlift, Romanian Deadlift, Trap Bar Deadlift

Build a session with Snatch-Grip Deadlift

Lower back and hamstrings

Good Morning

Hamstrings, Glutes

With the bar on your back and the hinge pushed far, good mornings strengthen the lower back and hamstrings that hold your position in pulls and keep a bar from pulling you forward in a squat.

How to do it

  1. Set the bar on your upper back as for a squat and stand with knees soft.
  2. Push your hips back and lean forward with a flat back until your torso nears parallel or your hamstrings stop you.
  3. Return to standing by driving your hips forward.

Cues

  • Hips back, back flat
  • Go only as low as your hamstrings allow

Common mistakes

  • Rounding the lower back to go deeper: the range ends when your back wants to round.

Swap for: Romanian Deadlift, Seated Good Morning, Back Extension

Build a session with Good Morning

Presses

One horizontal press and one overhead press cover upper-body pushing. The overhead press also builds the lockout for the jerk.

Upper-body pressing strength

Barbell Bench Press

Chest

The bench press is the main upper-body strength lift and lets you move the most weight with your chest, shoulders and triceps.

How to do it

  1. Lie on the bench with your eyes under the bar, feet flat and shoulder blades pinched together.
  2. Unrack the bar and lower it to your lower chest, elbows angled about 45 degrees from your body.
  3. Press it back up over your shoulders.

Cues

  • Shoulder blades back and down
  • Touch the same spot each rep

Common mistakes

  • Bouncing the bar off your chest: touch lightly, then press.

Swap for: Flat Dumbbell Press, Close-Grip Bench Press, Floor Press

Build a session with Barbell Bench Press

Overhead strength and the jerk

Barbell Overhead Press

Shoulders

Strict pressing builds the shoulders and triceps that hold a bar overhead, and it shows you where your overhead position is weak.

How to do it

  1. Hold the bar at the front of your shoulders, hands just outside them.
  2. Squeeze your glutes and press the bar straight up, moving your head back out of its way.
  3. Push your head through once the bar passes your forehead and lock out overhead.

Cues

  • Squeeze glutes, ribs down
  • Head through at the top

Common mistakes

  • Leaning back to press the bar forward of your face: stay stacked and move your head instead.

Swap for: Dumbbell Shoulder Press, Seated Barbell Overhead Press, Dumbbell Push Press

Build a session with Barbell Overhead Press

Rows and pull-ups

Upper-back and lat strength balance the pressing and keep the bar close in the Olympic lifts.

Upper back for holding position

Pendlay Row

Upper Back, Lats

Each rep starts from the floor with a flat back, so the Pendlay row strengthens the upper back and the hinge you hold in pulls without the cheating of a regular row.

How to do it

  1. Hinge until your torso is close to parallel with the floor, the bar on the floor under your shoulders.
  2. Pull the bar explosively into your lower chest without lifting your torso.
  3. Set it back down on the floor and reset before each rep.

Cues

  • Torso stays parallel
  • Fast pull, dead stop

Common mistakes

  • Standing up to finish each rep: lighten the bar until your back stays still.

Swap for: Barbell Row, Seal Row, Chest-Supported Row

Build a session with Pendlay Row

Pulling strength and lats

Pull-Up

Lats

Pull-ups build the lats and upper back that keep the bar close in the clean and snatch, and they balance all the pressing.

How to do it

  1. Hang from the bar with your palms facing away, hands slightly wider than your shoulders.
  2. Pull until your chin is over the bar, elbows driving down.
  3. Lower all the way to straight arms.

Cues

  • Full hang to chin over
  • Elbows down to the ribs

Common mistakes

  • Kipping or half reps: keep the movement strict and full.

Swap for: Chin-Up, Lat Pulldown, Assisted Pull-Up

Build a session with Pull-Up

Olympic lifts

The snatch and clean and jerk are the competition lifts, and the power clean is the simpler version used by most athletes. Practice them early in a session, fresh, with low reps.

Explosive hips and the clean

Power Clean

Glutes, Hamstrings, Traps

The power clean teaches you to extend the hips explosively and catch a bar on your shoulders. It is the most common Olympic lift outside weightlifting itself.

