Video summary
Stan Efferding outlines his definitive list of ten exercises required to build and maintain maximum muscle mass, emphasizing a balanced approach that includes push, pull, leg movements, and specific hamstring work. He begins with lower body development by selecting four squat variations: the barbell back squat as his primary choice for overall strength, the front squat or Smith machine for alternative mechanics, and the high-bar back squat specifically to target quads given his long femur length which favors glute activation in low-bar positions. To complement these squats, he includes a unilateral movement like Bulgarian split squats over walking lunges because they allow for higher repetition counts with one leg without fatigue setting in too quickly. For hamstring isolation, Efferding prefers the cambered bar good morning to maximize stress on the hamstrings while minimizing axial load and lumbar strain compared to straight-bar variations where the moment arm is longer. Continuing with lower body specificity, he adds a seated leg curl as his final quad/hamstring hybrid tool, noting that it allows for full extension without the weight stack bottoming out before maximum stretch occurs—a common issue in standing or lying machines. Moving into upper body pushing movements, Efferding favors an incline dumbbell press performed at a 45-degree angle to ensure deep elbow flexion and wrap the pectorals around the rib cage rather than hitting only the shoulders. He also incorporates dips as a secondary chest exercise that simultaneously targets triceps, advising users to keep feet underneath them for tricep focus or lean their chest forward for pec engagement, potentially adding external weight via hanging plates if necessary. For back development, Efferding selects two distinct pulling movements: chin-ups with an underhand grip and reverse script pull-ups to maximize bicep involvement while still engaging the lats. He pairs these with a chest-supported row rather than traditional bent-over rows or T-bar rows because the latter often force cheating through lumbar extension before full weight is moved, whereas supported variations allow for greater volume without spinal stress. To round out his back routine and shoulder health, he includes a Viking press—a standing neutral-grip overhead movement that accommodates limited flexibility—and side lateral raises to ensure complete deltoid development across all heads of the muscle. Efferding concludes his top ten by addressing calf training with frustration over ineffective cap machines despite decades of use, suggesting instead seated calf raises specifically targeting the soleus for balanced lower leg growth. He acknowledges that genetics play a massive role in calf size more than any other body part but insists consistent loading and proper walking mechanics can still yield results regardless of natural predisposition. Throughout his selections, he prioritizes full range-of-motion exercises performed under controlled conditions to minimize injury risk while maximizing hypertrophy potential across every major muscle group. His philosophy centers on choosing movements that challenge the target tissue directly without compromising form or introducing unnecessary stress points like lumbar hyperextension during compound lifts.
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if you only had 10 exercises for the
rest of time
to build and maintain as much muscle as
possible
what would you choose
I'd have to choose a push-pull in the
legs and I'd probably throw a hamstring
in there so that's going to be four that
maybe get two of each so I'm looking
let's get specific what would be looking
at a at a squat movement
barbell back squat front squat Smith
machine all of them you can only have
one stand I'm limiting if I've got a
barbell I can back this is my game these
are my rules front squat nope these are
my rules this is stop breaking the game
yeah
well I'll tell you for me personally
because I use a lot because of my
anthropometry my uh my long femur length
as compared to uh I would probably need
to do a high bar squat to to effectively
train my quads uh because my glutes are
preferentially developed from a low bar
squat so high bar squat would be a big
one for me uh my favorite hamstring
exercises uh I love the uh
the cambered bar good morning it's one
of my favorites you go on Instagram
crushing the good morning and that's
where you put the weight up here and you
bend forward and try and keep your legs
relatively straight it's for hamstrings
why the combat bomb uh for me I just
find that it puts more of the stress on
the hamstrings as opposed to the lumbar
by bringing that moment I'm a little bit
more unable to pull the camber back just
a little bit here rather than having it
the further the bar sits that we call
the moment arm from uh the the glutes uh
you know from uh where where your body's
trying to
your back and is trying to adjust the
movement uh The more stress that's going
to put on a little bit less axial load
yeah Dr Stu Miguel will be happy Okay so
we've got a high bar back squat yeah yep
and we've got that so we've got leg legs
are pretty smoked yep legs are pretty
smoked I would put in one more quad
exercise and and it would probably be a
unilateral movement so probably which
could be either a single leg leg press a
walking lunge or a Bulgarian split squat
I kind of like the Bulgarian split squat
the best because I can do repeat
repetitions with the same leg I like
that I hate Bulgarian splits and that's
why I like them
because because there's you're a
psychopath yeah the things the hard
always works better than the easy
that's that's why I'm picking these
exercises with that have you got a
preference for how you would do that
were you holding dumbbells would you
have barbell on back
um the loading I would probably hold
dumbbells with those yeah barbell High
backs kind of an awkward setup
uh now we're going to move to a chest
exercise uh I like the incline dumbbell
press just a slight incline dumbbell
press
I did a lot of heavy benching in my
career and I never built my pecs as well
as when I trained with flex wheeler
using incline dumbbell presses they
allow more depth and they allow
independent rotation of the shoulders so
I get less potential shoulder injury
what are the cues that you're thinking
