Most high performers struggle with one thing: time.
The good news? You don’t need hours in the gym to build a world-class physique.
Imagine this with me… you’re a busy professional with a family to take care of. You’re usually on the go with work and life events that pull you from one place to the next, causing you to have hardly any time for yourself.
Now, imagine you want to add resistance training to your already busy schedule.
Resistance training can improve health outcomes in as little time as 1 hour/week (Shailendra et al., 2022) and is necessary when it comes to building muscle and transforming your physique into one that commands instant attention and respect, whether you’re in a bathing suit poolside, at a work event, or simply walking into any room.
At first, this can feel like a daunting task. You barely have extra time throughout the week as it is. How are you supposed to commit to hours and hours of resistance training to achieve the body of your dreams?
The good news is you don’t have to.
What actually matters for muscle growth (how to get more out of less)
The most common barrier to maintaining a consistent training program, as reported by high-performing individuals, is time availability.
In our ever-changing lives, there never seems to be enough of it. Couple that with claims that you need to train 5-6 times per week for hours on end, and it’s no wonder people struggle to stay committed for the long haul.
Since time is not something we can get more of, you need to focus on the key principles that drive muscle size and strength gains in the most efficient and effective ways possible. To do this, we must first understand what the Minimum Effective Dose (MED) is for training frequency, training volume, and training intensity. In other words, how often to train, how much to train, and how hard to train, respectively.
How often you train is important for building muscle, but it seems to be less important as long as volume is equated throughout the week (Iversen et al., 2021). Ideally, if you can train at least twice a week, then that should allow you to perform the necessary amount of training volume to induce positive muscle size and strength outcomes.
The minimum training volume required is to build muscle size, and strength is shown here:
- Muscle size = ~4 sets/muscle group per week (Iversen et al. 2021)
- Muscle strength = ~3-6 sets/exercise per week (Androulakis-Korakakis et al., 2021)
As you can see, for both outcomes, you only need a relatively low number of weekly sets compared to what is commonly perceived. The main difference between the two would be the total number of reps per set, depending on your primary goal.
That’s where training intensity comes in, arguably the most important aspect when it comes to building muscle without spending your whole day in the gym. You probably don’t have all day to keep adding more sets to each exercise you perform. Instead, you need to make sure each set you complete is done so with a level of effort required to maximize progress.
We can break this down easily using 1 repetition maximum (1RM). This is the maximum amount of effort you can sustain for 1 rep of an exercise. When you perform each set using an effort equivalent to about 70-85% of that 1RM, you can maximize progress in less time.
70-85% of your 1RM can also look like about 1-3 reps away from failure every set of the exercise (Iversen et al. 2021). In practice, this can be achieved using a load where you can complete 6-12 reps max in a single set.
Time Saving Training Methods
Now that we know the MED needed for muscle growth, the next step is to execute each training session in a manner that will minimize wasted time without sacrificing training intensity.
This can be done through the use of:
- Compound (multi-joint) exercises
- Easy to set up equipment
- Supersets
- Drop sets
For example, when designing a time-efficient training program, you’re going to want to primarily focus on compound exercises like the Machine Bench Press, which targets your chest, triceps, and shoulders all at once.
Notice how it was the Machine Bench Press and not the Barbell Bench Press. Machines or cable exercises can help minimize the amount of effort necessary to set up an exercise, which goes a long way when short on time.
Next, incorporating supersets can enhance your time savings by allowing you to rest one muscle group while training the other, without wasting additional time.
Drop sets also help minimize rest times while keeping training intensity high. This could look like completing a set close to muscular failure, dropping weight by ~10-15% and performing another set close to muscular failure, then dropping weight another 10-15% and repeating your last effort.
Bonus Time Saving Tip and Key Takeaways
Outside of the workout itself, you may want to refrain from checking your phone between sets. Not only does this ensure you keep rest times consistent, but it will enhance session focus.
Expert Tip: Only using your phone to change songs? Create a few different playlists that allow you to just hit play and go (e.g., PR playlist, Recovery playlist, etc.)
Overall, a lot less is required when it comes to gaining muscle size and strength.
Your resistance training schedule can look like this to achieve ultimate fitness goals when short on time:
- 2 sessions per week
- 2-4 sets per muscle group per session
- Working 70-85% of 1RM in your sets
- Utilizing time-saving training methods like supersets, dropsets, machine or cable exercises
What really matters is your ability to provide maximum effort consistently across the course of months and years while ensuring you fuel yourself through proper nutrition protocols and adequate recovery.
Consistency can be hard, especially when you have a mile-long list of reasons to not go to the gym.
That’s where your coach comes in.
They’ll tailor your experience by taking complex physiology and nutrition sciences and applying them to your everyday life. They’ll also serve as your accountability partner, to help you stay consistent and maximize your time spent in the gym.
No need to worry about if you’re “doing enough”. Instead, all you need to do is show up and execute on the tasks in front of you.
If you’ve been waiting because you thought you needed more time, you don’t.
You need a system that works where you don’t commit your whole life to the gym. Let us build it for you. Click here to see what’s actually possible.
References
- Shailendra, P., Baldock, K. L., Li, L. S. K., Bennie, J. A., & Boyle, T. (2022). Resistance Training and Mortality Risk: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. American journal of preventive medicine, 63(2), 277–285.
- Iversen, V. M., Norum, M., Schoenfeld, B. J., & Fimland, M. S. (2021). No Time to Lift? Designing Time-Efficient Training Programs for Strength and Hypertrophy: A Narrative Review. Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.), 51(10), 2079–2095.
- Androulakis-Korakakis, P., Michalopoulos, N., Fisher, J. P., Keogh, J., Loenneke, J. P., Helms, E., Wolf, M., Nuckols, G., & Steele, J. (2021). The Minimum Effective Training Dose Required for 1RM Strength in Powerlifters. Frontiers in sports and active living, 3, 713655.
