Eight Barbell Exercises For Athleticism

I will list barbell exercises that, in my opinion, require the most athleticism with either high reps or weights.  Strength is an important factor in determining an athletic display but so are power, speed, and mobility.  As you may guess, the barbell wrist curl will not be mentioned here.

Here are the top three:

1. Snatch- Its variations such as the power snatch and hang snatch are also great arsenals for developing athletic performance, but the full snatch combines an explosive deficit deadlift, a jump shrug, a high pull, and an overhead squat.  Even those individual movements are quite taxing on the body but to put them all together into one graceful motion requires extraordinary neuromuscular development.  You must be strong, powerful, agile, flexible, coordinated, and focused.

2. Clean- Similar to the snatch, the clean is a deadlift, a jump shrug, a high pull, and a front squat combined into one motion.  In Olympic lifting circles, the clean is often taught first because it is easier to grasp.

3. Jerk- Few people do much overhead pressing in the gym, even the men who only work their upper bodies.  For starters, you cannot lift as much as your one-rep max on the bench press.  Also, you need to stabilize your entire core to maintain your posture and have enough shoulder mobility to execute this movement in a full range of motion.  Combine this with an explosive leg drive to create the most efficient way of lifting heavy weight overhead.

After these ballistic movements, there is a huge drop off in athletic requirement as far as power generation goes.  I like to do the Olympic lifts and their variations every now and then to feel more nimble.  They are also good assessments for your physical fitness.  Here are seven more barbell exercises that require great overall kinesthetic ability:

4. Walking Lunges- Load a barbell on your back and do some walking lunges over a distance.

5. Rollout- This is great for strengthening your abdomen.  Alternatively, you can use ab wheel (which is what I personally use).

6. Barbell Row- Do this the way Arnold did.

7. Bench Press- Do this like a powerlifter.

8. Olympic Squat- Place the barbell high on your back and squat down until your buttocks are inches away from the ground.  Wearing Olympic weightlifting shoes to reach that depth will be helpful.

There is a good chance that even the gym-goers amongst you do not do most of these exercises.  This is probably because a majority people who go to the gym to lift weights do so with the purpose of bodybuilding or strength training.  These lifts can be very challenging so that factor may deter some people from ever attempting these.  However, you will feel a night and day difference in your overall fitness if you incorporate some of these movements into your training on a regular basis.