Why More Time Working Out Doesn't Build Muscle (Do This Instead) | Mind Pump 2930
Watch on YouTubeVideo summary
Many people operate under the misconception that spending more time in the gym will automatically lead to faster muscle growth and better results, but this approach often yields the opposite effect. The core issue lies in the body's need for adaptation versus recovery; exercise creates stress that signals the body to adapt, but if the stress is too high or frequent, the body cannot recover effectively. Instead of building strength, excessive training leads to a state where an individual simply heals back to their previous level without progressing further. This phenomenon, often called the "breakdown-recovery trap," results in frustration because individuals feel they are working harder than ever before yet seeing no improvement, or even regressing due to accumulated fatigue and injury risk.
To overcome this plateau, the most effective strategy is to adopt a principle of minimal dose for maximum effect, particularly through strength training. Rather than attempting long, grueling sessions twice a week that can overwhelm the average person's lifestyle, it is far more beneficial to perform short, focused workouts of about 15 minutes every day. This approach builds consistency like a daily habit, such as brushing teeth, and ensures that the body has ample time to recover between sessions. By spreading the volume throughout the week with brief, manageable efforts, individuals avoid tipping over their stress threshold, maintain higher energy levels for daily life, and create an environment where genuine adaptation can occur naturally without burnout.
Furthermore, optimizing these shorter workouts requires specific techniques that maximize efficiency while minimizing unnecessary strain. The focus should be on compound lifts—exercises that move multiple joints like squats and bench presses—which provide the greatest return on investment for building muscle and boosting metabolism compared to isolation exercises. Additionally, one should avoid training to absolute failure; stopping sets two reps short of exhaustion allows for better long-term progress by preventing the body from becoming fried. This method works for both beginners and advanced lifters, as progress is achieved through progressive overload via increased weight rather than increased duration or intensity, ultimately making fitness a sustainable, therapeutic part of life rather than a punishing chore.
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You might think that working out more
will build more muscle, will give you a
faster metabolism, will give you better
results. But this isn't always true. In
fact, often times, in our experience,
the opposite is true. Today, we're going
to talk about why more time working out
doesn't build more muscle and in fact
can oftenimes do the opposite.
>> We're going to get into it.
>> Let's go.
>> Yeah. Good conversation. I feel like uh
this is one we talk about often because
it's so common
>> uh for people to um first off it's
surprising to people when they hear us
discuss this
>> big paradigm shifting uh uh equation for
people
>> 100%. Uh
>> I also think it's because we are
communicating to a bit of a self-
selection bias of people right you have
an audience who chooses to listen to a
fitness and workout podcast.
>> Yeah. So, you typically attract a
majority of our listeners, I think, are
into or at least wanting to really get
into working out if they're not already
really into working out. And so, this
this conversation, I find, is far more
common with our audience than probably
the general population.
>> Yeah, I'd say there's probably two kinds
of people that um that do too much. And
by the way, too much doesn't get you
there faster.
In fact, it doesn't get you there the
same speed either. It gets you there
slower. And we're going to discuss a
little as to why
>> uh this occurs uh in the body. But
there's two kinds of people that fall
into this category. One of them is like
what you're saying, Adam, which is, you
know, people who are consistent with
working out. And so over time, uh they
little by they love working out, they're
consistent, and little by little they do
more and more and more um and they
plateau uh or they stop seeing results
or progress and they add more work to
what they're already doing and still see
that plateau. most very frustrating
place to be. In fact, that's one of the
most frustrating places
>> you could be. The other is the beginner
who is roaring to go, who's ready to get
in shape, super motivated.
>> They finally got themselves, you know,
like the the hardest lift in the gym.
>> Uh I heard this said said the other day
and I loved it. The hardest lift in the
gym is pulling pulling the front door
open, right? The first time, right?
>> So, uh it's it's this beginner who's
like ready to rock and roll. I'm ready
to go. I'm ready to get in shape. I'm
sick of whatever. Um and they jump in
with both feet. Um, and they do too
much. They do more than is necessary,
which uh is a formula for disaster. It's
a formula for frustration,
>> burnout,
>> uh, burnout, injury, um, or just, uh,
it's just unsustainable. Uh, so, and you
know, a lot of people experience this.
