Video summary
In this discussion, Sara Saffari addresses a hypothetical scenario where one must select exactly ten exercises to maintain or build muscle for life. Her curated list prioritizes compound movements and specific isolation techniques that target major muscle groups effectively. The selection begins with the leg press, which she notes can be varied using different equipment like barbells or dumbbells to hit various parts of the legs. For upper body pushing, she chooses the standing military press to allow for proper core bracing without balance issues, alongside an incline dumbbell chest press that is universally recommended by others in her circle. To address shoulder health comprehensively, she includes lateral raises and hammer curls specifically designed to target the different heads of the biceps, ensuring balanced arm development. Continuing with back and tricep work, Saffari selects pull-ups as a primary exercise for building width and strength in the posterior chain, emphasizing that while overhand grips are common, neutral grip variations often yield better results according to bodybuilders like Chris Bumstead. For triceps, she opts for lying skull crushers performed from the floor rather than on a bench; this modification allows athletes to fail safely without the risk of falling backward onto their head and provides a stable base where they can push through sticking points with greater comfort. The final two exercises in her top ten are hanging leg raises for core development and decline sit-ups, though she notes that much abdominal work comes from simply bracing the core during other lifts or incorporating vacuums into daily routines. Saffari also shares a deeply personal account of her journey to fitness, revealing that at age twenty around 2021, she was suffering from severe depression and insecurity due to being underfed and weighing only one hundred pounds. Her diet consisted almost entirely of dollar menu items like small burgers and large Cokes, often accompanied by hours spent driving aimlessly rather than engaging in life. The turning point was not a single epiphany but a gradual progression where she became increasingly fed up with her low energy and negative self-image. She recalls signing for a gym membership on the spot while wearing glasses to work out immediately, fueled partly by social media content from TikTok that taught her about nutrition and training intensity. Within six or seven weeks of consistent effort, pushing herself hard even during the pandemic in May 2021, she had transformed her physique and mindset completely. Beyond physical transformation, Saffari offers advice to anyone unhappy with their body regardless of age or gender: implement at least forty-five minutes to an hour and a half of daily physical activity. She stresses that exercise should not be viewed as a chore but rather as something enjoyable, noting that she now looks forward to her two-hour gym sessions. While acknowledging the initial embarrassment many feel training alone, she encourages starting with friends or family if necessary before transitioning to solo workouts for mental clarity and rest days. Furthermore, she highlights the critical role of sleep in muscle growth, stating she consistently sleeps between eight to ten hours a night, debunking myths that less is better. The conversation concludes with an emphasis on metabolic health as a key determinant of longevity and daily vitality. Saffari explains how tracking glucose levels helps individuals understand real-time impacts of food choices on their well-being, noting that large carb meals without subsequent movement can cause blood sugar spikes that leave one feeling terrible. She advocates for using tools like continuous glucose monitors to remove the guesswork from dieting, nudging users toward personalized recommendations that support both immediate energy and long-term health. Ultimately, her message combines rigorous training with mindful nutrition and adequate rest as a holistic approach to overcoming body image issues and achieving sustained physical success.
Read the full video transcript
I've asked this question to a bunch of
different people if you only had 10
exercises
for the rest of your life to hold on to
as much muscle or build as much muscle
as you could
which ones would you choose and why 10
exercises 10 exercises can be anything
you want but you've only got ten okay
let's start off leg press okay for
you know you can do different variations
in it you can hit like different parts
depending on how you put your legs
rdls
barbell dumbbells single leg
barbell RDS is Hardcore okay cool yep
okay
military press
with the barbell military process no
standing so you can brace your core I
mean you only get 10 exercises here okay
right yeah yeah so you've made a knob
exercise out of a shoulder exercise
right good
um incline dumbbells
every single person has said incline
dumbbell press chest press yeah yeah
phenomenal yeah yeah can't go wrong yep
that's full
right
gosh
okay what is it decline or incline I
always confuse myself when you lean back
a little bit and you do the curls I
think that's technically incline but I
know exactly what you mean yes because I
always mess it I know what you mean
those curls with dumbbells supinated
so like from neutral to supinated or do
you keep it because some people keep it
locked out like that and I keep it
locked out like that yep yeah so it's
almost like a I think it's called like a
y Co yeah are you here yeah it does suck
so hard and you're so weak on those you
know at the bottom of the movement and
it's you flex your tricep at the bottom
five kilos yeah yeah and then it starts
moving okay that's five so we've got
five leg press
rdls with a barbell
military press standing
incline dumbbell chest press yeah with
dumbbells
that last one you just lost whatever
that is okay so halfway through halfway
through smoked your legs are okay just
okay shoulders are okay biceps right
awaited Pull-Ups for back okay that's I
think maybe one of the only bad
exercises I need
overhand underhand neutral am I [ __ ]
come on overhand okay
Chris Bumstead said neutral oh [ __ ] I
mean neutral right that's six
okay uh
gosh this is hard
hammer curls to hit the other head of
the bicep right okay yeah standing
hammer curls uh-huh it's a lot of biceps
now with the pull-ups with the two sets
of curls okay yeah we're good with
biceps now I think I'm gonna have to do
lateral lateral races for shoulders yep
oh my God I didn't hit any triceps do I
have one more exercise you've got two
left I think two left yeah
um School crushers
yeah tell you what uh I forgot that I
