The Only Strength Training Exercises You Need To Get Strong Fast
Women's Health
February 20, 2026
AI-Generated Deep Dive Summary
The article highlights seven essential strength training exercises designed to build muscle and improve overall fitness efficiently. These movements focus primarily on squats and lunges, which are fundamental for developing lower body strength, core stability, and functional mobility. Each exercise is crafted to target major muscle groups while offering variations to enhance balance, unilateral strength, and coordination. Whether you're a gym-goer or prefer home workouts, these exercises can be performed using minimal equipment like dumbbells or resistance bands.
The Goblet Squat stands out for its core engagement benefits, allowing users to lift heavier weights as they progress. The Sumo Squat, with its wider stance and toes-out position, enhances quad and glute strength while improving hip mobility. For unilateral strength, the Bulgarian Split Squat is ideal for correcting muscle imbalances by working one leg at a time. The Single-Leg Box Squat further challenges balance and builds glute and quad power, especially when using a shorter box over time.
The Step Up exercise improves single-leg balance and stability, making it adaptable to various fitness levels by adjusting step height or weight held. Reverse Lunges target the quads, hamstrings, and glutes while enhancing coordination, with controlled back leg movement and powerful front leg pushes
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Originally published on Women's Health on 2/20/2026