Uh, I I'd say quite a few people
experience this where you place so much
effort into your workouts, you're not
getting what you think you should get,
or worse, you feel like you're going
backwards. It's got to be one of the
most frustrating places to be because,
you know, if you're not working out, you
expect to get no results. Like, if I'm
doing nothing, if I'm doing what I've
always done and I get no body changes in
a positive way, like, I'm not going to
get mad. Uh, it's not going to be
frustrating because I would expect to
get no results from doing nothing. But
here I am working my butt off.
>> Yeah. here I am putting in a lot and I
don't feel like I look like I work out
as much as I do uh or I'm not getting
any results or the results are so slow
and so difficult uh that I don't feel
like it's worth it and the truth is when
you work out right first off it is
always difficult right you're you're
doing a lifestyle change you're adding
something into your life that wasn't
there before that you're going to do on
a consistent basis okay so that part's
difficult but a lot of people when they
when they train properly consist
consistently properly for the first
time. It's shocking uh because they get
results that don't match their effort
but in the reverse.
>> So when I would train clients uh and you
guys have had similar experiences, I
know you've expressed this uh when I'm
doing everything right and we're hitting
it the right way, they come to me and
they go, "It feels like I'm barely
putting any effort in for the results
I'm getting."
>> Yeah.
>> It's really weird. Why is my body
changing? I actually had clients sit me
down and go, "Okay, what's going on
here?" I know.
>> Why am I progressing the way I am? uh
where I used to work so much harder and
it feels like I'm doing barely anything.
Like what's going on?
>> It'd be like the end of the workout and
my client would just look at me and be
like, "Okay, what's next? We're done.
What else? What else?" And then no,
that's it. That's [clears throat] all
we're doing today. And you feel great
and they feel energetic and they want to
do more, but no,
>> guess what? You're going to come back
and we're going to do it again.
>> Well, this the smallest amount of
novelty and stress will cause an
adaptation. So you don't need the and
and and the larger the stress not the
stress and novelty does not equal more
results.
>> No.
>> And so if I can if I can reap some
benefits from very minimal stress uh and
novelty then that's the goal should be
just to do a little bit of that and to
keep doing a little bit more and a
little bit more so I can continue versus
the way people come into it. uh
especially when they're riding that high
of motivation because they need to make
change and they're just getting started.
It's a New Year's resolution. They got a
goal in 6 months, whatever the thing is.
>> And so they're highly motivated and it
causes them to uh swing too hard.
>> There's and and versus trying to make a
good connection and see the ball. It's
like they just grip it, rip it as hard
as they can and end up not making
contact, not seeing the results they
want to see. And it's because they're
overreaching and they're applying too
much novelty, too much stress for their
body to adapt.
>> So, we need to clarify because if you're
listening to this, you've never heard us
explain this before, it's going to sound
very confusing. It probably be really
confused right now. It doesn't make any
sense. So, uh I'm going to uh kind of
illustrate what's happening here. So,
there's two two things. Uh there's two
types of activity or exercise uh or two
general categories. Now, there's more
than this, but generally speaking, it is
good to move and be active every day.
Okay? So, we're not talking what we're
not saying is you you move minimally.
That's not what we're saying. Okay?
Movement is good. Not sitting down all
day long is good. What we're talking
about is a workout. Okay? A workout is
not supposed to be all your activity. A
workout is designed to send a signal to
get your body to adapt in a way that
you're trying to get it to adapt. Okay?
So, when I do a workout, I'm like, I'm
trying to get stronger or I'm trying to
improve my stamina. I'm trying to build
muscle. I'm trying to uh get my bo
metabolic rate in a better position so I
can burn more body fat. So that's the
goal with a workout is to to send a
signal to get my body to adapt. Activity
is just activity. Activity is just
moving. And if you look at the data on
activity, moving throughout the day uh
in a moderate to low intensity way is
very good for you in comparison to not
moving. Okay? So you should definitely
move every single day. But when it comes
to working out, people do too much. And
here's why. So when you exercise, when
you work out, okay, when you're trying
to send a signal, that signal is sent
because there's a stress. That's the
signal that's being sent. I'm training
my body. My body becomes stressed by the
training. So I go lift heavy weights. I
go train with a heavy weight. My body
says, "Okay, we need to adapt and get
stronger because we need to be able to
handle the stress a little bit better."
