There are a ton of weight training exercises you can do to help pack on muscle and lose fat. On top of that, just about every exercise can be modified to change how it targets the muscle you are training. Any routine will have you doing multiple exercises to hit each muscle group.
With all of these options, weight training can seem a bit daunting. Which exercises should you do and how should you do them? Of course, there are the classics like the squat, bench press, barbell row, pull-up, biceps curl, dip, and deadlift. Some form of every one of these exercises should definitely be part of your routine.
While the major compound exercises should make up the bulk of your routine, there are always some little-known movements you can take advantage of. I love these diamond-in-the-rough exercises for 2 main reasons. One is that you just don’t see everybody, and in some cases anybody, doing them. The other is that they are quite effective and should certainly be part of any weight training routine.
Tyson Push-Up
This little-known exercise is one I was only recently turned on to. It’s a form of the classic push-up that Mike Tyson apparently used to do in his early days. If regular push-ups have become too easy for you, this one will have you huffing and puffing from just a percentage of the reps.
To do this exercise you put your feet against a wall and put your body into a normal push-up position. As you push up, you also push your body back so your legs bend at the knees and your butt goes back towards the wall. At this point, you can also tuck your head forward and down to stretch your upper back. You then straighten the legs and get back to the starting position.
Since you push your body back as well as up, you will really feel this exercise working your muscles much harder than a normal push-up. In fact, doing regular push-ups in this up-and-back manner will hit your chest better than run-of-the-mill push-ups.
The way I use Tyson push-ups in my routine is to do a superset of them followed by the up-and-back style of push-ups. I may even finish my superset with some straight up-and-down push-ups if I can muster them.
After the main two exercises in my chest workouts, I’ll do Tyson push-ups to really thrash my pecs. It works well as a secondary exercise or as a main exercise in a bodyweight routine.
Side-To-Side Pull-Ups
Here’s another excellent unique weight training exercise you can do with just your body weight. Admittedly, it’s much tougher to do a lot of pull-ups, especially when compared to push-ups. However, even if you can’t do a ton of pull-ups, you can still take advantage of this more difficult version of them.
Side-to-side pull-ups are started like regular pull-ups. The difference is that you pull your body up to one side, which means that one side of the lats is going to do most of the work. Pull up to one side and try to hold for a second to really feel it in that side of the lats.
I go side-to-side, alternating on each rep. You can also go to failure on one side before repping out with the other side. Alternating sides on each rep does give your muscles more rest between reps so you may be able to do more. It really comes down to how strong you are and your personal preference.
If you can’t do any or very many pull-ups, an alternative to this exercise is to do rolling lat pulldowns. To do these you sit at a lat cable pulldown and as you pull down, you pull further to one side. This sort of emulates the pull-up version and will really hit your lats in a way you haven’t felt before.
Body Raise
Here’s another one that’s not gonna be easy. The body raise requires you to use your core to basically get your entire body raised up with just your upper shoulders on the floor or a bench. Whether or not you can do body raises will depend very much on your body weight and core strength.
To do the body raise, you need to lie face up and grip something to anchor your body. You then raise your body off the floor or bench until it’s almost straight up. The only part of you touching the surface should be the very top of your upper back. Do this exercise slowly, keeping complete control all the way up and down.
The key to properly doing this unique exercise is to keep your body entirely straight. This can take work to master, as it’s easy to keep a bend at the knees or lower back. It will take incredible core strength to do very many reps.
If you can’t do body raises, you can try an alternative to strengthen your core. This is the dragon flag. To do them, you will get into the same starting position but with your knees bent toward you. You then raise your body up with the knees still bent. At this point, straighten out your legs and hold the position. You should be at about a 45-degree angle. Then raise higher and lower your body slowly to build core strength.
One Arm Barbell Corner Rows
Here’s another favorite unique weightlifting exercise I like to take advantage of. The one-arm barbell corner row is sort of a combination of the classic corner row and the dumbbell row. The way I do these will be a little different than either of those exercises.
To do one-arm barbell corner rows I like to grip the very end of the barbell, also known as the sleeve. This means all the way to the end, so it’s a much wider part of the barbell to grip. Basically, you bend over and grip the end and pull it up to your side. I stand so my body is perpendicular to the barbell. This means that when I pull it up to my side it goes a little bit away from my body as well. Go to failure on one side before switching to the other side.
