The 6 Exercises That Grow Every Muscle (ALL YOU NEED)

Get complimentary 2-week access to smarter training with the BWS+ app: https://bws.plus/hh1 Download the FREE PDFs of the full body workout routine here: https://builtwithscience.com/only6 Click below to subscribe for more videos: https://www.youtube.com/jeremyethier/?sub_confirmation=1 Instead of doing 100 exercises, with just these 6 in your whole body workout, you can grow every single muscle. Why should you believe me? Because I got the answers from the brightest head in the world, Mr. Mike. There are 8 muscle groups in the human body. We have 6 exercises in our full body workout. As Dr Mike Israetel of RP Strength says, he’s looking for compound exercises, so, fundamentally, these are the ones in your gym workout that take care of multiple muscle groups at the same time. Here’s the full body split. — THE 6 COMPOUND EXERCISES (WHOLE BODY WORKOUT) — 1. Close-grip incline bench. What it works: upper chest, front delts, triceps. Why it’s here in our full body workout: a closer grip on an incline evens out contribution from pecs, delts, and triceps so one press covers three targets.Crucial form tip: keep shoulders back, chest up, and stack wrists over elbows; touch the bar to the upper chest, then press “up and back” so the bar travels from clavicles to above the eyes. Adjust grip to your structure (close is individual), and use a bench angle anywhere from 30–45°. 2. Underhand pull-up (chin-up grip). What it works: lats, biceps, rear delts. Why it’s here in our gym workout: the underhand position brings the biceps in more while still hammering the back, letting one move check off multiple muscle groups.Crucial form tip: start in a true dead hang, let the shoulders shrug up to stretch the lats, then “shrug down” (depress the scapulae) before you pull. Power up, control down. 3. Deep-stretch horizontal press (cambered bar or alternatives). What it works: chest first, with front delts and triceps assisting.Why it’s here in our full body split: pressing through a deeper, controlled stretch is a high-return stimulus for muscle growth.Crucial form tip: as the bar descends, lift your chest to meet it, pause ~1s at the bottom, then drive up. No cambered bar? Use a straight bar, dumbbells with a slight arc for extra depth, a chest press machine, or deficit push-ups. 4. RDL + row combo. What it works: hamstrings, glutes, and lower back on the hinge; upper back and rear delts on the row. Why it’s here in our gym workout: one sequence biases the posterior chain and back in the same set—massive time efficiency.Crucial form tip: “chest up, knees back” to load the hams; hold the hinge as you row to the belly button without losing back position. Use an overhand, slightly wider grip to bias rear delts and mid-upper back. Dumbbell version: put the bells “in your pockets” at the top, reach them forward for stretch, then row. 5. High-bar squat. What it works: quads, adductors, glutes, core, with mid-back stabilizing. Why it’s here: a more upright torso biases the front of the legs we didn’t already smoke with the hinge. Crucial form tip: bar sits high on traps; brace, sit hips back, then let knees travel forward. Keep the chest tall, pause at depth, and drive through mid-foot. Stance shoulder-width with a slight toe-out. 6. Dumbbell upright row (or lateral raise) What it works: side delts, traps, and forearm flexors.Why it’s here: rounds out shoulder width to balance the push/pull work from the other compound exercises.Crucial form tip: lead with elbows “sky-high” and drag the bells close to the torso to keep side delts engaged; control the eccentric. If shoulders complain, swap to lateral raises. — PROGRAMMING (2 DAYS/WEEK WHOLE BODY WORKOUT) — Let's say somebody can commit to two, maybe three full-body workouts per week. Do this. Day one is all of these six exercises. But in the 5 to 10 rep range, pretty heavy. Day two. Halfway through the week, same exercises, but sets of 10 to 15 lighter higher reps. Another option is to do alternative exercises for day 2, to add some more variety to the routine.