Or I go challenge myself with running.
Let's say I want stamina. My body says,
"Okay, we need to adapt in a way so that
this is no longer stressful. I need to
get better at this stress so that it's
no longer a stress later on." Now, what
happens over time as you get stronger,
you don't stick with the same weight.
You add weight, right? And you you send
that stress signal again so your body
can continue to adapt. And this is why
over time you build muscle, get
stronger, boost your metabolism, get
stamina, all those amazing things. But
there's another side to this, which is
we have to balance that with your body's
ability to recover. Mhm.
>> Okay. Uh if we if we go too far, we
don't adapt. We only heal. Uh in fact,
if you go too far, you don't even heal.
Uh if you go real far and you go too
hard, like extreme too hard, your body
doesn't even have a chance to heal and
you can really hurt yourself and get
sick. I don't think a lot of people are
going that far. Although fitness
fanatics can definitely step into this
place. What's happening with most people
is that what they're really doing is
they're sending a stress. They're
creating some damage. They're allowing
their body to heal, but it was too much
for their body to adapt from. This is
called the breakdown recovery trap. We
have something cool for you. We have a
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right, here comes the show. Okay, so
breakdown recovery trap looks like this.
I go to the gym. I train really hard. I
get really sore. Soreness goes away. I
go back to the gym. I I causes stress. I
get really sore. I go back to the gym uh
you know after the soreness goes away
and I do it again. But I never improve.
All that happens, I get sore, I sweat,
and then I I heal. We'll call recovery
healing. Then I come back and I'm in the
same place. Adaptation is above and
beyond uh recovery. So, you know, to not
get too complex, there's some crossover,
but really uh adaptation is above and
beyond. So, healing gets you back to
where you were before. So, let's say I'm
at a 10. I go to the gym and I beat the
crap out of myself. Now, I'm an eight in
terms of, you know, my strength and
movement because I'm sore. Healing gets
me back up to a 10. Adaptation gets me
up to a 10 and a half or 11.
>> And it's the adaptation process that
[clears throat] we're after. And most
people do too much. Okay. By the way, it
doesn't just have to be the breakdown
recovery trap. Maybe I do too much and I
still adapt. Uh but I don't adapt as
much as I could have.
>> Yeah.
>> Because I still did too much. This is
>> maximizing that sweet spot.
>> That's right. That's 100%. I think this
is difficult for the average person
because how to gauge that because um
it's a bit of a moving target because
there's also other variables that could
cause this to be too much, [snorts] you
know, like so one week uh it may it's
maybe it's the the right amount or the
right dose. Uh then the following week,
uh something happens at work. I have two
nights of bad rest, had a day or two in
a row where I missed macros and protein.
And like now that context is different.
It changes. Now too much can be uh less
than what the previous week was. And so
this this is the part I think that can
be
>> challenging people. And this is why I
know u I'm sure people are so tired of
hearing me say the my goal is to do as
little as possible to elicit the most
change. But in my opinion, you are
always better with practicing
consistency and lean le weighing towards
doing too little than you are trying to
do as much as you possibly can. As long
as you're consistent, right? You're
showing up to the gym. I would rather
you show up, just go through the
movements at m moderate intensity,
moderate volume
>> than go and feel like you need to crush
it every single time because that person
actually will end up with lesser results
than the person who just keeps on going
and and is chipping away and modest
workouts and a lot of times they go
there and they just kind of practice the
movements. they don't really push
intensity and then when they feel really
good and they're well rested and they
ate well and they they're feeling
strong, okay, maybe I'll push it a
little bit today and then back off. It's
like it's wild how little we have to do
when you work with your body. And I
think we're fooled by a lot of the
results that we see by these bodies on
social media and these bodybuilders and
bikini athletes that are enhanced and
genetic anomalies and and they live and
they live they eat rest work out is
their full-time job
>> and we're average moms or dads who have
their careers that have other stresses
and don't work out and sleep and like a
different game for you.
