Spend Less Time in the Gym and Still Get Results

I was spending an hour and a half to 2 hours in the gym after my full time job.

I felt drained.

I felt uninspired.

I had no energy to do the things that make me come alive.

That’s how I got into minimalist training.

Is it really possible to spend less time in the gym and still make gains?

The short answer is yes.

Although, if you dive into the world of bodybuilding and fitness influencers on social media you might think otherwise. What’s usually promoted is a maximalist style of training. There are countless posts from coaches and influencers about grinding and enduring pain to get to your goals.

“If it’s important to you, you’ll make the time.”

I mean I agree with that…. to a certain extent.

What most of them don’t seem to understand is not everyone is as obsessed with lifting.

Not everyone wants to spend hours in the gym every week.

Not everyone is a fitness fanatic.

They want to look good and/or be healthy and strong.

Their true calling lies elsewhere.

For me it is running. That is the thing I thoroughly enjoy pushing myself in.

I also enjoy reading, studying, and learning new skills.

In the past year, I’ve learned how to code, run facebook ads, and I’ve dabbled in books on marketing and sales. I’ve studied Spanish and language learning. Anything that sparks my curiosity.

For you it may be something else.

But I know if you’re reading this you are looking for a way to get the results you want while spending less time in the gym.

Even if you do enjoy lifting-

(I do and sometimes don’t mind spending an hour or more in the gym)

-it’s good to know about minimalist training for different seasons. For most people, spending hours in the gym every week for the whole year is not sustainable. You may want to focus on other things or goals while maintaining your results.

I remember downloading a bodybuilding program from a fitness influencer once. There were 7-10 different movements each day.

I was thinking, "What the hell, this is going to take me 2 hours a day."

I also worked with a coach awhile ago that said I needed to do 7 movements minimum to get an effective workout. This was after I complained about the workout taking a long time.

The best way to get results ultimately is being consistent. It might be the most optimal plan on paper but if you won’t stick to it consistently then it's useless. A good plan consistently executed is better than a great plan that you won’t stick to. That’s the reality.

A minimalist approach to training can dissolve the resistance people have to training due to the perceived time commitment.

You don’t have to sacrifice a lot of time to get results and you don’t have to sacrifice your mental well-being either.

Let's jump into it.

Research says do 10-20 sets, per body part, per week for optimal muscle growth.

(Which, honestly, still seems less than what most fitness influencers push.)

Dr. Pak,

(who is known for his research on minimal effective dose training)

says you can do 4-6 sets, per body part, per week, “If you are really about that optimization life.”

Now is training in that volume range the most optimal?

No.

But you still can make measurable results.

Here’s the caveat.

Train with intensity of effort. Sets need to be taken near or to momentary failure.

Personally, this is what I do:

• 10 sets per body part, per week

• 8-12 rep range

• 3-4 movements each day

• 45 minutes or less lifting. (Typically it’s a little over 30 minutes.)

• Most of my lifts are compound movements (movements that focus on more than 1 muscle group). This way I’m hitting multiple muscle groups with one movement.

I do very few isolation movements. (I do add iso movements I enjoy doing but you can add in an iso movement for a muscle group you might be lagging in).

I would play around with it and see what works for you but for the most part stick with compound movements.

December was a warm-up month for me as I was doing my research and refining it. Nutrition wasn’t a big focus during the time. Since then I have been doing research on nutrition and body recomposition (how to gain muscle and lose fat at the same time).

As you are reading this I have been training and eating with the intention of body recomposition.

I currently do a 4 day split. (Upper body, lower body, upper body, lower body.) I will be sharing my progress and seeing what works/what doesn’t and refining it.

I want to be clear that I also do cardio and some endurance training. This is why if I can get my lifting under 45 minutes then I typically don’t spend more than an hour in the gym each day.

Here’s some tips for minimizing your time training and still getting results:

• Intensity over volume. As previously stated if you want to spend less time in the gym you need to give more effort. Sets need to be taken near or to momentary failure.

• Compound Movements. You can train multiple muscle groups at once. (Squats, Rows, Bench Press, Push-Ups, Pull-Ups, Lat Pulldown, etc. Look them up.)

• Supersets. (two sets back to back without resting in between.) This is one of my favorite things to do. You want to superset movements that are working two separate muscles. The idea is that one muscle can rest while you are working the other.

  • Example: Superset leg extensions with seated hamstring curls. While you work your hamstrings your quads get a rest. These machines are also usually right next to each other so it’s easy to go back and forth between the two. Skullcrushers and bicep curls (Triceps rest while biceps work). You get the picture. (This is if you add in any isolation movements.)

• Stop wasting time between sets scrolling on social media. Honestly, I was bad at this in the beginning of my lifting journey. You should spend 1-4 minutes resting between sets. You want to give your muscle enough time to recover before going into the next set. I opt for 1 minute to 2 minutes. If you time yourself you will probably note that you are spending more time than necessary resting between sets. This is eating up the time you spend in the gym.

• Cut down on your warmup time. I’ll be honest, I’m actually bad at warming up and stretching and I probably under do it most of the time. (I’ve been getting better at it though). But I know some people probably spend too much time at this stage. I remember going to the gym years ago with someone who had me stretching for 30 minutes. I was severely annoyed to say the least. It’s a warm-up not a workout out. 5-10 minutes warming up should do. For heavy compound movements: warmup with a set that is 40-80% of your working load.

Okay that’s it for now.

Let the experimentation begin.