Best Bodybuilding Exercises for Weightlifters to Look Jacked and Lift More Weight
My first weightlifting coach Glenn Pendlay used to say:
“If a weightlifter was ever accused of the crime of being a weightlifter, the case would be thrown out due to lack of evidence.”
This single sentence has repeated in my head at least once a week for the last 7 years since I first heard it and I believe it still rings true to this day. Take a look at any weightlifter and at first glance you wouldn’t notice anything particularly out of the ordinary. You see, most weightlifters don’t actually look all that strong. That is because they have optimized their training to lift the most weight possible, not to build the most muscle possible.
This is done through mastering efficient technique, increasing neural output, and talking your brain into attempting lifts that normies cannot understand.
P.S. If you want to build muscle and lift heavy, then check out my 8-Week OlyBuilding Program with my unique combination of Olympic Weightlifting and Bodybuilding style training!
However, there comes a time when the amount of work needed to increase your lifts through the methods above has diminishing returns, and it would be far easier to just build a little bit more muscle to work with. And, if you’re a beginner lifter, the methods above can be fairly advanced, when your biggest bottleneck is your lack of muscle.
More muscle means more neural output potential. More muscle means it is easier to maintain proper technique. And more muscle gives you more confidence to get under bigger weights.
In short, more muscle is never a bad thing.
In this article, I’m going to break down how to build more muscle as a weightlifter as well as the top 11 bodybuilding exercises you can use to build more muscle, look jacked, and lift more weights.
Compound Lifts
If you’ve trained in Olympic weightlifting for a while, you’re not a stranger to compound exercises, however, if you are new to the sport you may not know what they are or the benefit of them for building muscle and strength.
A compound lift is an exercise that builds muscle in more than one muscle group. Some exercises are more compound than others, and some exercises are more isolation-focused than others. A leg extension for example is a pure isolation exercise, building muscle only in the quads, whereas a squat will build muscle in the quads, hamstrings, glutes, core, and upper back.
The majority of your strength and muscle will be built through compound exercises done in rep ranges and with weights that best stimulate hypertrophy (muscle growth). Weightlifters typically train compound exercises in low rep ranges, usually 1-3 reps, and with very heavy weights. However, we now know that muscle is best built in the 5-30 rep range. This doesn’t mean you should immediately start doing sets of thirty on the squat. No, it’s important to remember that we still want to develop strength, so sticking in the lower end of that range will still allow you to build muscle AND strength as a byproduct of using heavier weights than you could for the sets of thirty.
But which compound exercises should you focus on?
The primary ones should be the back squat, front squat, push press, strict press, snatch deadlift, and clean deadlift. These will have the most carry-over to the sport of weightlifting, while still having the potential to build a ton of muscle.
Perform these in the 5-10 rep range, with weights that are challenging but doable, and increase weight and/or volume over time and you’ll be sure to build a ton of muscle and strength.
Bodybuilding Exercises
Bodybuilding exercises, or as they are often called by weightlifters, accessory/auxiliary work can be a great way to take your muscle gain goals to the next level. While compound lifts should be about ~50% of the pie, bodybuilding work can help fill in the gaps and shore up areas that may be harder to target or take to failure through just compound exercises.
Here are some of my favorite isolation exercises to help build muscle in each of the major muscle groups that will help you look more jacked and lift more weight!
Lower Body Exercises
Exercise #1: Leg Press/Hack Squat
The Hack Squat or Leg Press is a great way to reduce your core/back as a limiting factor and take your legs much closer to failure than a traditional squat. This is still a compound lift which means we can move a ton of weight on it, which also has carry over to building strength. Doing some high-rep sets of these as a drop set after normal squats, or doing them as a replacement for squats are both great options, especially for burnt-out weightlifters who want to mix things up in their training.
Exercise #2: Barbell RDL
The Barbell RDL is hands down one of the best exercises to build muscle in the hamstrings and glutes, and while we may build more skill in the snatch and clean with traditional pulls, these will build a lot more muscle. I prefer these in the 6-10 rep range, with a slow descent for each rep, and not only will your hamstrings be shaking, but your upper and lower back will get very strong at maintaining positions which helps the pull for your snatch and clean.
Exercise #3: The Leg Extension
I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve seen a weightlifter use a leg extension machine, which is a damn travesty as this is the single best way to truly take your quads to failure. I promise you will never be able to squat enough reps to get the same stimulus as a leg extension (the key is to do both). This machine is a perfect finisher for a quad-focused leg day and is sure to get your quads looking juicy. Try these in the 15-30 rep range, for 2-4 sets after your squats and you’ll hate me tomorrow but love me later.
Exercise #4: The Hamstring Curl
Just like with the Leg Extension, the Hamstring Curl takes the hamstrings to failure in a way the RDL can’t and is best performed in conjunction with RDLs. Stronger hamstrings aren’t a make-or-break muscle for a weightlifter like the quads are, but there’s no point in having weak hamstrings either. Try these in the 15-30 rep range, for 2-4 sets after your RDLs, either seated or prone, and if you don’t have a machine, then you can use a resistance band for similar, though lesser, results.
Upper Body Push Exercises
Exercise #1: Press
I’m being vague here for a reason, you can sub the barbell press out for any variation, strict, incline, or flat bench and you’ll still see great results. I like the strict press as it has the most carry-over to the jerk, but if you want to build some pecs, you can lean more toward an incline or flat bench instead. If you really want to step it up, hop on a smith machine to squeak out those last few reps toward failure. This is best done in the 6-10 rep range, but if you want a little more of a pump, then you can also do some high rep drop sets like I do in the Top-Set Drop-Set Method!