>> Yeah. Well, I mean, that mentality
really is the antidote to what you were
talking about earlier about somebody
who's putting all the work in. And
there's nothing more frustrating than
working really, really hard, getting
nowhere, and even a lot of times setting
yourself back to the point where it's
like, you know, do I even attempt? I
know this is good for me, but I'm I'm
not getting anywhere. It's so
frustrating. I'm just going to give up.
100%. And and by the way, what you
listed earlier, Adam, that when you said
one week is this and one week is that,
you're talking about the average person.
>> Yeah.
>> Uh the average person does not have
perfect weeks of sleep, recovery, diet,
and stress week in and week out.
>> That's right.
>> The average person has weeks that go up
and down, seasons
>> that go up and down. Um and so what you
do, what you want to do is you want
minimal dose for maximum effect. That's
what you always want. Why? Because that
leaves you room for life. Yeah. If I do
maximum dose for maximum effect, uh then
when life hits me, which it will, that
dose is too much and now my body isn't
adapting. It's not changing. So, you
know, the question is, how do I know
>> if I'm doing the right amount? It's
actually not hard to tell. So, this is
where people get a little bit confused.
Like, how do I know I'm doing the right
amount? Here's how you know. You're
getting stronger.
>> Yeah.
>> You have more energy and you feel
better. Here's how you don't know. I'm
sore all the time. That does not mean
you had a good workout. I'm tired. that
does not mean you had a good workout or
the scale necessarily keeps moving down.
That doesn't necessarily mean you're
doing the right things. Oftentimes, in
fact, people the scale will go down
because people are dramatically reducing
their their food intake, dramatically
increasing their activity, not even
realizing they're losing 50% of their
weight and muscle and setting themselves
up for a really nasty plateau and a
rebound later on because now they have a
slower metabolic rate. Uh, and they gain
all the weight back except the weight
they gained back wasn't half muscle, it
was all fat. So now they're in a
position where they weigh as much as
they did when they first started except
they've lost a significant amount of
muscle. So you know and I look we we
trained people for years um with this
method and it was it was always it was
always interesting to me. It was e I
always had to convince people in the
beginning but after the third or fourth
week I no longer had to convince them.
It was always that way. It was like if I
had the fitness fanatic that showed up
that said hey you know I've been
plateauing. I'm working out five days a
week real hard. I'm doing all this
cardio. I'm doing all these things. why
isn't my body progressing? And I look at
their routine. I go, "Cool. We're going
to cut your training volume down in half
and I'm going to eliminate 80% of your
cardio." They looked at me like I was
crazy. They're like, "Wait, hold on. I'm
plateauing and you're telling me to do
less and that's going to give me better
results. Am I crazy?" So, I'd have this
conversation with them and luckily I can
be very convincing. And I'd say, "Okay,
trust me. Let's try this and see what
happens." And then after three or four
weeks, they'd come back and be like,
"This is weird." That's always what I
would hear. This is really weird. How is
it that my body's improving? I'm doing
so much less. And I said, "Because now
we're not uh overwhelming your body with
stress. We're not working with your
body. Your body can finally adapt." Uh I
remember when uh I trained Doug. So
Doug's our producer here at Mind Pump.
He's one of our business partners. But
Doug started off as as my client,
somebody with a history of exercise. He
knew how to strength train. He lifted
weights for years. He didn't come to me
as a total beginner. He came to me
because he was referred by somebody that
I knew. And his idea was that we were
going to work out four days a week. This
was the idea. He thought, "Yeah, four
days a week strength training, that's
probably what I need to do." And I said,
"No, actually, I'm only going to lift
weights twice a week." And I remember
Doug looking at me like I was crazy. And
I convinced him. I said, "Let's give it
a shot. See what happens." And he got in
the best poss the best shape of his
entire life, stronger than ever. And I
remember those early conversations. In
fact, this is what got uh, you know,
started Mind Pump. Doug thought it was
so mind-blowing. Said, "We got to do
something about this and create a
program around this because this is
wild. I can't believe I'm getting so fit
and strong doing so little." But that's
how it feels when you do it right. But
again, I want to be clear. It doesn't
mean it's easy. You still need to be
consistent. It's just a lot easier than
doing it wrong. Doing it wrong is really
tough.
