This article is intended for those of you who don’t have very much time to work out or just for anyone who wants to add some really high intensity exercises into their program.
As with any weights program make sure it’s balanced and works all the muscle groups of your body equally.
For maximum effect only rest 20-30 seconds between each set. This way you’ll get into oxygen deprivation and when your lungs are burning as hard as your muscles you know that your working out hard.
When performing these exercise make sure you never hold your breath. Holding your breath makes your blood pressure rise up and down which can cause headaches or even make you faint.

It is commonly thought that you need to work out for many hours to see the best results. However for anyone other than the professional bodybuilder this is false and you can achieve the same results in half an hour working out at full intensity as you could working out for 2 hours at a medium intensity.

Squats
The squat is regarded by most as the toughest and best exercise in the book. This is because it works every single muscle in the body. It primarily works the legs and midsection but also incorporates the upper body.
It takes a long time to perfect squatting form. Most people spend 2 whole years before perfecting it.
There are many variations of the squat but traditionally you stand with your feet shoulder width apart pointing straight forward or at a 5 degree angle outwards. Then, making sure your knees don’t go forward past your toes, you squat down until your thighs are parallel to the ground. It is important to push through the heels of your feet and not through your toes as this may lead to knee injuries.
Experienced weight lifters often squat down further than just parallel to the ground. This is because it increases muscle growth, however opinions vary as to whether this is a good idea because of the added stress to your knees. If you are going to attempt squatting further down you should at least have some good experience.
For beginners to squats it is important to follow proper progression. You should start off simply doing body weight squats and focus on correct technique. If this is too easy for you then you can follow a pyramid scheme. A pyramid scheme is where you start at 2 then 4,6,8,10 and then back down to 2. So do 2 squats and on the second hold it for 2 seconds. Then without any rest do 4 more squats and on the fourth squat hold it for 4 seconds. Etc, etc.
The added holds make a surprisingly large difference to the intensity.

Chin-ups
Chin-ups are not only great for upper body strength and size. They also are great for working out your abs because all your core muscles are used for stabilizing your body during the movement. Wide grip chin-ups are the best exercise to get back width.

Close Grip:
Close grip chin-ups focus more on your biceps and the middle of your back. They will give your back thickness but not width.

Wide Grip:
Wide grip chin-ups, as said before, are the best exercise for creating an upper body V-taper. This is because they used your lats (latissimus dorsi) a lot more.

Over time you’ll be able to progress to doing weighted chin-ups.

Deadlifts
Deadlifts probably deserve to be on the top of the list. This exercise works all the major and most of the minor muscles of the legs and core. Your upper body is also involved so it is a full body exercise. The reason it gets #3 on the list is simply because it is a very advanced exercise and should not be used by anyone other than the very experienced lifter.
Deadlifts are undisputedly the best way to put on mass but I’m not going to explain to you how to perform them as the only way to safely learn how to perform them is to be shown.

Clean & Press
The clean and press is basically an add-on to the deadlift. The clean and press works the upper body much more and will require you to use less weight. Do not perform this exercise unless you are confident you can do it properly. Incorrect form will quickly lead to injury.
When performing a clean and press it is of incredible importance to never arch your back. This can possibly even lead to a career ending lower back injury. This is why I must stress that you are taught how to perform this exercise by a certified professional who can watch and make sure you are performing a correct technique.

Lunges
Lunges are great for building lower body strength and cardiovascular fitness. I’ve never experienced as much oxygen debt as I have with lunges. Why? It would seem logical that a deadlift would be much more tiring than a lunge. I think however that lunges can be performed at a high intensity for longer. I often do 30+ reps when doing lunges.
When performing lunges you should always make sure your front legs’ knee never goes past your toes. Otherwise you may injury your knee.
Start out by simply doing body weight squats. I personally prefer alternating from one leg to another instead of doing x amount of reps on one leg and then swapping over. This is because it uses your core muscles a lot more to help stabilize yourself and it will also create the oxygen debt I talked about earlier and increase your cardiovascular fitness.
Once you get comfortable you can progress to dumbbells and then barbells.

So there you have it. My top 5 most killer exercises. Use these properly within a well written weights program and you will see some tremendous results. However make sure you can perform all of the above exercises correctly. There is no point in performing them if you are not experienced enough or are using too heavy a weight. Remember that it’s not the weight you lift but the intensity that you workout at which will increase your muscle mass.