We’ll spill the beans — at BarBend, we love dumbbell exercises. And core workouts. Put them together and we’re over the moon. If you feel the same, or you’re on the hunt for a new dumbbell ab workout ... Continue Reading
Schwinn Airdyne AD7 Review (2025): The Harder You Go, The Harder It Gets
Over the last decade, the popularity of at-home cycling has exploded, with brands like Peloton and iFIT bringing the studio cycling experience into people’s homes. But spin bikes aren’t the only home ... Continue Reading
Best Dumbbell Exercises for Muscle Gain, Plus 3 Workouts
At BarBend, we review a lot of exercise equipment. Weekly we ask ourselves, what’s the best barbell out there? What are the best kettlebells for beginners? Is there a best treadmill, and if so, ... Continue Reading
How to Use a Chest Flye Machine to Build a Bigger Chest
It’s not all about the bench press. Chest flyes are one of my most commonly programmed upper body exercises for a reason. The pectoralis major is a massive muscle, and just pressing won’t build the ... Continue Reading
The 11 Best Triceps Exercises and Workouts, Recommended by a CPT
The biceps get too much credit. Don’t get us wrong; training your biceps is a must for bigger and stronger arms. But your triceps make up two-thirds of your upper arm mass and cover the entirety of the ... Continue Reading
The Best Chest Exercises and Workouts for Building Muscle
At BarBend, we're suckers for a good chest workout. Our staff of industry experts and accredited training professionals come from a wide variety of different backgrounds, but there's one thing we all have ... Continue Reading
How to Do Heel Touches — Proper Form, Benefits, Variations, and More
The heel touch exercise is simple, but it ain’t always easy. It targets your oblique muscles, builds core strength and stability, requires no barbells or other equipment, and is scalable for all fitness ... Continue Reading
The Wall Sit Exercise: Benefits, Best Variations, and Form Tips
You’re going to want to be sitting down for this one. Believe it or not, you don’t need to do too many fancy exercises if you want to strengthen your hips, thighs, and abdominal muscles. Sometimes, an ... Continue Reading
How to Do Triceps Pushdowns: Form Tips, Best Variations, & More
Believe it or not, your triceps take up about two thirds of the total mass in your upper arm. If you're into building muscle and want to ensure your arms aren't a weak point, you need to train your ... Continue Reading
The 9 Best Cool-Down Exercises to Optimize Your Recovery
After an intense workout, it’s tempting to hit the showers and move on with your busy day. But taking a few minutes to stretch, breathe, and relax gives your body a chance to (literally) cool down. ... Continue Reading
How to Do the Back Squat: Learn Form, Variations, and Benefits
Everyone squats. There are very few exercises that athletes and gymgoers alike, regardless of their sport or goal, all practice in some form. But the squat is one of them. Barbell back squats — which means ... Continue Reading
How To Do the Frog Pose for Better Hip Flexibility and Posture
Whether you spend all day confined to your workdesk or are a full-time powerlifter, there’s a good chance you’ve got tight hips. Luckily, the right mobility work can help you open up your hips and ... Continue Reading
How to Do Hip Thrusts the Proper Way: Variations and Benefits
Few exercises compare to the hip thrust when you’re on the mission of building strong and powerful glutes. In the fitness world, the hip thrust has grown in popularity due to the increased understanding of ... Continue Reading
The 12 Best Partner Exercises to Try With Your Gym Buddy, Plus Workouts
Some days, hitting the gym is all about much-needed me-time. You just want to pop on your headphones and dial in. On other days, you may want the extra motivation of your workout buddy sweating it out with ... Continue Reading
How to Do Glute Kickbacks to Build Your Butt
If you’ve been on board the bigger butt train, certain lower body exercises stand out. Squats, deadlifts, lunges, and hip thrusts have the center stage. But when you're likely too tired for another set of ... Continue Reading
The 11 Best Pull Exercises to Forge a Bigger, Stronger Back
You know what to do on leg day. And push days are known to bring on the bench press and overhead press. But pull day is looming in your push-pull-legs workout split, and you’re unsure which moves to ... Continue Reading
The 10 Best Leg Stretches to Bolster Your Lower Body Training
If you do it right, leg day is an intense experience. Squatting, lunging, and hinging until you’re a puddle on the gym floor takes up a lot of time and mental real estate. But once you’ve crushed your leg ... Continue Reading
How to Deadlift: Proper Form, Benefits, and Variations
The deadlift is perhaps the most fundamental compound exercise that you can do in the gym. Deadlifts help you build muscle and increase strength that carry over to both other gym exercises as well as your ... Continue Reading
How to Do the Nordic Curl to Power Up Your Hamstrings Without Weights
The Nordic curl is not for the faint of heart… or hamstrings. Don’t be misled by the fact that this move is “merely” a bodyweight exercise. Once you truly dive into this move, thoughts of adding weight ... Continue Reading
How To Do a Barbell Row: Correct Form and Muscles Worked
You won't do much better than the barbell row when it comes to gaining back strength and size. Better yet, the strength you gain from rowing a heavy barbell in a hinged position carries over to almost ... Continue Reading
How to Do Dumbbell Rows With the Right Form, CPT Approved
The dumbbell row, also known as the single-arm dumbbell row, is one of those exercises that we hope stays in style. It's also simple as heck to do — you kneel on a bench and row your arm to your side — and ... Continue Reading
The 10 Best Exercises for Long-Length Partial Reps
The bodybuilding world is abuzz right now. Exercise science researchers and content creators alike may have struck muscle-building gold. Long-length partial reps, or LLPs, are the talk of the town. New ... Continue Reading
How to Do Hammer Curls — Benefits, Variations, and More
If there's one unifying fact among strength athletes from different sports, it's that they all appreciate (or at least have) a large pair of arms. Though different athletes train for different feats of ... Continue Reading
Are Squats Really More “Anabolic” Than Other Exercises?
Your Takeaways There are a lot of good reasons to squat. For starters, squats are tremendously effective at building muscle in your legs and hips. The squat is also one of your fundamental movement ... Continue Reading