Due to gripping the end of the barbell, wrist straps will be required to get the most out of this exercise. Without them, your grip will almost certainly give out before your back muscles.
Another way to do the one-arm barbell corner row is to bend over next to the barbell and grip the shaft of the bar close to the collar. Here, you can keep your arm next to your body as you pull the weight up. If you’d like, you can do both versions during every other workout to keep your body guessing.
Jefferson Squat
This uncommon weight training exercise may look a bit strange when you are doing it. However, the Jefferson squat is quite effective at targeting the glute/hamstrings area of the body. It’s also going to hit the adductor muscles of the legs, which can lag behind other muscles in the area. The core is also going to be a big part of doing this exercise named after an old-time strongman.
To do the Jefferson squat, you need to stand over the middle of a barbell. Here you take a wide stance with the toes out. You squat down to the bar and grip it with an over/underhand grip. To complete the movement, you use your legs to bring the barbell up between your legs. You then return to the starting position.
Since the front leg is going to do more work you need to switch to the opposite stance and grip after you rep out. You then work the other leg more.
One of the keys to doing the Jefferson squat is to keep your upper body straight, using just your legs to raise and lower the weight. This will force you to brace your core to make it an important part of this exercise.
You also may not be able to get the barbell all the way down to the floor, depending on how much weight you are using or whether you have bumper plates or not. This comes down to if you are using less than 135 pounds as that is the point where you at least have a large 45-pound plate on each side of the bar. Either lower as far down as you can or set up some blocks to lift from and lower to.
Reverse Grip Bench Press
This form of bench press focuses on the triceps as opposed to the chest. You will certainly still feel it in the chest, particularly in the upper pecs. However, I prefer using it as a triceps exercise in my routine.
The execution of the reverse grip bench press may sound easier than it actually is. It seems pretty simple to do as you lie on a bench just as you would while doing normal bench presses. The key difference here is that you grip the barbell with a reverse or underhanded grip. You then lower the weight to the chest or very close to it before lifting the weight back up to the starting position.
Where you grip the barbell can make quite a difference in what muscles you are targeting on the reverse grip bench press. A wider grip is gonna involve the upper chest more and you should be able to go heavier. A narrow grip should target the triceps more. If you really want to get the most out of this exercise, you can vary your grip by doing your first set with a wide grip and progressively moving your grip closer on each subsequent set.
Cossack Squat
Here’s another great unique exercise to work the more neglected areas of the legs. The Cossack squat will enable you to train the adductor muscles on the insides of the thighs, which don’t get direct work from most leg exercises. Doing this exercise may very well make you stronger on the squat and deadlift as well.
The Cossack squat is started by standing in a wide stance with the toes out. Instead of squatting straight down, you squat down to one side. This means that one leg will bend at the knee while the other leg is straight out to the other side. It’s essential to get down as far as possible, as the stretching part of the Cossack squat is part of what makes it a great exercise to add to your routine.
To learn this movement, you should practice it without using any weight. You’ll get bodyweight resistance, which should be enough since you use one leg at a time. As you can do more full reps, a light dumbbell or kettlebell can be held to add weight. It won’t take very much weight to get results from this exercise. Just make sure to use proper form and do full reps.
When you do the Cossack squat, you can alternate which leg you squat with from rep to rep. You can also rep out with one leg before switching to the other. It’s really whatever you prefer.
Taking Advantage Of These Unique Exercises
Besides the reverse grip bench press, none of these exercises are the main ones for their workouts. I like to do straight sets on a couple of major compound exercises. After this is when I like to try the unique weight-training exercises listed above.
Another important thing to keep in mind is that you should be focused on form rather than weight in all of these exercises. For the most part, the factor that makes them unique is that they are movements that most lifters don’t take advantage of. They will have you working underused muscles in many cases, so if you go too heavy on them you may be risking injury.
Part of weight training is to challenge yourself. What better way to do that than by trying new exercises. If you want to hit your muscles in a different way than you are used to, it’s time to take advantage of these unique exercises.
