15 Best Weighted Bar Exercises for Toning and Fitness

Weighted bars, also called body bars, are very useful exercise tools. Where barbells are usually adjustable and loaded with weight plates, weighted bars are fixed weights and cannot be adjusted. 

Body bars are cheaper than barbells, making them perfect for home use.

A weighted bar can replicate most barbell exercises and even be used for fat-burning, cardio fitness-boosting complexes. It is an excellent addition to circuit training workouts and can be used in conjunction with bodyweight and dumbbell exercises or on its own.

In short, weighted bars are VERY versatile!

As a personal trainer with over 35 years of experience, I’ve helped numerous people transform their physiques with nothing more than a weighted barbell. In this article, you’ll find 24 of the best-weighted bar exercises, plus an easy-to-follow full-body workout.

24 Weighted Bar Exercises

Add the following exercises to your arsenal:

1. Back Squats
2. Front Squats
3. Lunges
4. Deadlifts
5. Hip Thrusts
6. Floor Press 
7. Bent Over Rows
8. Shoulder Press
9. Front Raises
10. Skull Crushers
11. Standing Triceps Extensions
12. Biceps Curls
13. Sumo Deadlift High Pulls
14. Thrusters
15. Power Clean

Before doing any of these weighted bar exercises, take a few minutes to warm up your muscles and joints. Do some light cardio, such as jogging or jumping rope, dynamic stretches, and joint mobility exercises. Warming up may reduce your chances of injury and will improve workout performance.

Leg exercises

If you want to sculpt a strong, toned lower body, these are the exercises you need to do. Each one works a combination of your quadriceps, hamstrings, gluteus maximus, inner and outer thighs. No workout is complete without at least a few lower-body exercises!

Leg exercises also tend to increase heart and breathing rate, so they’re useful for cardio and fat burning.

1. Back squats

Sets & Reps	3-4 x 6-10
Equipment Needed	Weighted bar
Target Muscles	Quadriceps, glutes, hamstrings, erector spinae (lower back)

Back squats are so-called because they involve holding the bar across your upper back. Considered by many fitness experts to be the king of exercises, squats are also very functional. They replicate many of the movements we do daily, such as sitting down in a chair or getting out of a car.

Saini suggests focusing on spreading the floor with your feet to engage the glutes and external rotators, promoting better stability and power transfer.

Difficulty	Intermediate
Progression	Pause squats, tempo squats
Regression	Bodyweight squats, goblet squats

Read more about barbell squat.

2. Front squats

Sets & Reps	3-4 x 6-10
Equipment Needed	Weighted bar
Target Muscles	Quadriceps, glutes, erector spinae (lower back), core

Front squats are a little trickier than back squats because they involve holding a bar across the front of your shoulders. This allows you to keep your torso a little more upright, making them more quad-dominant than back squats.

However, they also require more upper-body flexibility.

If you’ve mastered back squats, front squats could be your next challenge.

Saini suggests people with limited mobility use a squat wedge or weightlifting shoes to achieve greater depth and muscle stimulation. 

Difficulty	Intermediate
Progression	Front rack lunges, Zercher squats
Regression	Goblet squats, dumbbell front squats

Read more about front squat.

3. Lunges

Sets & Reps	3 x 10-15 (per leg)
Equipment Needed	Weighted bar
Target Muscles	Quadriceps, glutes, hamstrings

Like squats, lunges work all of your lower body muscles. However, lunges are a unilateral exercise, which means you’ll be using one leg at a time.

This is good for hip mobility and balance, as well as working your leg muscles. Lunges are especially useful for runners, as the movement is very similar.

Saini highlights that you must only use the back leg for stability while focusing on driving through the front leg for optimal target muscle engagement. 

Difficulty	Beginner
Progression	Walking lunges, Bulgarian split squats, reverse lunges with weight
Regression	Stationary lunges (bodyweight), shorter lunge depth

4. Deadlifts

Sets & Reps	3-5 x 3-6
Equipment Needed	Weighted bar
Target Muscles	Hamstrings, glutes, erector spinae (lower back), trapezius

Unlike deadlifts done with a barbell, weighted bar deadlifts start from the standing position. Why? Because, with no weight plates on the bar, it would be impractical to lift your body bar off the floor.

Think of this exercise as a top-down deadlift rather than a conventional ground-up deadlift.

“Think about pushing the floor away with your legs while simultaneously pulling the bar back into your body,” says Saini.

How to do it:

1. Hold your weighted bar with a shoulder-width overhand grip. Stand with your feet about hip-width apart. Brace your abs and stand up straight.
2. Bend your knees and push your hips back, lowering the bar down to about mid-shin height. Do not round your lower back.
3. Stand back up and repeat.
4. Do not bend your arms; keep them straight when doing this weighted bar exercise.