of or that you're telling your clients
when you're looking at the incline
dumbbell press this is the 45 degree
angle of the elbow this is the one
exercise so far that every single person
has had in and no one's had flat bench
dumbbell right press right so it's
something that a lot of people seem to
be using I'm trying to get up here a
little more Yep 45 degree angle on the
arms deep elbow trying to wrap that Peck
around the rib cage as best you can I
don't want to be out here I'm just going
to hit the shoulder I want to be in here
so it's the pack I want to use that rib
cage in order to do that I'm going to
actually lift my sternum up and expand
the rib cage and then the deeper I can
get my elbow use that because you want
to have as much lengthening of the of
the chest muscle or any muscle that you
train as possible it's going to grow
better in the lengthened position full
range of motion okay that's
five is that where we're at I think
that's four I think I had a I had a high
back squat good morning good morning
you're right yeah quad you had the uh
Romanian no you didn't you had the uh
Bulgarian split Bulgarian split Squad
incline and then we jumped on to Incline
for the chest yep
um
next one on chest I would probably do uh
oh I just love that incline barbell
incline dumbbell so much
uh some people like two flies they're
not a big fan of flies
uh might throw a dip in there because
I'm going to hit some tricep at the same
time too so I get a nice deep yeah what
do you thinking cues for dibs work on
the dip uh I'm trying to uh if I'm
working triceps I'm trying to keep my
feet underneath me if I'm working chest
I'm trying to keep my chest forward and
again again trying to wrap that that
Peck around the white belt if you need
to increase resistance yeah just hang
weights on if you need to increase
resistance uh I'll throw another one for
hamstrings I had a hip hinge I have to
have a knee hinge and so I'm going to do
any standing lying seated I like seated
preferentially because uh usually on the
standing curl and on the line curl the
weight stack bottoms out before you get
full extension before the hamstring
really gets stretched yes because if
you're lying down it's gonna like rip
you up off the machine yeah when you
bring the weights down the stack usually
bottoms out yep and so on the seated
curl you've locked yourself in and
you've lifted those feet if you Lean
Forward on it you can you can get a full
extension and not bottom the weight
stack yeah yeah so give you your best
length and position first time that I
ever had the lean forward queue was Alex
homozy in Vegas yeah his training Vlog
is about to be released at some point on
the internet and you will see him take
me through okay so sit back okay now
Flex feet okay now sit forward now push
toes and the difference is that's why I
was in pain flying home the next day
yeah because of the Doms yeah
uh that's going to take us to a back
exercise I'm going to do a chin
uh chin up and I don't care do I have to
pick one yeah under hand over hand let's
get specific you got to be specific
about it I would probably do reverse
script mainly because I could get more
bicep out of it so I'm getting a little
extra benefit
um and then I'm gonna do I like the
chest supported row I used to do a lot
of t-bar row which really helped my
deadlift uh but it was a lot of cheating
the range of motion is not as good
meaning the extending the weight isn't
nearly as good you're pulling on your
lumbar by the time you get that weight
extended so chest supported but not seal
row not or not a uh completely flat
would you be it could be I mean some of
the chest supported rows are angled and
some of the chest supported rows are
flat yeah but I like those they're lower
fatigue I can do more volume there
generally back you can train with a lot
of volume and you've usually got a
number of handles that you can mess
around with on one of those yeah the the
one we have currently is has an
adjustable handle so you can the width
and it spins
so those are those are any any chest
supported row is going to give you the
advantage of not having to stress your
lumbar doing bent rows or t-bar rows
which well I think just what are we
working here yeah that's my point uh and
one of the best things of course for all
the muscle groups is to get a full
extension when you're doing that with a
bent row or a t-bar row you're gonna get
you're gonna put a lot of stress on the
lumbar spine yeah yeah it was great when
I was powerlifting you know and it that
kind of thing transfers over well to a
strong deadlift but
um just for back training suppose we've
got two back exercises
um I like a viking press and a side
lateral what's a viking press
uh that's a standing shoulder press
it's pivoted on the thing in front of
you yep yep again shoulder bar I don't
have the flexibility and so by the time
I get all back here now I've got my you
know my back all bent yeah so this
becomes uh so you wouldn't want to do a
stunning barbell press for Morocco
whatever you would rather go neutral
with this Viking press yeah the handle
doesn't concern me it could be it could
be a normal grip or neutral uh would be
that one and then side lateral side
lateral raise to be a good one I think I
topped out at 10 I didn't even hit arms
yet I got uh but I got my biceps in my
curl and I got my triceps and my uh dips
on in my dips now the only one that
leaves is calves I've always struggled
with calves I'm actually looking to
start a class action lawsuit against the
manufacturers of cap machines because
they clearly don't work I think it's
false advertising I've been using those
things for 30 years and I'm still part
of the no calf crew and uh so yeah but
if if you had to you know if I was given
the option I would throw in a seated
calf in particular for the Soleus yes is
the any truth in the
uh the size of your calves is more
determined by your genetics than any
other part of the body yeah I think it's
true of all muscles though
it really is yeah I'll see uh yeah my
wife's Simone so a lot of a lot of the
uh men in her community and women by the
way have great calves and they never
train them uh and a lot of it's just
kind of how much weight you put on them
and and how you walk
um I see some people some pretty big
cabs that never trained them it's
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