Fitness coach Jeff Cavaliere doesn’t underestimate the power of exercise selection. He recently broke down his top eight movements for building muscle effectively, grounded in science-based principles, on April 27, 2025.
Cavaliere is the founder of ATHLEAN-X, and for years, has provided training advice for his growing YouTube channel of over 14 million subscribers. He’s successfully integrated science into his training demonstrations, calling on his coaching expertise and body mechanics to help formulate perfect workout routines.
Jeff Cavaliere’s Top 8 Exercises for Building Muscle
Cavaliere featured these eight exercises in his latest YouTube video, which he believes will help anyone build muscle if they are performed properly.
- Barbell Curl
- Weighted Dip
- Facepull
- Deadlift
- Squat
- Overhead Press
- Lat Pulldown
- Lying Triceps Extension
Barbell Curl
For arm gains, Cavaliere got behind barbell curls and highlighted two main points to focus on: lifting the bar ‘straight up to the sky’ and focusing on a slower eccentric.
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“Here’s what I want you guys to focus on, two things to do this really well: the first thing is instead of thinking of curling this bar up, I want you to think about lifting it up straight to the sky.
“The next thing that would be really important when you’re doing the curl is to focus on how you’re moving the weight through space, not just on the way up, but also on the way down.”
Weighted Dip
Ideally, Cavaliere believes adding weight to dips is the most optimal route to gains.
“If you can weight it, put a little extra weight around it. I’m not interested in you doing 15-25 different reps for this, instead, I’d rather see you put some weight around your waist and do some more reps,” he shared.
Some of the form cues he shared were setting your posture, lifting the sternum high, and pulling the shoulders downward.
“Set your posture beforehand, instead of being rounded here, consciously try to lift your sternum as high as you can and pull your shoulders down,” explains Cavaliere. “Then all you have to do is then release and push through the elbows.”
Facepull
On Facepulls, Cavaliere said to maintain a 90-degree angle with your hands and keep the elbows up.
“Open up, get the rotator cuffs involved, and to do that, you need to get into a 90-degree angle with your hands. Elbows are up,” he shared. “Elbows are wide, open at 90 degrees pulling through here [mid back].
When you do the exercise, I want you to think about pulling back and creating this thickness up through here because these muscles are all being pulled in unison together to create that pull.”
Deadlift
Although deadlifts can be trickier to execute, Cavaliere’s best tip was to place the bar over the mid-foot or right past the shoe laces.
“The best tip is just [the bar] over the mid-foot or laces. From here, you go down, but you hinge to the bar to get it. You’re trying to reinforce the right mechanics, and the hinge to the bar is the way you want to go down, not just bending from the waist.”
Squat
Avoiding a pelvic tilt is critical for making better gains from squats. He said to avoid this and hinge through the hips for the best results.
“Think of what would happen if you were to do a kettlebell swing, you drop back on a hinge through the hips. Think about hinging back, it starts to resemble a good morning, right? This is the position you want you hips in ultimately.”
“Think about moving the hips back in that hinge direction at the same time that you just allow the knees to bend under you,” he adds.
Overhead Press
Cavaliere credited the standing overhead press for helping build bigger shoulders. His key tips here? Recruit the lower body and implement the right grip.
“This is going to be the best exercise for adding the most weight to the bar, that can be progressed the most, that’s ultimately going to lead to the biggest shoulders.”
“The most important thing you can do here is recruit that lower body but also establish the right width of the grip when you’re doing the exercise.”
Lat Pulldown
As one of the only machines to make his list, Cavaliere underscored that the gains from lat pulldowns are too great to pass on, especially the eccentric part of each repetition.
“It does the job the most effectively,” said Cavaliere. “Elbows go forward, tuck them into the front pockets, really try to drive them down into those lower lat insertions and get that good squeeze.”
“Don’t ever speed through the eccentric portion, especially on a lift like this.”
Lying Triceps Extension
He explained that the lying triceps extension or skullcrusher is the best movement for engaging the long head of the triceps.
“This is where you’ve engaged the long head of the triceps,” explained Cavaliere. “The ones [exercises] that place the most stress on that head of the triceps is going to be the one you want to do. Once that elbow is locked in position there, you keep it there.”
Whether the ultimate goal is muscle building or strength and longevity, Cavaliere has the answers. He recently dove into his quality-of-life-inspired stretching routine to help improve mobility and flexibility, which he argued can help alleviate pain for some individuals.
While just about any exercise has some utility, Cavaliere stands by these as being the most effective for building muscle. Given that he’s programmed these into routines for individuals he’s trained, it’s safe to say he’s on the right track.
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