The Workout Move You CAN'T Skip

By now, you’ve heard all about the benefits of strength training. It makes you fitter and gives you energy. It burns calories (even after you’re done). It helps keep your bones strong. And, it can boost your mood. But, if you’re just getting started, the weight room — with its racks of dumbbells and rows of clunky-looking machines — can be a little intimidating. “A lot of my female clients didn’t know their way around the gym, but once they learned a handful of key moves, their confidence grew,” says Chaz Dawson, a trainer at Equinox Wall Street in NYC.

To make strength training feel less overwhelming, it helps to understand the mechanisms behind it. A good weight-training move, Dawson says, will incorporate the push-pull effect. “Using this technique when you’re working out with weights helps balance your body by working on complimentary muscles equally,” he explains. After all, he adds, “exercise should replicate the natural movements humans make in everyday life, so your body can function at its best.” To that end, Dawson developed this push-pull strength-training routine you can do two to three times per week; it incorporates gym equipment such as cables, medicine balls, and weight benches. Click through for the seven total-body moves — and then stride into the weight room with authority.

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Russian Twist With Medicine Ball
Targets shoulders, abs, and obliques

Sit on the floor with your legs extended and together, your knees bent, and your heels lifted from the floor. Keep your abs engaged and your back flat; lean back slightly. Hold a medicine ball in front of your chest, keeping your elbows by your sides.

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Keep your eyes on the ball as you completely twist your torso (and the ball) from your right hip to your left hip to complete 1 rep.

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Continue this movement as quickly as you can. Do 3 sets of 12 reps.

Variation: Do the move without a medicine ball. Instead, clasp your hands in a fist in front of your chest, or hold the ends of a dumbbell with both hands.

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Dumbbell Overhead Press
Targets shoulders, back, chest, arms, and abs

Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, holding a pair of dumbbells at your shoulders, with your elbows bent out to the sides (like you’re a goalpost) and your palms facing forward.

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Press the dumbbells over your head, as if to tap the inner ends together, straightening your arms completely. Lower your arms to starting position and repeat. Do 3 sets of 10 reps.

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Goblet Squat
Targets butt, quads, inner thighs, and hamstrings

Stand with your feet wider than shoulder-width apart, holding a dumbbell vertically, with both hands, in front of your chest. Keep your elbows bent slightly out to the sides.

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Squat, bending your knees 90 degrees and driving your hips back as if you’re sitting on a chair. Return to starting position. Do 3 sets of 12 reps. (Check out our video of this move to see the Goblet Squat in action.)

Variation: Skip the weight and keep your hands in fists in front of your chest.

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Overhead Triceps Extension
Targets arms

Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. Hold a dumbbell in each hand and raise your arms above your head (slightly forward from your body, not directly overhead). Keep your arms straight and your palms facing each other.

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Bend your elbows to lower the weights behind your ears. Hold; then, straighten your arms to return to start. Do 3 sets of 12 reps.

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Bench Crunch
targets abs, obliques, and arms

Sit on a bench and grip both sides of the bench (slightly behind your body) for stability. Bend your knees, lifting your legs in front of your chest, keeping your feet flexed.

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Lean back 45 degrees and, keeping your feet together, kick your heels out in front of you, straightening your legs. Hold for one count. Reverse the motion to return to starting position by sitting up and tucking your knees back in toward your chest. Do 3 sets of 20 reps.

Variation: Do the move on the floor instead of on a bench.

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Check Out The Rest Of The Moves On Refinery29!

By Jena Dedic

ALL PHOTOGRAPHY BY BEN RITTER; STYLING BY RENATA GAR, HAIR AND MAKEUP BY ANDI YANCEY; MODELED BY ALLY LOVE.