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For an effective workout in a time crunch, pick a full-body exercise like the deadlift or the clean and press, according to bodybuilding legend Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Most people can make time to exercise by choosing a short workout and prioritizing it over other habits like social media, the former seven-time Mr. Olympia wrote in his newsletter in response to a fan question.
"I think a lot of people say, 'I don't have time to train,' when they mean, 'I don't prioritize training,'" he said. "That's fine, but that's not an issue of not having time, that's an issue of choosing to use your time on something else."
You may find you have more time for a workout than you think, Schwarzenegger said.
However, if you really are on a tight schedule, his go-to exercises are the deadlift and clean and press, which target the whole body and, along with a warm-up, can get you in and out of the gym in 15 minutes.
The deadlift is often recommended as one the best bangs for your buck in a workout because it builds strength and muscle in multiple areas of the body, according to personal trainers.
By helping train your back, core, and posterior chain muscles like the glutes and hamstrings, it also translates well to everyday activities like picking up and carrying heavy grocery bag, or sitting and standing with good posture.
Since a deadlift has your whole body working at once, you can lift more weight, and even more burn calories as more muscles are activated by the movement, research suggests.
It's important to warm-up correctly before compound lifts, and good movements to prep for a deadlift include glute bridges, dead bugs, and lat pull-downs.
To properly perform a deadlift, start with your knees bent and hips back, keeping your back flat, then tighten your core, press into the ground, and straighten your legs, driving your hips forward to lift the weight.
Schwarzenegger also recommends a classic compound exercise: the clean exercise, which brings a weight from the ground to your shoulders in one powerful movement, along with some form of press to raise the weight overhead.
The clean comes from Olympic weightlifting, and requires technique to perform well, so a good coach is a smart investment to help you learn the right form. Less experienced athletes can opt for power cleans, which end in a partial squat instead of a full front squat, NYC-based trainer Irving "Zeus" Hyppolite previously told Insider.
Done correctly, the clean uses the legs, core, and back to help you develop explosive power.
Presses are a simpler technique, and work the shoulders, back, chest, and triceps (the muscles on the back of the arms), as well as some core stability.
While cleans and presses can be done separately, they're often combined in a single two-part motion from the ground to overhead, cand can be done with different types of weights such as a barbell, dumbbells, or kettlebells.
While you can get results with less time in the gym, Schwarzenegger said that many people would have plenty of time for exercise if they spend less time on social media.
His advice is to keep track of how much time you're spending on your phone, and try to allocate some of that to workouts instead.
"Before you go down this one exercise path, I'd ask yourself if you seriously can't find 30 minutes a day to exercise," he said. "Ask yourself if you really looked."