Difficulty	Intermediate
Progression	Deficit deadlifts, Romanian deadlifts
Regression	Block pulls, kettlebell deadlifts, trap bar deadlifts

5. Hip thrusts

Sets & Reps	3-4 x 8-12
Equipment Needed	Weighted bar
Target Muscles	Glutes, hamstrings

Most weight bar exercises for the legs are compound moves. That means they involve several joints (and lots of muscles) working at the same time. Hip thrusts involve a lot less knee movement, which means that mainly work your glutes and hamstrings.

This is a good exercise for anyone with a sore lower back, as it involves much less low back stress than any of the deadlift variations.

Saini suggests squeezing the glutes hard at the top of the movement and pausing for a second to maximize muscle contraction.

Difficulty	Beginner
Progression	Single-leg hip thrusts
Regression	Bodyweight hip thrusts, glute bridges

Read more on hip thrust.

Chest, back, and shoulder exercises

These are the best weighted bar exercises you can do for your chest, back, and shoulders. Use them to sculpt the upper body of your dreams!

6. Floor press

Sets & Reps	3-4 x 6-10
Equipment Needed	Weighted bar
Target Muscles	Triceps, pectoralis major (chest), anterior deltoids (front shoulders)

A lot of home exercisers do not have the luxury of a workout bench. This means, if you want to work your chest, you’ll need to lie on the floor.

The good news is that floor presses are an effective chest exercise that has existed since the beginning of strength training.

Don’t think that, with the floor press, you are just “making do.” This weighted bar exercise is a legitimate bench press and chest press alternative.

“Tuck your elbows in at a 45-degree angle as you lower the bar,” cues Saini. This will protect your shoulders and increase tricep involvement

Difficulty	Beginner
Progression	Increase weight, close-grip floor press, dumbbell floor press
Regression	Push-ups, incline dumbbell press

Read more about floor press.

7. Bent-over rows

Sets & Reps	3-4 x 8-12
Equipment Needed	Weighted bar
Target Muscles	Latissimus dorsi (lats), rhomboids, biceps brachii, posterior deltoids

Bent over rows work your lats, mid-traps, rhomboids, posterior deltoids, and biceps. Your legs and lower back also get a workout. Take care not to round your back when you do this exercise, which could lead to injury.

Saini suggests initiating the movement by retracting your shoulder blades (think about squeezing a pencil between them) to better engage the correct muscles and prevent lower back strain.

Difficulty	Intermediate
Progression	Increase weight, Pendlay rows, single-arm dumbbell rows
Regression	Inverted rows, seated cable rows

Read more about bent-over row

8. Shoulder press

Sets & Reps	3-4 x 8-12
Equipment Needed	Weighted bar
Target Muscles	Anterior deltoids (front shoulders), lateral deltoids (side shoulders), triceps

As the name implies, this exercise works your deltoids, more commonly called your shoulders. It also involves your triceps, and because you are doing it in the standing position, your abs get a workout, too, because they have to stabilize your spine.

Saini explains that this exercise demands a decent amount of overhead and thoracic spine mobility to perform with the correct form. 

Difficulty	Intermediate
Progression	Push press, Arnold press
Regression	Seated dumbbell shoulder press, dumbbell lateral raises

More about overhead press

9. Front raises

Sets & Reps	3 x 10-15
Equipment Needed	Weighted bar
Target Muscles	Anterior deltoids (front shoulders)

Front raises are an anterior deltoid exercise. Make sure you brace your core hard when doing this exercise, as raising both arms in front of you can pull you off balance. You’ll need to use your core to keep your torso upright.

Saini suggests using lifting straps for this exercise. This eliminates the need for grip strength, allowing you to focus on the mind-muscle connection.

Difficulty	Beginner
Progression	Alternate front raises, cable front raises
Regression	Wall slides, band pull-aparts

Read more about barbell front raise

Arm exercises

Your biceps and triceps might be small compared to your chest, back, and shoulders, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t important. Fill your sleeves with these weighted bar exercises for your arms.

10. Skull crushers

Sets & Reps	3-4 x 8-12
Equipment Needed	Weighted bar
Target Muscles	Triceps brachii

This triceps exercise is so-called because, if you lower the bar too far or too fast, you could hit yourself in the head! That said, because most body bars are a) light and b) covered in foam, this is much less likely than when you’re using a barbell.

Still, you should always do this exercise slowly and with control to avoid skull-crushing accidents!

Saini advises against flaring your elbows. Keep them tucked in throughout the movement to protect your elbow joints and maximize triceps activation.

Difficulty	Beginner
Progression	Close-grip skull crushers, overhead triceps extensions
Regression	Triceps dips, bodyweight overhead triceps extensions

Read more about lying barbell tricep extension

11. Standing triceps extensions

Sets & Reps	3 x 10-15
Equipment Needed	Weighted bar
Target Muscles	Triceps brachii

This triceps weighted bar exercise can be tricky because it requires excellent upper-body flexibility and shoulder mobility to get your arms into the correct position. But, if you can do it, this is a superb triceps toner and builder.