did five years ago and then rediscovered
it the other day uh lying skull crushes
so going to the floor and taking it from
the floor as opposed to going from a
bench because you can go from a dead
stop and it means that if you need to
fail you can always you you're never
scared of literally smashing yourself in
the face yeah falling off the back of
the bench yeah uh and it feels really
comfy you know sometimes if you bring
your feet up on a bench and you feel
like you wobbly a little bit yeah
um
yeah okay skull crushes so you got one
left
from all of that
and then I think I'm gonna have to do
hanging leg raises perhaps yeah that's
the most popular ABS exercise as well
yeah Ryan Terry uh
uh Chris Bumstead both of them it's one
of those weird things everyone trains
everyone's kind of got a confusion
around training abs and all the people
that have got good midsections yeah
everyone always asks me what's your like
ab workout and I'm like maybe once a
week I'll either hit decline sit-ups you
know with like a weight with 10 pounds
or I'll do hanging leg raises but
um most of it is just like even bracing
my core and any other workout
um I do vacuums or just what you eat
well you I think you came into training
pretty under fed yes right crazy crazy
talk through that like where you were at
body wise and then sort of your
progression of training in the gym yeah
so I was going through a hard time I was
like the lowest I'd ever weighed I was
100 pounds and I was very insecure with
myself
um I would always wear baggy clothes
because I hated how like I felt like I
just looked sick like that's how skinny
I was I remember my meals would like a
McDonald's little burger like off the
dollar menu and a large Coke would be my
meal for the day
that's all you did that's all I would
eat I remember at 7 pm usually I'd get
up and go get that and then drive around
the town for an hour and go back home
like my mental health just was so
poop it was crappy
and I think that went on for about six
months and then
I was it was just like
a switch I was tired of spending
literally every hour in bed and like
just moping around low energy low
confidence and then I was like you know
what like I have nothing better to do
might as well hit the gym was there a
moment was it oh is it just a
progression over time of becoming
increasingly fed up with that
I don't think there was a moment per se
but I think I just got tired of feeling
so shitty
like I was tired of feeling tired and
and like I was just so unhappy with
myself how old are we I was 20.
yeah about two years ago 20.
um
and then I remember I literally remember
like what I was wearing that day and I
remember the drive to the gym to sign up
for the gym membership
um I saw I remember I wore glasses I
didn't think like I was like I'll get
the membership today and I'll start
tomorrow or whatever I went in I got the
membership and then I started that same
day I wore my glasses to work out
whatever I just it was weird but I
remember it
and then I worked out and then I went
home and I was like well I had seen tick
tocks like right after you work out you
have to eat something like high protein
like I'm gonna eat like half a piece of
salmon
and I was like anything is better than
like a McDonald's burger at this point
so I remember I was just like I would
learn a little bit on Tick Tock I'd
learned a little bit from my brother I'd
learn like people that just work out I
would talk to them try to pick their
brain about like how I can improve like
everything all at once like my nutrition
my workouts everything so it was just
like a mix of tick tock talking to
people that helped me kind of get to
where I am and within like maybe six
seven weeks of working out I think I
really had it dialed so I picked it up
very
fast relatively you know trained with
intensity from the beginning
um would push myself
I remember it was when I started like
you just have to wear face masks at the
gym I remembered like sometimes I would
have like
oh [ __ ] yeah so this was during covert
yeah it was 2020 when I started it was
um May of 2020.
in the midst of it yeah
wait may have 2020 or 2021
might be 20 21. I think it was 2021
still in the midst of it yeah
it was 2021 yes yeah
what was most difficult what advice
would you give to girls that are unhappy
with their body or guys that are unhappy
with their bodies like you know there's
a lot of challenges and overcoming
there's a lot of even if you did get
some advice from Tick Tock yeah most of
it is horse [ __ ] regardless of who you
are I think you need to implement some
type of physical activity for an hour
and a half a day
you know 45 minutes to an hour and a
half depending on the level of intensity
but whoever you are however old you are
even if that means going outside and
walking you know
um for me it's like the gym is something
that it's not a chore it's gotten to the
point that it's
the two hours of the day that I enjoy
like I was telling you earlier like I
look forward to like going to the gym
um regardless of your age you need to
work out do some kind of physical
activity train with intensity whatever
train on your own yeah because obviously
in a lot of the content that you put
online there's it'll Brad your eyes will
be around or there's a videographer
right yes right
um
I prefer training on my own there was a
point when I first started I would be
like there's no way in hell I'm going to
the gym by myself like this is Peak
embarrassment I need someone there which
is totally fine like do that go with a
go with a friend or go with a brother or
sister or parent or whoever
um
but I'm at the point now where I like
training alone you know I
it's like my alone time I don't know I
enjoy on my own that when I do film or
whatever it's like usually my rest day
and I'll go and I'll film at zoo a
YouTube video uh okay because if you
filmed on a training day you'd have to
sacrifice training to get the content
right yeah so I just go on I'm not
training there's an oppression exactly
right
what are you doing outside of that
outside of working out
um I sleep about 10 hours a night is
that strategic or do you just strategic
muscle grows in your sleep okay yeah but
10 hours is like
it's pretty intense
yeah but I don't know how many 22 year
olds
million plus influences are saying and I
sleep 10 hours a night and then train
for two hours a day sleep matters guys
sleep matters okay okay eight to ten
it's not always ten but it's usually
it's never when you join the whoop team
I'll know and you can't lie to me
anymore okay perfect no it's always
always at least eight never never lost
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