Have you grown well doing short workouts

[Slowmoe]

Just curious to know the consensus on how much time is actually required in the gym. I’m 6’ 210lb and I don’t believe I’m at my natural limit. That said I’m on cycle and just feeling wore out from the long high intensity workouts and was wondering if people are growing doing, say 2-3 intense sets per body part.

 

[Delt123]

Yes when natty but was skipping calves and abs most of the time. 50min workouts back then.

Currently 1h and 15min, legs Maybe 1h30min

 

[Ashop]

Just curious to know the consensus on how much time is actually required in the gym. I’m 6’ 210lb and I don’t believe I’m at my natural limit. That said I’m on cycle and just feeling wore out from the long high intensity workouts and was wondering if people are growing doing, say 2-3 intense sets per body part.

Some of my best gains have came with workouts in the 45min to 1 hour range. My training then is a HIT/DC style of training.

 

[Beti ona]

10-15 minutes for mobility and warm-up series.
40-45 minutes of effective work.
5-10 minutes of stretching.

 

[FrancisK]

By short workouts do you mean a low amount of sets or just not taking much time between sets?

My workouts lately have been around 45 minutes, two body parts per workout 9 sets per body part, body weight stuff and abs before and after. 4 days a week, the 4th day is a full body workout with less sets per body part and takes a little longer but not much longer, probably an hour. I do the power lifts I don't skimp on anything, it's more about just getting it done rather than cutting down on the actual workout to make it shorter. I've seen my best results so far, far better results than when I was doing 5-6 days a week with long sessions.

Don't bring your phone, don't take your sweet ass time staring in the mirror and trying to look like a hardass douche between sets. Not saying that's what you do but the guys spending 3 hours in the gym are usually that guy that takes 20 minutes between sets looking around to make sure everyone sees how much weight he's doing in his 2 1/2 rep sets. Get in get your workout in and get out and get on with the rest of your day.

 

[Fit2Serve]

An hour workout sounds like an eternity. I dont think i have EVER trained that long. seems totally unnecessary. Plus, i have never been very good at recovery.

The sweet spot for me was 35-40 minutes and that was at peak of my competitive days and peak of my physique. I was doing 3 day split.
-F2S

 

[knucklehed]

I definitely grew best doing short workouts, 1-2 crusher sets per body part. Go home, eat, rest and GROW!

 

[danieltx]

Slowmoe, you weren't specific in your original post and this thread is now diverging into short in terms of time and short in terms of number of sets.

You asked about 2-3 sets working for growth - I think that's possible at 2 extremes.

Untrained individuals will undoubtedly grow from that since they've had no prior stimulus. Very advanced lifters can grow from it because they have a great mind-muscle connection and can generate the intensity needed to totally fatigue a muscle in 2-3 sets. For intermediate lifters in the middle, it probably won't work as well.

 

[Tom]

35 minutes works best for me. Example chest and back supersets 7 of each. About 2 minutes rest between supersets. This is done two times per week.

 

[Beti ona]

10-15 minutes for mobility and warm-up series.
40-45 minutes of effective work.
5-10 minutes of stretching.

My favourite distribution is one day ON - 1 day OFF.

For strength routines, I will need a little more effective work time.

 

[saffire]

I definitely grew best doing short workouts, 1-2 crusher sets per body part. Go home, eat, rest and GROW!

That's work best for me, train smart don't make workouts too long, go home eat and rest

 

[TheOtherOne55]

Just curious to know the consensus on how much time is actually required in the gym. I’m 6’ 210lb and I don’t believe I’m at my natural limit. That said I’m on cycle and just feeling wore out from the long high intensity workouts and was wondering if people are growing doing, say 2-3 intense sets per body part.

I'm just gonna echo what FrancisK is asking...are we just talking about short workouts or limited volume and higher intensity? Those are very different. I do relatively low volume (2 working sets per exercise) but my workouts are 1-1:20.

If I wanted to get volume in, I'd add more WO days in the gym.

 

[jeroendebleser]

I think looking at the clock for either rest periods or workout duration is always a bad idea. If your question is about volume, I also get more out of less. I do 1-2 sets per bodypart 3 times a week so my workouts are never over an hour long.

 

[Biggerp73]

You've got to experiment and find what works for you. The one constant that everyone needs is progressive overload.

 

[Brickshthouse79]

My favourite distribution is one day ON - 1 day OFF.

For strength routines, I will need a little more effective work time.

Are those total body workouts, push/pull/legs or some other combo?

Im doing dc now with upper body days and lower body days. I dont talk and it takes me about 50 minsnto finish a workout.

 

[BoredStiff]

Yes, 3 days a week P/P/L. I wouldn't say I grow better, but my results are identical as if I were in the gym 6 days a week. Typical schedule: (all 3 sets, very slow & controlled, aim for 10 reps)

Push:
Hammer strength decline
Dumbell flat
Whatever cable fly is available
Front plate raises
Whatever tricep extension is available

Legs:
Leg Press
Hack Squat
Leg Curl
Stiff Legged Deadlift
Whatever calf raise is available

Pull:
Hammer Strength iso-row
whatever pulldown is available
face pulls
whatever curl is available
neck flexion/extension superset

I finish each workout with an ab movement, usually hanging leg raises. Takes about 30 minutes, maybe 45 if it's busy. I do another 45 minutes of cardio because it's important to me but otherwise I'd be out of there in 30-45 minutes.

 

[NEMSZ]

Man, some guys are spending way too much time in the gym lol then again, I’m not exactly in love with that type of training..

Best results I ever got was DC Style Training (I admit I took WAY less rest on my rest pause sets than I was supposed to)...

30ish minutes in the gym except leg days was maybe 45 minutes and I trained EOD...

 

[Elvia1023]

Of course. Some of my best workouts have been approx 30 mins long. It's good to set a time limit so you have to really go for it. The key is intensity and progressive overload. If you do that in 30 mins then great. As long as you train hard the key is the other 23+ hours in the day.

Nevertheless I do personally prefer higher volume training. My workouts change massively throughout the year from 30 mins to 3 hours. Most days I am in the gym 1-2 hours.

 

[Musclemechanic76]

Am in 40s and gotten best results at fast paced high intensity workouts. I end up murdering large muscle and smaller one to keep pace non stop. I do this for my lunch break and it's been effective for me. And cortisol prolly doesn't get as high!!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk

 

[xpoc]

I suspect this wont be a popular response. But for ME, I honestly find that MORE is BETTER. I have done every workout on the face of the earth. I simply did not respond to the minimalist approach of training 3x per week. I gained most of my size by going 5-6x per week, about 1 hour per workout. Anything north of an hour(ish) and I find I start getting sick to my stomach and I lose focus. My best response is 6x per week, about 55 mins per workout using a combo of rest pause style training and then pump(high reps) finishers.