However, if you have to lean back or contort your shoulders to get into the right position, this may not be the exercise for you.

Per Saini, using an EZ bar for this exercise can be more effective as it can limit wrist and elbow strain. 

Difficulty	Beginner
Progression	Overhead triceps extensions, cable triceps pushdowns
Regression	Triceps kickbacks, close-grip bench press

Read more about overhead ez-bar tricep

12. Biceps curls

Sets & Reps	3 x 8-12
Equipment Needed	Weighted bar
Target Muscles	Biceps brachii, brachialis

Biceps curls are one of the most popular exercises on the planet! Get the most from this move by keeping your core tight, your upper arms pinned to your sides, and not using your legs or back to help you lift the weight. That would be cheating.

Saini suggests keeping an upright torso throughout the exercise. Control the weight and contract the muscles throughout the ROM for optimal bicep fiber recruitment. 

Difficulty	Beginner
Progression	Preacher curls, hammer curls
Regression	Seated dumbbell curls, resistance band curls

Read more about barbell biceps curls

13. Sumo deadlift high pulls

Sets & Reps	3-4 x 8-12
Equipment Needed	Weighted bar
Target Muscles	Trapezius, deltoids, glutes, hamstrings

This exercise is something of a CrossFit favorite. It’s as much a cardio exercise as it is a full-body strength and conditioning exercise. It is a good weighted bar exercise for your posterior chain and also works your biceps, shoulders, and upper back.

Saini recommends practicing this exercise with a PVC bar and drilling the movement mechanics before lifting a weighted bar. Many beginners tend to crash the bar into the knees during this exercise, which can result in injury. 

Difficulty	Intermediate
Progression	Barbell clean, kettlebell swings
Regression	Upright rows

Read more about sumo deadlift

14. Thrusters

Sets & Reps	3-4 x 8-12
Equipment Needed	Weighted bar
Target Muscles	Quadriceps, glutes, shoulders, triceps

Thrusters combine front squats, weighted bar (exercise number two), and shoulder presses (number 10), to create a full-body exercise that will kick your butt!

A high rep set of this move will leave your heart pumping, your lungs heaving, and your legs shaking!

How to do it:

1. Hold your weighted bar in front of your shoulders. Step out and into a shoulder-width stance. Brace your abs and look straight ahead.
2. Push your hips back, squat down, and descend until your thighs are roughly parallel to the floor.
3. Stand up quickly and use this momentum to help you push the bar up and overhead.
4. Lower the bar back to your shoulders and repeat.

Difficulty	Advanced
Progression	Cluster sets, thruster burpees
Regression	Front squats, overhead press, dumbbell thrusters

15. Power clean

Sets & Reps	3-5 x 3-5
Equipment Needed	Weighted bar
Target Muscles	Full body (emphasis on posterior chain – hamstrings, glutes, back)

Your final weighted bar exercise is arguably the most complicated of the bunch. It involves lifting a bar off the floor to your shoulders in one smooth, powerful movement. This is a simplified version of squat cleans, which are part of the Olympic clean and jerk.

Saini explains that the power clean is a complex movement that requires practice and proper technique. Focus on exploding through your hips and catching the bar in a front squat position with control.

Difficulty	Advanced
Progression	Hang clean, clean & jerk
Regression	Kettlebell swings, deadlifts, high pulls

Read more about power cleans form benefits

Best Weighted Bar Workout for Toning and Fitness

While you could just try a random selection of these weighted bar exercises, you’ll get much better results if you follow a more structured program. Here’s a beginner/intermediate workout to try. All you need is a weighted bar. Remember to spend a few minutes warming up before you start.

Exercise	Sets	Reps	Rest
Back Squats	3	8-12	90-120 sec
Bent Over Rows	3	8-12	60-90 sec
Shoulder Press	3	8-12	60-90 sec
Deadlifts	3	5-8	120-180 sec
Floor Press (optional)	3	8-12	60-90 sec

Please note: the repetitions listed are only suggestions. Do more or fewer reps depending on the weight of your body bar and your current level of fitness. The last few reps of each set should be challenging, but you should still be able to complete them using the correct form.

Wrapping Up

It’s incredible to think that, with just a simple weighted bar, you can work every muscle in your body. A lot of people believe that to work out, get fit, and lose weight, you need access to state-of-the-art equipment, but that isn’t really true.

So long as you work hard, you can achieve many fitness goals using the most basic workout gear.

While you won’t build massive muscles or staggering strength with weighted bar exercises, you will definitely be able to get fit, tone up, and improve your endurance.

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