>> The crazy part though, it's it's
actually uh a lot easier to be
consistent when you don't
[clears throat] beat yourself up with
that. One of the hardest still to this
day,
>> one of the hardest things for me to
motivate myself to go get up and go to
the gym the next day is when I overreach
the day before and I'm like, I'm feeling
it. I'm so I'm fried. I'm sore and achy
and I'm like I went too hard too much
and like going back and doing it again.
Uh it makes it that versus leaving the
gym feeling like I got a nice pump, a
nice workout, feeling like the next day
feel good like I worked out the day
before but not feeling like it's
impeding my movement. And so once you
kind of figure out this sweet spot, it
it it feels so much more like this this
beautiful delicate dance than it is like
this this thing that you're going to
muscle. Yeah. This sledgehammer or this
thing you're going to muscle your way or
force your way to your goal. And when
when people figure this out and they
unlock this uh the working out part
becomes far more therapeutic and
enjoyable and it much easier to be liong
100%. So all right let's talk a little
bit about
>> what this looks like. So I'm going to go
through the data
>> uh on strength training. So the workout
part we're going to talk about today is
strength training. Uh now the reason why
we're going to talk about strength
training and not other forms of working
out is because when it comes to minimal
uh dose maximum effort strength training
fits that perfectly. So other forms of
adaptation stamina endurance uh
flexibility skills training it actually
requires a larger dose uh to to reap
those benefits. Strength training is
remarkable. You really don't need a lot
at all to get your body to really start
to to build strength uh and build
muscle. The re other reason why we're
going to talk about strength training is
because of all the forms of exercise,
it's the one that produces the most
aesthetic changes. Okay? So, most people
listening, okay, yes, you want to get
healthy, you want to move better, you
want to feel better, but not at the top,
if you're being honest with yourself, is
I want to look good. I want to look like
I work out. Strength training is the
aesthetic form of exercise. It's the one
that produces visible changes to the
body through the building of muscle,
through the boosting metabolism, and
through the fat loss that occurs through
uh through strength training. So, here's
what the data shows for the average
person. So, the average person to reap
the vast majority of benefits uh from
strength training, you're looking at
about two days a week, okay? About two
days a week in the gym will produce the
vast majority of all the benefits you
could ever enjoy from strength training.
Now, notice I didn't say uh two days a
week gets you uh almost as fast to your
goals. That's not what I meant. That's
not what I said. What I said was it'll
get you the vast majority of benefits.
In other words, you'll get so far with
two days a week, you're probably going
to be very satisfied. And some of you
are going to want to take it to the next
5% level and then you can add a third
day or maybe a four day. But most people
are like, "Look, I just want to look
sculpted. I want to have some muscle. I
want to feel good." Two days a week does
that. But there's a better way to do
this. Rather than doing two, let's say
45minute workouts a week, what we found
that's even better is instead of doing
two 45minute workouts a week to do a
little bit every day.
>> So instead of 45 minutes or an hour
twice a week, you do 15 minutes a day.
Now, why is that so much better? Let's
talk about that for a second, fellas.
Why is 15 minutes a day better than two
longer workouts? What is it about doing
a little every day?
>> It's you're creating a habit just like
brushing your teeth or doing something
else. something that ends up being it's
a smaller commitment, right? So, it's a
smaller time commitment that you build
consistency around doing every single
day and then it just becomes a thing
that you do just like brushing your
teeth or combing your hair or whatever
the things that you do every single day.
And getting someone to work out for an
hour at a time, whether it be every
single day or twice a week, becomes a
larger commitment and leap for most
people. And so, and not only that, but I
I just I think it's a more appropriate
way for the average person to actually
manage the stress, too. It's uh, you
know, a a 30 minute or I mean a
60-minute workout, 45 60 minute workout
sometimes can easily tip somebody over
in with that stress bucket that we were
talking about earlier versus if they're
just doing two exercises a day, it tends
to manage that a lot easier for them
because you could get you can get after
kind of two work two exercises and be
done and still not really overdo the
intensity because it's just two
exercises.
