Updated

Exercise Database

Strength standards, 1RM calculators, and form guides for 30+ exercises

Each exercise page here gives the movement, the muscles it trains, the equipment it needs and strength standards by body weight, from beginner to elite. Two numbers govern progress whichever exercise you choose: the load as a percentage of your one-rep maximum, and the number of hard sets per muscle group per week. Eighty-five per cent and above builds strength, sixty-five to eighty per cent builds size, and ten to twenty hard sets weekly is the range most training research converges on. The strength standards are there to locate yourself rather than to judge yourself: they are population percentiles at a given body weight, and moving from one band to the next takes months of consistent work rather than a better programme. Equipment is the other filter worth using: a barbell, a pair of dumbbells and a pull-up bar cover every movement pattern between them.

Arms

Barbell Curl

['Biceps', 'Brachialis', 'Forearms']

Dumbbell Curl

['Biceps', 'Brachialis', 'Forearms']

Tricep Dip

['Triceps', 'Chest', 'Anterior Deltoids']

Skull Crusher

['Triceps']

Hammer Curl

['Brachialis', 'Brachioradialis', 'Biceps']

Back

Deadlift

['Lower Back', 'Glutes', 'Hamstrings', 'Traps', 'Forearms']

Barbell Row

['Lats', 'Rhomboids', 'Traps', 'Rear Deltoids', 'Biceps']

Pull-Up

['Lats', 'Biceps', 'Rear Deltoids', 'Rhomboids', 'Core']

Lat Pulldown

['Lats', 'Biceps', 'Rear Deltoids', 'Rhomboids']

Seated Cable Row

['Lats', 'Rhomboids', 'Traps', 'Rear Deltoids', 'Biceps']

Chest

Bench Press

['Chest', 'Triceps', 'Anterior Deltoids']

Incline Bench Press

['Upper Chest', 'Anterior Deltoids', 'Triceps']

Dumbbell Bench Press

['Chest', 'Triceps', 'Anterior Deltoids']

Push-Up

['Chest', 'Triceps', 'Anterior Deltoids', 'Core']

Core

Plank

['Rectus Abdominis', 'Transverse Abdominis', 'Obliques', 'Lower Back']

Hanging Leg Raise

['Rectus Abdominis', 'Hip Flexors', 'Obliques']

Cable Crunch

['Rectus Abdominis', 'Obliques']

Full Body

Clean and Press

['Shoulders', 'Traps', 'Glutes', 'Hamstrings', 'Quadriceps', 'Core']

Turkish Get-Up

['Shoulders', 'Core', 'Glutes', 'Quadriceps', 'Triceps']

Farmer's Walk

['Traps', 'Forearms', 'Core', 'Glutes', 'Calves', 'Shoulders']

Legs

Squat

['Quadriceps', 'Glutes', 'Hamstrings', 'Core', 'Lower Back']

Front Squat

['Quadriceps', 'Glutes', 'Core', 'Upper Back']

Leg Press

['Quadriceps', 'Glutes', 'Hamstrings']

Romanian Deadlift

['Hamstrings', 'Glutes', 'Lower Back']

Leg Curl

['Hamstrings', 'Calves']

Calf Raise

['Gastrocnemius', 'Soleus']

Shoulders

Overhead Press

['Anterior Deltoids', 'Lateral Deltoids', 'Triceps', 'Upper Chest']

Lateral Raise

['Lateral Deltoids', 'Anterior Deltoids', 'Traps']

Face Pull

['Rear Deltoids', 'Rhomboids', 'External Rotators', 'Traps']

Arnold Press

['Anterior Deltoids', 'Lateral Deltoids', 'Triceps']

Official sources

The formulas, food data and health thresholds used on this page come from the following public sources, checked for 2026:

Frequently asked questions

They compare your best single repetition with the typical lifter of the same bodyweight, split into beginner, novice, intermediate, advanced and elite. They are descriptive, not prescriptive: they tell you where you sit in a large population, not what you should be lifting this month. Use them to sanity-check a goal, then judge progress against your own previous numbers.
For most lifters, twice a week per movement beats once. Muscle protein synthesis stays elevated for roughly two days after a session, so two exposures spread across the week produce more growth than one long workout. Heavier compound lifts need more recovery than isolation work, so squats and deadlifts sit at two sessions while curls tolerate three.
Add weight only when every prescribed repetition is clean and you finish the last set with one or two in reserve. In practice that means about 2.5 kilograms a week on upper-body lifts and 5 kilograms on lower-body lifts for a beginner, then far less as you advance. Progress that stalls is normal; progress bought with broken form is not.
Rarely. Stopping one to three repetitions short of failure produces almost the same growth with much less fatigue, which matters because fatigue is what limits your weekly volume. Failure has a place on the last set of an isolation exercise, where the systemic cost is low. On heavy compound lifts it mostly buys you a worse next session.
Two to three minutes on compound lifts, sixty to ninety seconds on isolation work. Short rests feel productive but cut the load you can handle on the following set, and load is what drives strength. If you are training for conditioning rather than strength, shorter rests are the point; if you are training for size or strength, give yourself the time.
No. Soreness tracks novelty, not effectiveness: a new exercise or a new angle produces it, a familiar one stops producing it long before it stops producing muscle. The honest markers of a working programme are load, repetitions and bodyweight moving in the intended direction over weeks. Persistent soreness usually means you added volume too fast.
A barbell, a rack and adjustable dumbbells cover almost everything on this list. Without them, bodyweight progressions plus a pair of dumbbells or resistance bands will take a beginner a long way, because the limiting factor early on is technique and consistency rather than load. Add machines and specialty bars when a specific weak point justifies them.