{"id":120481,"date":"2025-08-05T09:10:21","date_gmt":"2025-08-05T09:10:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/120481\/"},"modified":"2025-08-05T09:10:21","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T09:10:21","slug":"a-personal-trainer-says-these-are-his-top-three-exercises-to-start-building-lower-body-muscle-and-strength","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/120481\/","title":{"rendered":"A personal trainer says these are his top three exercises to start building lower-body muscle and strength"},"content":{"rendered":"

At Fit&Well, we are great believers that you don\u2019t need a gym membership to experience the benefits of exercise. But great things happen to your body when you\u2019re able to (safely) lift heavy things. Just listen to Professor Michael Snyder PhD, a longevity expert who recommends strength training consistently into old age.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou want to keep your muscle mass up throughout your life because it really generates a lot of very useful hormones,\u201d he told Fit&Well<\/a> last year. \u201cThey call them mitokines or exerkines, these molecules that are very beneficial for you.”<\/p>\n

And the 69-year-old Snyder takes his own advice, too. \u201cI strength train for around 45 minutes per day,\u201d he says. \u201cI do heavy days and light days, mostly focusing on exercises around the shoulders and spine like overhead presses and squats. I lift pretty heavy weights so it does help build a lot of strength.\u201d<\/p>\n

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But it\u2019s wise not to jump straight in with barbells and the heaviest weight you can manage. It\u2019s important to gradually build up the strength you need to perform the exercises with correct form to avoid injury.<\/p>\n

I asked personal trainer and manager of Bay Club Portland<\/a>, Zack Dzingle, for where to start when building the lower-body strength to pick up your first barbell. He recommends starting with a set of dumbbells and employing these three simple moves.<\/p>\n

The first movement introduces you to the hip hinge movement used in the deadlift. The second ratchets up the difficulty of a weighted squat, while the third uses your legs to assist with lifting a weight overhead, in both of those cases providing a useful stepping stone to graduating to using a barbell to perform a back squat and a strict overhead press.<\/p>\n

1. Romanian deadlift<\/p>\n

Image 1 of 2<\/p>\n

\"man(Image credit: Zack Dzingle)\"man(Image credit: Zack Dzingle)<\/p>\n

How to do it:<\/strong><\/p>\n

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