Best exercise per muscle group

10 min read

If you could only choose one exercise per muscle group, which would it be? It's a thought experiment that forces you to think about what really works. Not what's popular on social media, not what the biggest guy in the gym does, but which exercise biomechanically places the most tension on the target muscle through the greatest range of motion. Here is my selection, substantiated with why.

Chest: dumbbell bench press

Not the barbell bench press, but the dumbbell variant. Why? Two reasons. First: the range of motion. With dumbbells you can go deeper than with a barbell, giving you more stretch on the chest muscle. Research from 2023 confirms that exercises that load a muscle in stretch yield up to 30 percent more hypertrophy than the same exercise with a limited range.

Second: the free path. A barbell forces your hands into a fixed position. Dumbbells allow your wrists and elbows to move naturally, which is more comfortable for your shoulder joint in the long term. Do them on a slight incline (15-30 degrees) to hit the upper chest. 3-4 sets of 8-12 reps.

Back: weighted pull-up

The pull-up is the best vertical pulling exercise that exists. Your lats, your mid-back, your biceps, your forearms - everything is engaged. And as soon as you can do bodyweight pull-ups for 10+ reps, add weight with a dip belt.

What makes the pull-up so effective is the full stretch at the bottom when your arms are fully extended. That's exactly where most lat growth comes from. Use a shoulder-width, pronated grip (palms facing away) for maximum lat activation. 3-4 sets of 6-10 reps.

Can't do pull-ups yet? Lat pulldown is a fine alternative with the same movement pattern.

Shoulders: cable lateral raise

Wide shoulders come from the side deltoid, and the most effective exercise for that is the lateral raise. But specifically the cable variant, not the dumbbell variant. The reason: a dumbbell lateral raise only has tension in the upper part of the movement. At the bottom, the weight hangs straight down and does nothing for your shoulder.

A cable lateral raise from a low pulley position provides tension through the full range of motion, including the extended position at the bottom. That makes it more effective per rep. Do them with a light weight, controlled, and lead the movement with your elbow. 3 sets of 12-15 reps per side.

Quadriceps: hack squat or leg press

The back squat is a fantastic exercise, but as a pure quad builder it's not the best choice. With a back squat, your lower back often limits the load before your quads reach their limit. The hack squat or leg press eliminates that bottleneck.

With a hack squat you can load your quads to the extreme without your back being the limiting factor. Feet lower and closer together for more quad focus. Go as deep as possible - the stretch at the bottom is where the growth is. 3-4 sets of 8-12 reps. If your gym doesn't have a hack squat, a leg press does the same job.

Hamstrings: seated leg curl

Not the Romanian deadlift (which is better as a compound), but specifically the seated leg curl as an isolation exercise. Research compared the seated leg curl with the lying leg curl and found significantly more hypertrophy with the seated variant. The explanation: in a seated position your hamstrings are more stretched across the hip joint, placing them under more tension throughout the movement.

Focus on a slow eccentric phase (3 seconds) and a full stretch at the bottom. 3 sets of 10-12 reps.

Biceps: incline dumbbell curl

The incline curl places your arms behind your body, bringing the long head of the biceps into maximum stretch. That's the head that forms your biceps peak. Set the bench to 30 to 45 degrees, let your arms hang straight down and curl the weight without moving your elbows forward.

The stretch component makes this exercise superior to standing curls, preacher curls and most other biceps variations if you could only choose one. 3 sets of 10-12 reps.

Triceps: overhead cable extension

The long head of the triceps - the largest head - attaches to the shoulder blade. It only becomes fully activated when your arms are above your head. An overhead cable extension brings that long head into stretch and loads it through the full range of motion.

Use a rope or straight bar on a low pulley. Stand with your back to the cable, arms above your head, and extend fully. 3 sets of 10-15 reps.

Glutes: hip thrust

The hip thrust is the only exercise that loads the gluteus maximus through the fully shortened position. With squats and deadlifts, the tension drops off the glutes at the top of the movement. With a hip thrust, the tension is maximal when your hips are fully extended.

Use a barbell with a hip thrust pad. Back against a bench, feet hip-width, push your hips up until your upper legs are horizontal. Squeeze your glutes together at the top. 3 sets of 8-12 reps.

Core: ab wheel rollout

The ab wheel rollout is one of the few core exercises that loads your rectus abdominis under extreme stretch while you must maintain stability. EMG research consistently shows higher activation of the abdominal muscles with ab wheel rollouts than with crunches, sit-ups or planks.

Start on your knees if you're not yet strong enough for the standing variant. Roll out slowly, keep your lower back neutral and pull yourself back with your abdominal muscles. 3 sets of 8-12 reps.

The complete minimal program

If you were to put these nine exercises into a program, you get a program that optimally trains each of your major muscle groups in minimal time:

Dumbbell bench press 3x8-12, Weighted pull-up 3x6-10, Cable lateral raise 3x12-15, Hack squat 3x8-12, Seated leg curl 3x10-12, Hip thrust 3x8-12, Incline curl 3x10-12, Overhead extension 3x10-15, Ab wheel 3x8-12

That's 27 sets in total. Divided over three sessions per week that's 9 sets per session - a workout of 45 to 60 minutes. Minimal in terms of time, maximal in terms of results.

You don't need to do dozens of exercises to achieve results. A handful of well-chosen exercises, consistently performed with progressive overload, delivers more than a program of 20 exercises that you change every few weeks.