Exercise #2: Chest Fly
The chest fly is a staple in any bodybuilder’s program and one I’ve seen help many weightlifters who lack stability in the snatch benefit from. Whether you do these with dumbbells on a flat bench, on a chest fly machine, or with cables, you will help stretch the pec through a full range of motion, and isolate it better than if you were to do dumbbell bench. I like these in the higher rep range with lighter weight, anywhere from 10-20 reps after a heavy pressing exercise. Make sure not to do these the day before snatches though, especially if mobility is a struggle, as you will be very sore and tight!
Exercise #3: Katana Tricep Extension
This exercise gained a lot of popularity on TikTok a few years back, and before you discount it on that reason alone, I urge you to give it a try. As a former rope pushdown stan myself, I have fully converted to the church of katana. These take the triceps to true failure, and it requires very little weight to do so. On a personal note, almost any tricep exercise would irritate my elbows, but these are the sole exception. Give these a try in the 8-15 rep range, but realistically just to failure as it will happen sooner than you think.
Upper Body Pull Exercises
Exercise #1: Chest Supported Row
The chest-supported row tops the list as it allows you to go very heavy, and removes the lower back and hamstrings as potential limiting factors in going to failure. Not that the traditional bent-over row is a bad lift by any means. You’ll strengthen your lower back and hamstrings in an isometric hold, however for pure upper back and lat hypertrophy, the chest-supported row reigns supreme. This exercise is best done in the 6-10 rep range, with higher rep drop sets afterward. One key element to this exercise is to make sure you get a full stretch at the bottom of the movement by rounding your shoulders as much as possible, then only pulling high enough to get the triceps parallel with the torso, not past it.
Exercise #2: The Pullover
The pullover is one of the most old-school back exercises out there. Arnold used to refer to it as a rib-cage expander, and while we know that this isn’t going to make your ribs bigger, it will make your lats massive! This is also a great way to improve your overhead mobility for jerks and snatches, and it’s one of the staple exercises in my FREE Mobility101: Guide for Weightlifters. You can do these on a bench with a dumbbell or curl bar, or on a cable machine. I like both options, however, the cable version can feel better on my shoulders at times compared to the dumbbell version. Do these with a slow eccentric for 10-15 reps, aiming to reach as far back as possible, but make sure that the movement happens at the shoulder and not in the core. Many people make the mistake of reaching back by arching the lower back more rather than strictly moving at the shoulder, which takes most of the lats out of the equation.
Exercise #3: Kneeling High Cable Row
This row variation is a great way to take the lat through a more effective range of motion, however, you are welcome to sub this out for other rowing exercises if you’d like, but give these a try first! Perform these in the 10-15 rep range for 2-5 sets with as heavy a weight as possible, making sure to control the eccentric, get a full stretch at the top, and row the elbow back until it gets to parallel with the torso, not behind.
Exercise #4: Incline Curl
This curl variation is hands down the best as it takes the bicep through a full range of motion and doesn’t require much weight to go to failure. You can perform these on an incline bench with dumbbells, with cables, or even standing with cables! Try these in the 10-20 rep range for maximum pump and results.
Implementation
As far as I can tell, I have not seen any programs that effectively program bodybuilding work and Olympic weightlifting work where the Olympic lifts are not the main priority. Most programs tend to be roughly 45% Weightlifting, 45% strength, and 10% bodybuilding. This may be fine for the traditional weightlifter, but more and more people are finding weightlifting as a hobby and may want to prioritize weightlifting less and bodybuilding more. Along with that, weightlifting can really burn you out if you've done it for a while, so a training program that prioritizes bodybuilding more can be a great way to switch things up, build muscle, and reinvigorate you to train hard again!
Here’s how I apply this in my 3-Day OlyBuilding program, which you can get here.
The first step is to find a logical training split in which you can train your Olympic lifts without soreness or stiffness caused by your bodybuilding work getting in the way. The split I use is:
Monday: Snatch and Legs
Wednesday: Jerks and Upper Push
Friday: Cleans and Upper Pull
If you are particularly astute, you may notice this is a makeshift Push/Pull/Legs split. This split allows you to train your snatch and legs as hard as possible, as you don’t need your legs to be fully recovered for jerks or upper push work, and they will be recovered in time to train your cleans hard on Friday. Similarly, you can train your jerks and upper push exercises as hard as you want as you do not need your pushing muscles to be fully recovered for cleans the following training session. And finally, you can train your upper pulling muscles as hard as you’d like as you’ll get an extra day of rest before you snatch again the next week, and you won’t have to worry about your ability to rack a barbell as you are doing your cleans before any back or bicep work.
Hopefully, this led to some lightbulb moments with your training! You can find a sample week below, but if you want to find out exactly how I use these methods to build muscle and improve your olympic lifts, then check out my 8-Week OlyBuilding Program here!
If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment below or ask in my free discord here and you can even drop a video in the #form-checks channel for a form check!
By the way, I’ve got a free beginner weightlifting guide and a 6-week program! If you’re new to the olympic lifts, then check it out here!
And if you’re looking for a weightlifting program designed to help you set PRs, improve your technique, and get strong af, then check out a FREE WEEK TRIAL of my 3 & 5-Day OlyStrong Team at the link below!
