If all you have is an EZ Curl Bar at home and you want to crush your workouts, we have you covered! Below are 30 different exercises you can add into your home workouts using only an EZ Bar.
When adding these exercises into your workouts your can adjust different training variables such as tempo, sets, reps and intensity to get the most out of these 30 EZ bar exercises.
It's best to have a few pairs of plates from light to heavy to perform all of these exercises correctly and to get optimal results out of your workouts.
Video of all of the 30 EZ Bar Exercises below. Subscribe on Youtube for New Workout Videos!
(*Exercises are in order from the Video above)
1. SINGLE ARM PREACHER CURL
Great unilateral exercise to isolate the biceps. Unlike standing curls, this variation is much harder to cheat with your upper body, putting the biceps under a whole lot of tension. This exercise doesn't require a lot of weight. Focus on a slow strict movement, slow down the eccentric portion of the lift to get the most bang for your buck.
2. PENDULUM LUNGE
Killer leg exercise you can do that doesn't require too much space, as you will just be lunging forward and backwards in a pendulum movement. This exercise will target your quads and also work your hamstrings, glutes, calves and abs. Practice this movement without the EZ bar first and when you're comfortable move to a light weight and gradually build from there.
3. GLUTE BRIDGE FLOOR PRESS
Being in a glute bridge position will put you in an angle that targets your lower chest. This exercise will also work your triceps, core and glutes at the same time. Before using your EZ curl bar, practice getting the glute bridge movement down.
4. JUMP SQUATS
If you play sports that require you to jump or sprint then this exercise is for you and can help you get a competitive advantage over your opponents. Jump squats will help with your explosive power and speed. It is a great stand alone bodyweight exercise but if you want to ramp things up a bit add an EZ bar into the mix. There is definitely no need for heavy weights for this exercise, even just adding the curl bar with no weights on it will add some extra resistance.
5. UPRIGHT ROW + LATERAL RAISE
Nice little combo for the shoulders. The Upright Row will target your front, middle delts, traps and rhomboids, while the lateral raises will smash your middle deltoid muscle even more. Lateral raises will help to give you wider shoulders, giving you the appearance of having a narrower waist.
6. CURLS - WIDE TO CLOSE GRIP
Great bicep curl variation that will target both the long and the short head of the biceps. During the wide grip you target the long head, as you move your grip closer on the EZ bar you target more of the short head of the biceps.
7. CALF RAISES - 2 SEC HOLD
This exercise will take a little to get used to. Once you find the right placement for the EZ Bar it will be much easier to balance. Try to contract your calves for at least 2 seconds at the top of the movement, if you can hold for longer go for it! More time under tension the better.
8. PULLOVERS
If you want to target your chest and lats the pullover is a solid choice. The advantages of using an EZ curl bar for this exercise would be your control over grip placement, you can adjust from wide to a closer grip to target your chest and lats slightly differently.
9. KNEELING OVERHEAD TRICEP EXTENSION
Big arms = BIG TRICEPS. Triceps make up the majority of your arms. Not only that, strengthening your triceps will help with tons of your other lifts, especially pushing movements like bench press, shoulder press etc... Doing this exercise in a kneeling can take some pressure off your lower back.
10. REVERSE LUNGES
Solid choice to add to your leg day. Reverse lunges will target your hamstrings, quads, glutes and calves. A wider lunge will hit your glutes/hamstrings more while a shorter lunge will focus more on your quads.
11. SINGLE ARM CHEST FLY
Smash your chest with this unilateral exercise. Grip the EZ bar in the middle to balance it as you lift. No need to load the weight on this one, even with a lighter weight your chest will get PUMPED.
12. GOOD MORNING
Great choice to target your hamstrings. This exercise will also work your glutes, lower back and abs. Overall great way to strengthen all the muscles in your posterior chain. I found it quite comfortable using the EZ bar for this exercise, you just have to find the right placement for the bar.
13. KNEELING OVERHEAD PRESS
Build those boulder shoulders with this EZ bar exercise. By kneeling down you can't cheat the movement with your legs, placing more tension on your shoulders and making it a stricter shoulder press.
14. ALTERNATING FORWARD LUNGE
Another solid choice to add to your leg day workout as these will target your quads, hamstrings, glutes and calves.
15. FLOOR PRESS
Great choice for a horizontal pressing movement. This EZ bar variation requires no bench, all you have to do is lay on the floor and press the bar up focusing on your chest. A slight contraction of the pecs at the top of the movement is also great for developing your mind-muscle connection with your pecs.
16. SUPINATED ROW
Rows are the king of back muscle development. This supinated variation using the EZ bar will target your biceps more than a pronated grip but it will also hit your lats. If you want to hit your back harder than simply turn your hands around into a pronated grip.
17. SPLIT SQUATS
Killer unilateral leg exercise. Split squats using the EZ bar will hit your glutes, quads and hams. Foot placement will have a direct affect on which muscles are being targeted, having a wide stance will place greater tension on your glutes and hamstrings, while having a shorter stance will place more emphasis on your quads.
18. REAR DELT ROW
Grabbing the EZ bar as wide as you can will help target your rear delts. For best results, squeeze for a second at the top of the movement.
19. GLUTE BRIDGE
Awesome exercise for developing your glutes. Stronger glutes will help support your lower back, improve your athletic performance, help with speed and agility and aid with injury prevention.
20. CRUNCH
Crunches are great for your abs. Adding an EZ bar will help overload abs.
21. STIFF LEG DEADLIFT
Great exercise to target your hamstrings. Make sure not to round your lower back by kicking your butt straight back, lowering the EZ bar with a controlled movement and contracting those hammies on the way up.
22. SINGLE ARM FARMERS CARRY
If you have enough weight at home this is a killer exercise that will help with grip strength, core strength and will kick your whole body in the butt if held for long enough.
23. DRAG CURLS
Great choice for adding size to your biceps, as this variation will heavily place tension on your biceps throughout the lift.
24. SPLIT STANCE DEADLIFT
A great compound movement that will focus primarily on your hamstrings. The split stance will also help engage your core and stabilizer muscles.
25. SKULL CRUSHER + CLOSE GRIP PRESS
One of my favorite mechanical drop sets. Skull Crushers with Close Grip Press. A solid addition to any Push day workout, this drop set will hit your chest and triceps.
26. REVERSE CURLS
Another great bicep exercise, this variation using the EZ bar will focus on your Brachialis as well as your biceps.
27. SLOW ECCENTRIC SQUAT
If you don't have too many weights to work with but still want to crush your legs, try slowing down the eccentric (negative) portion of your squat when using the EZ bar.
28. SINGLE LEG GLUTE BRIDGE
Here's a fun unilateral glute bridge variation to try out. It will focus on your glutes, hamstrings, hip flexors and lower back muscles.
29. ZERCHER SQUAT
Here's a great exercise to try out that will work your quads, glutes, back and biceps as well as you core.
30. HANGING CURLS
Throw this one into your routine when hitting biceps. In a bent over position with the EZ bar slightly in front of you makes for a great contraction of the biceps. *If you experience any lower back pain stay away from this bicep exercise.
Hope you were able to find some new exercises to try out with your EZ curl bar. It's definitely a great piece of equipment to have at home that can be used to train your whole body.