>> And then that way too, you get that same
amount of volume because you spread it
out throughout the week. So it's not
like you're missing out on, you know,
the volume aspect of it, but you're
allowing your body that amount of time
extra to recover between. So when you go
to approach the next workout, it's like
you got more energy, you got more focus.
Um, and yeah, it removes a lot of
barriers in terms of time restraints.
For our from our experience, it's easier
for the average person to find 15
minutes a day than it is for them to
find 45 minutes or 60 minutes twice a
week. It's just easier. So that's number
one. Number two, you're going to miss
workouts. Okay, everybody, fact. You're
going to miss workouts. You're not going
to be perfect. If you do two workouts a
week and you miss one workout, 50% of
your workouts is gone.
>> If you're doing 15 minutes a day and you
miss two workouts, you've still done a
majority of those workouts. You've still
done more than had you missed one of the
other workouts. Then you guys are
talking about uh fatigue and stress. So,
there is a total stress throughout the
week, but then there's cumulative within
the workout. So when I'm doing two
exercises, I don't get that cumulative
stress like I would if I did all of it
or most of it in a single workout. So in
our experience, what we're finding is
when people do uh like our MAPS 15
program, which is 15 minutes a day, they
get better results than even when they
were doing the same amount of volume in
two workouts. Yeah.
>> They get better results. They're more
consistent more effectively.
>> They're stronger, uh better fat loss,
everything works a lot better. So a
little bit every day. Here's the other
uh thing I like about you talked about
the habit uh building. Working out uh
does make the rest of the day better.
Okay. In the short term, you get a
little energy boost. You feel good if
it's appropriate. Uh makes you happier.
Uh when I when I we've observed with
people who do 15 minutes a day is that
the rest of the behaviors later on uh
tend to reflect the fact that they feel
better and the fact that they worked
out. So what tends to happen naturally
is diet gets a little bit better. they
have more energy and they move more on
those days as well which of course
contributes to the fact that to to their
goals which is which is great.
>> Yeah. And I this can come off like we
are speaking to the audience that is
just trying to get started or just start
to build consistency
>> uh and beginner but this is how I train.
I mean, this I I typically, even though
I I dip in and out of all the different
types of like ways that we program, I
find myself more consistently training
in this kind of 15minute style. It just
work. It's so conducive for my
lifestyle. Uh it's easy to commit to and
I'm so blown away by how well my body
even as an advanced consistent type of
lifter, whatever category you would
throw me in. Uh and and so I just want
to make that clear because I think
sometimes people hear this message and
they go because we've been labeled as
this. Oh, those guys are great for
beginners. You know what I'm saying?
It's like no, this is like even if
you're somebody who's been training for
a really long time, this is incredible.
>> Here here, okay, here here's how this
would work. The same protocol would work
fine for a beginner, would also work
fine for someone who's advanced. Here's
what it would look like. So, we'll take
imagine a guy who's totally
deconditioned, right? He hasn't worked
out for years, works at a desk job. Uh,
and today's workout calls for uh, squats
and bench press. Let's say squats and
bench press. So, when he goes to do
squats, uh, look, it's he just he's he's
doing 100 pounds. 100 lbs is all he
could do because he's just getting
started. And when he's bench pressing,
maybe he can bench press, you know, 60
lb or something like that. He's just
getting started. Here's the advanced
version of that guy. Same workout. He's
squatting 300 lb, but he's bench
pressing 200 lb. Okay, that's the
difference. The workout's the same. He's
just lifting more weight.
>> So, that the progress is built in by how
you scale the weights that you're using.
It's not that he needs to work out
longer.
>> Yeah.
>> It's that he's lifting more weight. So,
when you see someone who's training this
way and it who's advanced, they're just
a lot stronger. That's all. When you see
a beginner who's training this way,
they're just not as strong. And that's
how this workout works uh for both uh
categories. Here's a second point with
this. So, you're like, "Okay, I'm doing
two lifts a day. Which exercises do I
do?" The ones that matter.
>> Yeah.
>> You do the exercises that matter. Which,
by the way, this is another thing,
speaking to my own personal experience
that I have found that's interesting is
that
>> it it forces me to choose those ones.