How to do it

  1. Set up as for a deadlift with a grip just outside your legs.
  2. Lift the bar to mid-thigh, then jump explosively, extending hips and knees fully.
  3. Pull yourself under and receive it on the front of your shoulders in a quarter squat, elbows high.
  4. Stand up, then lower the bar back to the floor.

Cues

  • Patient off the floor, violent at the hips
  • Fast elbows

Common mistakes

  • Pulling with the arms early: keep them long until your hips have finished.

Swap for: Barbell Clean and Press, Kettlebell Swing, Barbell High Pull

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The full competition lift

Clean & Jerk

Glutes, Hamstrings, Shoulders

The clean and jerk is one of two lifts in competitive weightlifting: the bar goes from floor to shoulders, then overhead. Practicing it with good technique is the core of a weightlifter's training.

How to do it

  1. Clean the bar from the floor to your shoulders and stand up from the squat.
  2. Reset your feet, dip with an upright torso, and drive the bar up hard with your legs.
  3. Split or push under the bar and lock it out overhead, then step your feet back in line.

Cues

  • Straight dip, straight drive
  • Punch under the bar

Common mistakes

  • Rushing the jerk before you are set: take a breath and settle after the clean.

Swap for: Power Clean, Split Jerk, Power Jerk

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The other competition lift

Barbell Snatch

Glutes, Hamstrings, Shoulders

The snatch moves the bar from floor to overhead in one motion with a wide grip. It takes speed, mobility and precise positions, and you build it with frequent, light-to-moderate practice.

How to do it

  1. Set up with a wide grip so the bar sits in your hip crease when you stand.
  2. Lift smoothly to the hips, then extend hard through your legs and hips.
  3. Drop under and receive the bar overhead with locked arms in a deep squat.
  4. Stand up with the bar overhead.

Cues

  • Keep the bar brushing you
  • Lock out and sit

Common mistakes

  • Swinging the bar away from you: keep it brushing your thighs and hips.

Swap for: Power Snatch, One-Arm Dumbbell Snatch, Kettlebell Snatch

Build a session with Barbell Snatch

Trunk

A braced trunk transfers force between your legs and the bar.

Trunk bracing

Plank

Abs

Every heavy lift depends on a tight trunk. The plank trains you to hold that brace and costs almost nothing to recover from.

How to do it

  1. Set your forearms on the floor, elbows under your shoulders.
  2. Lift your body into one straight line from head to heels.
  3. Brace your stomach and glutes and hold for the target time.

Cues

  • Squeeze glutes and stomach
  • Long body

Common mistakes

  • Holding a sagging or piked position for longer: the hold ends when the line breaks.

Swap for: Side Plank, Dead Bug, Ab Wheel Rollout

Build a session with Plank

Put them together: example sessions

Each session below picks from the exercises above for one situation, with the sets, reps, rest and RIR filled in. Open one in the session builder to change a pick, price it from a recent set, and add it to RIRLift.

Session 1

Beginner, 3 days a week

Open in the session builder
  • Workouts3× a week
  • Working sets32 a week
  • Per workout~35 min
  • EquipmentBarbells, Flat Bench, Pull-Up Bar

You are new to weight lifting and want to learn the main barbell lifts and get stronger.

A beginner gets stronger almost every week with a few big lifts done often. Two sessions alternate on three days, with the main lifts in sets of 5 to 8 that stop 2 reps short of failure so your technique stays clean while you learn. Each session is about 13 working sets.

