How Training LESS Can Mean MORE Gains

I think a lot of people assume I train all the time with insane intensity. I make videos with titles like “spam daily reps” and “why you should train every day.”

Thing is, that’s NOT actually what I do. I train frequently. But I don’t train insanely intensely. In fact, if you add it all up… I actually don’t train for that many hours per week. Maybe 3-4 hours total, divided into 20, 30, and 40 minute sessions.

And I think that’s a really important thing to understand.

If you’ve been hitting the gym hard, for 60 minutes plus every time, five or six times a week and you’re still NOT seeing results… the answer is NOT to train more. NOT to push harder.

It’s actually quite the opposite.

How to “Train Less”

First, what do I mean by “train less.”

Like I say, I’m not actually saying you should train just 2-3 days a week. Instead, what I’m saying is that you should drastically shorten your workouts.

You can do this a few ways:

• By breaking your workouts up into smaller modules
• By doing fewer exercises
• By doing just two sets for certain exercises – an idea that’s becoming increasingly popular
• By learning to recognise when you have provided yourself with the necessary stimulus

Of course, this is going to depend a lot on your goals. If you’re interested in training recovery and endurance, for example, you may wish to train for more sets. If you’re interested in training some very specific movements – whether that’s rotation or scapular protraction or grip strength – you might need more exercises.

But in many cases, there is a lot of fat that can be cut from your routine without losing much value.

My SuperFunctional Training 2.0 program uses 2 sets per exercise almost exclusively. SuperFunctional Training 3: SUPERMOVER often only uses 4 exercises for a workout and even those are sometimes for 2 sets, only. Those workouts can be performed in 30-40 minutes.

You can still throw a daily set of high reps in there and be training far less than a lot of people.

What it Does

So, what does this method accomplish?

There are some obvious benefits of this style of training, right away.

• Less recovery cost
• …Meaning you can train more frequently while still keeping total time low
• Lower chance of injury – meaning less time out from training
• More adaptability to the busy demands of the day
• Lower demands on discipline and energy, meaning much better adherence

In short, this kind of training lets you stay consistent for years and see compounding results. It keeps things simple, streamlined, and adaptable.

But there are some other more subtle and powerful benefits of this kind of training, too.

For example, it lets you maintain more intensity and effort on each individual exercise. Because your cumulative fatigue stays low, you won’t be carrying that fatigue into the next exercise. This is the right way to do strength training as it lets you utilise your max strength during training and rehearse correct technique. If your goal is to train maximum strength or power, there are diminishing returns as you fatigue.

This also helps to ensure you don’t step into the realm of over-training. There is only so much the body can recover from, only so much that you can grow in a single period.

And by reducing the amount of work you do per workout, you can actually increase your frequency and still not get into serious burnout territory.

Increasing frequency is great for a number of key reasons: it means you’re continuously spiking your metabolism and protein synthesis. It means you’re repeatedly rehearsing the neural pathways involved in each given movement.

The sweet spot will likely be slightly different for each individual but by keeping the actual workouts themselves smaller, you can be much more strategic and adaptable. You can find what that sweet spot is for you.

For me, it’s hitting each muscle group twice a week across four 30-40 minute workouts. That’s push, pull, legs, and then a full body day. That’s just 2-3 hours per week and I explain exactly how you can do this in my SUPERMOVER program. Link to that down below and it’s currently on discount.

SUPERMOVER – SuperFunctional Training 3 – JANUARY SALE

SuperMover offers a full training program, 200 page ebook, and 26 video tutorials to help you build an elite, athletic physique.

$55.00 Original price was: $55.00.$40.00Current price is: $40.00.

Shop now

Train Less, Move More

Another great advantage of these shorter workouts is that you can then add in more stuff.

I’m always talking in my videos about how you need cardio, you need mobility, you need skills training. How do you fit all that in? Well, by spending less time lifting heavy weights for starters!

We’ve kind of been fooled by a lot of fitness content into thinking that strength and size are the only things that matter. That everyone should be chasing strength, strength, strength.

That’s not true from a performance angle. If you’re already strong then you’ll get far more value out of improving your work capacity or your technique. You’ll last longer in sports, martial arts, arduous tasks, and you’ll be able to generate more speed, power, and torque. To do cooler stuff.

But this also applies from an aesthetics angle. If you want to look awesome, you don’t actually need that much size: you need size and low body fat. Good proportions. You get that from actually using your fitness to do athletic stuff.

Most people don’t want to look like bodybuilders or powerlifters but they train like them. You can get amazing results much faster once you recognise this disconnect.

Again, I build this into my programs. SUPERMOVER leaves space for things like sports, skills development, and mobility. And by keeping the workouts shorter, you actually have the ENERGY and recovery to do those things, too.

In other words: you can actually move a little more when you workout less.

Efficiency

The final piece of the puzzle – and arguably the most important piece – is efficiency.

That is to say: you need to be efficient with your training if you’re going to get the best results while keeping things quick and simple. That’s partly down to things like structure.

For example: a single drop set can incorporate many more “reps” than three sets would have done. And while the quality varies, this can absolutely be enough depending on your goals.

But more to the point, it’s about execution. It’s about learning to feel the stimulus that leads to growth. Once you know what you’re doing, you can do this extremely quickly and reliably – it’s learning to feel when an exercise is effective versus when you’re just pumping out junk volume. You can spend hours in the gym doing curls and see no bicep growth if your technique is poor. Likewise, you can get growth from a single set if you learn to know what you’re looking for.

This only comes from practice. But keep that front of mind during your training. Because once you get it: the sky is the limit.

Related Posts

• 

  The Absolute Batman Program: Absolute Power
  The Absolute Batman Program: Absolute Power
• 

  What Everyone Gets WRONG About Science-Based Training
  What Everyone Gets WRONG About Science-Based Training
• 

  INTRODUCING… SUPERFUNCTIONAL TRAINING 3: SUPERMOVER!
  INTRODUCING… SUPERFUNCTIONAL TRAINING 3: SUPERMOVER!
• 

  Quadratus Lumborum: Why This Forgotten Core Muscle is SO Important
  Quadratus Lumborum: Why This Forgotten Core Muscle is SO Important