The 5 most efficient exercises for adding strength and size

Let’s be honest: we don’t have hours to train in the gym. We have work, family and other commitments. Does that mean you still can’t get strong and build muscle? Absolutely not. The key to effective training isn’t about how long you spend in the gym; it’s about smart exercise selection. Quality over quantity, always.

To help you zero in on the most efficient exercises for your training, exercise scientist Dr. Mike Israetel recently shared his top picks in a YouTube video, which he says “will take very little time and leave you ultra jacked”.

The exercises he’s chosen hit three criteria:

• They’re all compound exercises: this means the exercise will hit multiple muscles at the same time, rather than an isolation exercise which isolates one particular muscle (like bicep curls). While Dr Mike has nothing against isolation exercises, they’re not the most time efficient.
• No single muscle receives the vast majority of stimulus: you may be thinking ‘yes, you’ve already said compound exercises, ’ but even compound exercises can do this. Dr Mike uses the wide grip bench press as an example; while it hits the triceps, front delts and chest, he says the wide grip makes the chest a huge limiting factor, making it predominantly a chest exercise.
• They have a high range of motion and stretch: exercises that move the joints through a wide range of motion and getting a deep stretch stimulates hypertrophy and more growth.

FYI, these aren’t the only exercises out there that can cut down your gym time and deliver results, but they’re a good bunch to get going with. He suggests putting exercises that prioritise different movement patterns together – such as pushing and pulling – or pairing together an upper and lower body exercise, and then supersetting them. You’ll be working more efficiently and seeing gains in no time. Here they are…

Deficit deadlifts

The deadlift is one of the best bang-for-your-buck exercises; it builds functional strength, muscle mass, core strength, and is brilliant for the posterior chain muscles (the muscles on the back of your body). The deficit deadlift – where you stand on an elevated platform – takes this to the next level. You get serious range of motion, putting even more focus on the muscles used, meaning more gains.

Walking lunges

Dr Mike says these will “destroy a ton of your body” – in a good way, of course. Lunges light up all of your lower body muscles: the quads, glutes, hamstrings and calves. To make sure you’re hitting all these muscles, and aren’t honing in more on the glutes, Dr Mike says to take shorter steps and keep your body more upright so that your knees go over your toes slightly.

Underhand lat pull down

The reason Dr Mike says he favours this lat pull down variation is because: “It allows you to hit the lats and most of the back super well. But, as opposed to a neutral grip or overhand pull down, the underhand allows you to actively engage your biceps much more.” You’ll therefore be hitting the back, biceps, rear delts, and even your forearms, all in one move. If you don’t have access to a lat pull down machine, he says you can do underhand assisted pull-ups instead.

Incline close-grip press

Want to overload three upper body muscles in one exercise? This is your ticket. The incline close-grip press will smoke your entire chest (including upper, middle and a little lower), the front delts, and triceps. “For any version of this you do, full range of motion is really good, especially that deep stretch, and at the bottom don’t let your elbows flare out as that lets the chest take over, but leaves your triceps hanging a bit, so try to keep a bit of a closer grip and tighter elbows,” says Dr Mike.

Hang muscle snatch

The hang muscle snatch begins with the barbell hanging just below your hips, and from there, you drive it overhead in one smooth, fluid motion. It's primarily found in weightlifting and CrossFit circles, so you might wonder why Dr. Mike has included it in his roundup. The reason is simple: it targets the delts from all angles. “It really gets your rear delts going and then your side delts, and then it uses your front and side delts to continue the motion,” he says. Your legs, hips and back muscles will also be working to generate power.