>> Yeah.
>> When I when I would go to the gym for an
hour, I'm guilty of this. I'm guilty of
starting my workout with one or two
compound lifts and then the rest of the
hour are like machines I like to do or
kind of these [snorts] other
some Yeah. isolation exercises. But
really, when I were to if I were to to
criticize my own programming and
workout, you know, the the real heavy
lifting or the real movers and body
composition change that I'm doing is
really in the first couple lifts and the
rest are kind of fillers for the rest of
that time there. And so when you distill
a workout to just two exercises a day,
you're you forced in a way. And
obviously we programmed it so you would
be if you were following our program, we
did it for you. But I mean, even as
somebody who's choosing my exercise, I
just choose the two best lifts, which
are compound lifts. And so I have found
that I like it for that reason, too, is
I kind of cut out all the fluff totally
>> in my workouts, and I'm literally doing
the things that are the biggest bang for
your buck.
>> 100%. So, uh, compound lifts, compound
lifts are exercises that require two
that are moving two joints. They're
called big gross motor movements. Most
bang for your buck. So, an example is
like I want to work out my quads. I
could do leg extensions or barbell
squats. Well, barbell squats for the
same time spent, you know, same amount
of sets. Way more effective at not just
building my quads, but my hamstrings and
my glutes. Whereas the leg extension
will do a little bit to my quads,
nothing for my hamstrings uh and my
glutes. So, pick compound lifts when
you're working out this way. Here's the
third thing. Don't train to failure.
Lifting to failure. So, if people aren't
familiar, lifting to failure is you lift
a weight until you can't lift it
anymore. So, I do 10 reps and that's it.
I can't do an 11th rep. So I have to
train to failure. This is one of the uh
and by the way the data now we've got
great studies and data on failure
training versus uh what we call leaving
two in the tank. Right? So the
comparison would be 10 reps would be
failure versus just doing eight reps. So
eight reps with the same rate that I
could weight that I could do 10 reps
versus doing all 10. Okay? So one of
them I'm doing two more reps but I go to
failure. Then when I do eight and I stop
two reps short. Here's what we find in
the data. In the short term, no
difference. in the short term, same
amount of muscle, same progress. As you
extend that out, the going to failure
crowd, their body starts to get fried.
Uh, and they start to overreach. So,
failure is too much intensity for most
people most of the time, and it doesn't
produce better results. So, the third
point here with this is you don't train
to failure. Now, you train hard, but you
you stop all of your sets two reps short
of failure, and you'll get better
results, far better results uh that way.
took me a long time for me to figure
this piece out cuz there's this
>> there is this almost addiction to
somebody who's trained this way. Uh to
want to push that way cuz you you feel
the pump, you feel the soreness, you
feel like I can do more. It
[clears throat] took a lot of discipline
to go I to to back off of that. But the
results were so much better when I when
I learned to do this. And that doesn't
mean there's never a place for that.
It's just a majority of your training
should should look like this. And
especially if you're just getting
started. You're just getting started.
You're going to see strength gains uh
pretty continually for a while just by
getting good at the the the exercises,
eating what you're supposed to eat,
focusing on rest, and then even the
advanced lifter if you're scaling down
to something like this, like pulling
back on those failure training days
makes a massive difference.
>> So, here's what we did. We have a MAPS
15 program. It's 15 minutes a day. By
the way, in that program, there's a
version that requires almost no
equipment. And then there's a version
we're using free weights. So, you can do
either one, free weights or the one that
requires almost no equipment. I believe
it's a suspension trainer in it. And
then we have another program called Maps
Anywhere, which can be done anywhere,
which requires almost no equipment as
well. So, here's what we're doing
because of this episode. If you get one,
you get the other one for free. So, buy
one, get one free. You get MAPS 15. It's
an everyday program almost every day,
six days a week, 15 minutes a day. After
you're done, you have maps anywhere to
follow. It's this wonderful combination
of programs that for most people is
going to produce some of the best
results that they've ever had. So, it's
buy one get one free. You go to
mapsboggo.com
to get that. You can also find Mindpump
on Instagram. If you want to talk to us,
go to Mindpump Media. We'll see you
there.
>> [music]
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