Exercise Guides: How To's and Comparisons

Few exercises demonstrate brute strength better than the deadlift. The deadlift earned its title as the king of all lifts due to its potential for moving incredibly heavy weights and capacity to challenge your entire body.

However, this deceptively simple-looking exercise is a cause of frustration and discomfort for many lifters. Without precise technique, deadlifts can cause back pain or injuries. Luckily, there are plenty of alternatives that offer many of the same benefits of the deadlift while being more protective of your spine. Here is our list of the 7 best deadlift alternatives and why you should consider incorporating them into your program.

Box jumps are one of the best plyometric exercises for building explosive power in your legs and glutes. You load a squat, fire out of the bottom, and land on a raised platform. Done well, they build serious power and train the fast-twitch fibers that drive jumping, sprinting, and change of direction.

The problem is the box itself. Miss the height and you scrape your shins or crash a knee into the edge, and plenty of lifters do exactly that. If you’re new to plyos, working around a cranky knee, or your gym doesn’t have a solid box to jump on, you’re better off with one of the options below.

I picked these on how well they build the same explosive leg drive, how easy they are on your joints, and what gear they need. Some are jumps, some are heavy strength lifts you can move with speed, and a couple are low-impact enough for a deload. Here’s the full list before we get into each one.

You’ve probably heard the phrase “you’ve gotta row to grow.” Rowing exercises are one of the best ways to target your upper posterior chain and build a broader, stronger back. Barbell rows are among the most popular rowing variations. 

Barbell rows load your lats and back muscles with heavy weights while strengthening your core and hamstrings. However, they may not be an appropriate choice for everyone. Bent-over barbell rows cause some lifters to experience lower back pain. Others lack the core stability or grip strength to get the most out of this exercise. 

If you are looking for an alternative to the bent-over row to avoid pain, manage an injury, make do with minimal equipment, or simply change things up, we have you covered. Here is our list of the best barbell row alternatives to help you build a strong, broad back.

Most lifters strive to build strong, thick hamstrings on leg day. Well-developed hamstrings contribute to chiseled, sculpted legs. Your hamstrings also support functional activities like walking, running, kicking, and jumping. The lying leg curl is the most obvious and popular way to train your hamstrings, as it isolates the muscles as they move through a long range of motion.

Luckily, even if you don’t have access to a lying leg curl, there are plenty of equally effective exercises to build bigger hamstrings. Here is our list of the best lying leg curl alternatives.

The hack squat is one of the best machines for building bigger quads. You load a sled onto your shoulders, plant your feet on the angled platform, and drive up and down a fixed track. Because the machine controls the bar path and takes your lower back out of the equation, you can push your quads close to failure without worrying about balance or spinal load. That’s why it’s a staple on so many leg days.

You might need an alternative for a handful of reasons. Plenty of gyms don’t own a hack squat machine, and if you train at home you almost certainly don’t have one. The fixed track can bother some people’s knees or lower back if the angle doesn’t fit their build. And if your gym has a reverse hack squat or a V-squat instead of a traditional hack squat, you’re really just after the same quad work from a slightly different tool.

I picked these 10 hack squat alternatives for how well they load the quads the way a hack squat does, how easy they are on your back and knees, and what equipment they need. There’s a machine option for most gyms, a barbell option if you’d rather use free weights, a single-leg option, and a bodyweight option you can do at home. I’ll tell you when to reach for each one, how to do it, and where it fits in your training.

The gluteus maximus, more commonly referred to as the glutes or butt, is the largest muscle in the human body. In addition to the gluteus maximus, you also have two other glute muscles – the gluteus medius and gluteus minimus. Both help move and stabilize your hips and pelvis.

Along with the glutes, the hamstrings help perform hip extension, so they are involved in many of the same exercises. One of the most popular exercises for targeting your glutes and hamstrings, also known as the posterior chain, is the glute bridge.

The glute bridge is an effective exercise, but there are plenty of reasons to look for an alternative: equipment limitations, injury or pain, plateaus, or wanting to isolate the glutes further.

Below are the 10 best glute bridge alternatives, with step-by-step instructions, a video demonstration, and training tips for each.

The lat pulldown is one of the best lat builders going, and it’s the exercise most people default to for back width. It trains the lats through shoulder adduction by pulling a bar down to your chest, it’s easy to load, and it’s easy to learn. If you’ve got the machine, it’s a great one to build a back day around.

There are plenty of reasons to swap it out, though. Maybe your gym doesn’t have the machine, maybe you train at home, maybe one lat is bigger than the other, or maybe you’ve stalled and want a fresh angle. Plenty of lifters also land here looking for a wide-grip lat pulldown alternative specifically, since that wide overhand grip is what builds the V-taper. Most of the options below cover that, and a couple need nothing but a band and a doorway.

I picked these 10 on how well they hit the lats, what equipment they need, and whether you can keep loading them over time. Some isolate the lats, some build thickness through rows, and a few you can run at home with zero machines. Find the two or three that fit your setup and rotate them.

The lunge is one of the best accessory lifts going for your legs. It trains the quads, glutes, and hamstrings one side at a time, which evens out left-to-right strength imbalances and sharpens your balance and coordination in a way a bilateral squat can’t. Walking lunges are the version most people picture, and they hammer the legs, but they eat up floor space and they bother plenty of lifters’ knees.

That knee stress is the main reason I swap them out. Stepping forward forces the front knee to brake against your momentum, and that shearing force flares up cranky knees fast. Add in the balance demand, the open floor you need for walking lunges, and the days you’d rather just load a machine, and there are plenty of reasons to reach for something else.

Below are the nine lunge alternatives I’d actually program, from no-equipment options to loaded machine work. I picked them on how closely they match a lunge, how easy they are on the knees, what gear they need, and whether you can keep loading them over time. Here’s the full list before we get into each one.

Do you want to build a powerful, strong chest but have plateaued in your bench press? Do you need an alternate exercise for those busy days when all the benches are taken?

The bench press is one of the best exercises for building the strength and size of your chest. It recruits many of the large muscle groups in your chest, especially the pec major, but it isn’t the only effective chest exercise.

Here is our list of the best 10 exercise alternatives to the bench press.

Your triceps make up roughly two-thirds of your upper arm, so if you want sleeves that actually fill out, they matter more than your biceps. Tricep dips are one of the best bodyweight ways to load them. They’re just not for everyone.

I stopped programming bench dips years ago because they parked my shoulders in a position my joints hated, and plenty of lifters feel the same. If you feel dips in the front of your shoulder or your elbow long before you feel them in your triceps, that’s your cue to swap.

Every job a dip does, another exercise covers too, usually with less joint stress and the option to add weight. Below are the eight tricep dip alternatives I actually reach for, whether I’m training at home with nothing but a floor or loading up heavy at the gym.

I picked these on four things: how hard they hit the triceps, how easy they are on the shoulders and elbows, what equipment they need, and whether you can progress them over time. Here’s the full list before we get into each one.

Do you want to build strong, powerful back muscles to improve your posture and gym performance? The T-bar row is one of the most popular horizontal pulling exercises, thanks to its impressive ability to fire up multiple muscle groups within your posterior chain. 

If you don’t have access to the equipment for a T-bar row or are looking to switch up your exercise selection, there are plenty of equally effective alternatives. 

Here is our list of the 9 best alternatives to the T-bar row.

Whether you’re a strength training newbie or an advanced weightlifter, pull-ups are one of the most impressive and practical exercises for your upper body. They are also one of the most difficult to execute correctly.

Whether you can do pull-ups or not, having alternate exercises to strengthen your back and biceps is a great way to keep your program effective. 

Supplementing pull-ups with a range of alternative exercises helps strengthen the muscles required for a pull-up and builds a bigger, stronger back. Many of these alternatives also make great progressions, so you can use them to build the strength and confidence to get your first pull-up.

Here is our list of the 12 best pull-up alternatives and progressions.

The dumbbell pullover helps build and strengthen the lats, chest, and triceps while improving shoulder mobility.

It’s also an awkward lift. The setup is hard on cranky shoulders, and it splits its work between two muscle groups instead of hammering either one.

Since the pullover targets the lats and chest equally, the 10 alternatives below are split into two groups – five for the lats and five for the chest – each with a video demonstration, so you can pick based on the muscle you want to grow.

The leg press is a machine-based exercise that’s very effective at building the quads, glutes, and hamstrings. Although the leg press is a great exercise, a common question in the fitness industry is, “what can I use instead of a leg press?”

Perhaps your gym doesn’t have a leg press, you work out at home, or are often on the road. What if you want to further isolate the quads because they are a lagging body part? Or maybe you’re an athlete looking for something more functional.

There are a number of reasons that may leave you looking for a leg press alternative, such as equipment limitations, physical limitations, the need for exercise variation, and further isolation of a specific muscle group.

The good news is that there are several exercises that you can do to target the quads, glutes, and hamstrings, no matter what your situation is! And that’s exactly what we are going to cover in this article!

Without further ado, here’s our definitive list of the best leg press alternatives!