A 15-Minute Beginner Barbell Workout

If you’re looking to bolster your fitness arsenal, there’s no tool that’s more powerful than the barbell.

First of all, it’s endlessly versatile. Chicago-based personal trainer Wesley Showalter, CSCS, founder of ShowDub Strength, refers to the barbell as the “Swiss Army knife” of gym equipment. You can use it for compound, multi-joint exercises, like squats and deadlifts, as well as single-joint exercises, like biceps curls and triceps extensions.

“[The barbell] has a wide range of things you can do with it. And, on top of that, it’s not a fixed load, meaning you can change the weights,” he tells LIVESTRONG.com.

And if you want to get ‌really‌ heavy — maybe your primary goal is hypertrophy (aka muscle growth) or building maximal strength — there’s no better option.

“You can generally produce more force. You can go heavier because it’s one implement and two hands,” Showalter says.

While you may be able to lift comparable loads with resistance training machines, like the leg press or Smith machine, a barbell workout offers the added benefit of developing stability and core strength.

“Typically, the range of motion on machines is fixed,” Showalter explains. “With a barbell, or any free weight, it’s not a fixed range, which means your muscles are going to have to work in unison to stabilize [your body],” he says. For that reason, lifting with a barbell can help sharpen your proprioception, or body awareness. “The bar path isn’t set, so you have to control and stabilize where it’s going,” Showalter adds.

However, because working with a barbell allows you to lift heavier loads while simultaneously demanding more stability, body awareness and coordination than other types of training, it’s not ideal for someone just starting an exercise program.

“You should have a decent fitness background before you do barbell stuff,” Showalter says, noting that you can get strong and learn proper lifting form with equipment like kettlebells and dumbbells. “And there’s usually a lot less of a learning curve,” he says.

So, while the following workout is a solid starting point for someone new to the barbell, it’s not appropriate for the fitness beginner just starting to work out regularly. Before giving this a go, make sure you have some resistance training experience and are familiar with basic movement patterns, like squatting, hinging and pressing overhead.

Programmed and demonstrated by Showalter, this workout requires a barbell and a squat rack. You can adjust the weight between sets, but because this workout is only 15 minutes, and adding and removing weight plates is time-consuming, you may want to pick one weight that works for all four lifts. You also have the option to use an unloaded barbell.

Do the exercises in order for the number of reps indicated for 15 minutes total, using your transition time to rest. Accumulate as many rounds and reps as possible, but prioritize proper form. Showalter describes the ideal pace as “quick but not in a hurry.”