Less is More

Maximum intensity for under an hour is the way to go.

A lot of people think that more training (meaning more days in the gym) will help them get more muscular and faster. This is far from the truth. You grow outside the gym, not inside. When you work out, you provide simulation. However, nutrition, rest, and recovery is what helps your muscles grow.

Yes, we need the stimulus, but working out 5 days a week is destructive. You don’t want your body to be in a state of breakdown. Instead, you want it to be in a state of buildup. That means you need to go with maximal intensity for under an hour with weights only a few times a week. 5, 6, 7 days a week will not get you the body of your dreams. Unless you’re using performance enhancing drugs or steroids, your body cannot possibly recover from the stress of working out that often. If you do, it only means that you aren’t training intense enough during your time in the gym to create the appropriate stimulus for muscle growth and hypertrophy.

So, I find the best regimen is one where you go as intense as possible for no more than an hour for 2 or 3 days a week, while doing intense sprints and stairs 2 days a week as well. A routine I follow looks like this: