The old-time trainers knew how to build muscle without wasting time in the gym.
Many of today’s modern day bodybuilders spent their entire lives inside the gym. They have no hobbies, no friends and no social activities. And they don’t care.
Compare that with the old-time trainers who found a way to build muscle even while balancing a career, a family and other hobbies outside the gym.
Today, I’m going to give you a simple (but incredibly effective) workout plan that you can “fall back on” when life gets hectic.
This plan involves only two workouts per week, and each workout will only take 30 minutes.
But make no mistake. If you work hard on this plan, you’ll still build plenty of muscle and strength even though you’re only in the gym 60 minutes a week.
So without further ado, here’s the plan:
Monday:
Squats 3 x 5
Overhead Press: 3 x 5
Thursday:
Deadlift: 3 x 5
Bench Press: 3 x 5
First of all, don’t be fooled by how simple this plan looks.
Next, here’s how it works. “3 x 5″ means three sets of five reps.
So after your warm-ups, you will do three work sets of five reps per set.
Use the same weight for all sets across.
When you can complete all reps in all sets, increase the weight 5-10lbs for the next workout.
Take plenty of time between sets and between exercises. No need to rush this and you should eventually be using heavy weights so you will need the extra recovery time.
Try to eat plenty of good, wholesome food. But if time is short you may have to rely on protein shakes more than usual.
Use this workout routine for a month when life gets crazy (ie: during finals, busy season at work, new baby in the house, etc) and then when life gets back to normal you can switch back to your regular routine.
Not only will you have NOT lost a step, you may find that this two-day a week workout plan actually made you bigger and stronger.
Give this plan a shot and let me know your results.
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
Nice post!
1. Anything wrong with using this workout as your regular workout?
2. Isn’t Usain Bolt proof that you don’t need big muscles if you want to go fast? Bolt is 6′5″, 190 lbs and Asafa Powell is 6′2″, 190 lbs. Powell is clearly more muscular, but Bolt is way faster. If you want to go fast (in sprinting), wouldn’t you be fine on small muscles?
@Amir:
No, nothing wrong with using this workout full-time. However, most people will see faster results from training 3x per week with a few more exercises. So that’s why this is more of a “fall-back” workout.
As for #2, the opposite is actually true. Bolt is actually proof that bigger muscles make you faster.
See this article for more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203946904574302490941575668.html
Great post. Very valuable advice. I wish I had used a routine like this when I was younger. You don’t have to add many exercises to this to make it a “regular” routine.
I started a very similar routine about a month ago. My routine consists of :
- “chest” dips
- close grip chins
- deadlifts/squats (I alternate each workout)
I work out 3x a week (Mon, Wed, Fri).
Would you recommend I also add overhead presses as mentioned above?
On a side note: I almost immediately noticed that my body feels better rested and stronger than when I was doing 5x/week with more exercises and longer sessions.
That’s a good-looking routine, Marco.
If you want to add overhead press, I’d alternate them with dips.
Hi Matt, Thanks for all tips.
Im agree with all your tips cuz I start a different workout from febrary 2009
I train mon thue and thurs frid
Military 4×8
Bench 4×8
Close grip 4×8
———–
Deadlift 4×8
Row 4×8
T 4×8
My body change a lot
I increase weight all time that I can
and I eat whole food every day
the 20th september I will change
with 5×5 3xper week
in febrary I was 62 kg .
Now Im 75 kg
I eat all natural no supplements at all.
milk eggs chick steak vegs fruits brown rice brad porridge nuts honey water.
Thanks a lot matt for all your tips you are great man.
bless you
Hi Matt, this seems like an incredibly useful piece of advice, something else in its favour is that this routine can performed at a smaller gym with more limited equipment if you cannot afford membership at a bigger, more expensive gym.
I was wondering if it was OK to add maybe one exercise onto the end of each workout as, even though it is counter-productive to do too much in a workout, there are no exercises designed specifically to target biceps or calves for example, although exercises like the squat encourage growth of the entire body hence this works.
I appreciate that this workout routine takes a minimalist approach, thats the whole point, but I was just wondering about a scenario like mine where spending time at the gym isnt a problem, its just getting to and fro that actually consumes the most time.
Amazing how something so simple like this is so effective, yet often scoffed at by the modern majority.
I usually train with routines similar to this, only diffence is I’ll usually add in a rowing movement and some ab work. I also always train 3x a week as I’ve found that’s the sweet spot for me.
@ Sean:
Training 3x a week on a regular basis is just about perfect for almost everyone.
Reg Park, Clancy Ross and a score of other brutally strong old-time guys mainly trained 3x a week.