Day A
ExerciseSets × repsRIRRest
Barbell Back Squat3 warm-up sets first 3 × 5–8 2 3 min
Barbell Bench Press2 warm-up sets first 3 × 5–8 2 2:30 min
Pendlay Row 3 × 6–10 2 90 s
PlankSeconds. 2 × 30–45 2 45 s

Open Day A in the session builder

Day B
ExerciseSets × repsRIRRest
Barbell Deadlift3 warm-up sets first 2 × 4–6 2 3 min
Barbell Overhead Press2 warm-up sets first 3 × 5–8 2 2 min
Pull-Up 3 × 4–10 2 90 s
Good Morning 2 × 8–10 3 90 s

Open Day B in the session builder

How to run it
Alternate A and B on three nonconsecutive days.
How to progress
Add 5 pounds to the squat and deadlift and 2.5 to 5 pounds to the presses every session that every set reaches the top of its range at the target reps in reserve.
Open in the session builder

Session 2

Training the snatch and clean and jerk

Open in the session builder
  • Workouts3× a week
  • Working sets45 a week
  • Per workout~55 min
  • EquipmentBarbells, Pull-Up Bar

You do Olympic weightlifting, or are starting to, and want a week that practices the competition lifts and builds the strength behind them.

Technique work in the snatch and clean and jerk needs fresh legs and low reps, so they come first with long rests and stop 3 reps short of failure: miss-free practice teaches better than grinding. Squats and pulls build strength afterward at 2 reps in reserve. Each day has one competition lift, one squat and one strength lift.

Snatch Day
ExerciseSets × repsRIRRest
Barbell Snatch3 warm-up sets firstTechnique first. No misses. 5 × 2–3 3 2:30 min
Snatch-Grip Deadlift 3 × 3–5 2 2:30 min
Barbell Back Squat2 warm-up sets first 4 × 4–6 2 3 min
Pull-Up 3 × 6–8 2 90 s

Open Snatch Day in the session builder

Clean & Jerk Day
ExerciseSets × repsRIRRest
Clean & Jerk3 warm-up sets firstOne clean plus one jerk per rep. 5 × 1–2 3 3 min
Front Squat2 warm-up sets first 4 × 3–5 2 3 min
Barbell Overhead Press 3 × 5–6 2 2 min
Good Morning 3 × 6–8 2 90 s

Open Clean & Jerk Day in the session builder

How to run it
Rotate the two days across three or four sessions a week (snatch, clean and jerk, snatch, then start the next week with clean and jerk).
How to progress
Raise the competition lifts by small jumps only when every rep is technically clean. Squats and pulls follow normal progression: add weight once every set reaches the top of its range.
Open in the session builder

Session 3

Strength and power for another sport

Open in the session builder
  • Workouts2× a week
  • Working sets30 a week
  • Per workout~50 min
  • EquipmentBarbells, Flat Bench

You play a sport and want a twice-a-week weight lifting session for strength and explosiveness, without learning the full snatch and clean and jerk.

The power clean gives you most of the explosive benefit of the Olympic lifts with far less technique. Placed first at 3 reps in reserve, it is followed by a heavy squat and press at 2, and the session ends with a row, keeping it to about 15 sets so it fits next to practice.

Power
ExerciseSets × repsRIRRest
Power Clean3 warm-up sets first 4 × 3 3 2:30 min
Front Squat2 warm-up sets first 4 × 4–6 2 3 min
Barbell Bench Press 3 × 5–8 2 2:30 min
Pendlay Row 3 × 6–8 2 90 s
PlankSeconds. 1 × 30–45 2 45 s
How to run it
Twice a week, at least two days apart and away from your hardest practices.
How to progress
Add weight to the power clean only when your catch is fast and high. Squat and press progress normally.
Open in the session builder

Make it fit you

Questions

What are the 5 major weightlifting exercises?

The squat, deadlift, bench press, overhead press and barbell row. In Olympic weightlifting, the competition lifts are the snatch and the clean and jerk, built on squats and pulls.

What are the top 10 weightlifting exercises?

Back squat, front squat, deadlift, bench press, overhead press, barbell row, pull-up, Romanian deadlift or good morning, power clean, and plank. That covers every muscle with barbells and bodyweight.

Is weightlifting the same as Olympic weightlifting?

Weight lifting usually means any strength training with weights. Olympic weightlifting is the sport with two lifts, the snatch and the clean and jerk.

Is it okay to lift when I'm sore?

Mild soreness is fine to train through; it usually eases once you warm up. If it changes how you move, train a different area that day or lower the weight for the session.

How many days a week should I do weightlifting?

Three full-body days for beginners. Olympic weightlifters often train four or more because the competition lifts need frequent practice at moderate effort.