Frequent, Brief, but Repeatable

I love training.

So I train frequently. Basically daily.

I'll lift 4-6 days per week and I do some form of easy cardio or movement or High Intensity Interval training every non-lifting day, and often at a different time of day on a lifting day. (At the very least I'm going for a brisk 45 minute walk).

But I don't like training long.

I don't respond well to being in the gym or – more often than not – in my garage, lifting weights for long periods of time. It just takes the fun out of training for me.

Therefore, I train very frequently but briefly.

This isn't sexy and it's definitely not a mainstream approach. Most people say you gotta train for hours 4-6 days per week. On the flip side of the industry, others suggest you train infrequently (like 2-3 days per week or less) but also using very long and draining workouts.

That sucks...for me.

I'm around the gym and fitness all day long due to working as a personal trainer. I stay pretty active at work but I'm also pretty observant. I've learned that long, draining lifting sessions are unsustainable for most people (myself included).

Again – I love lifting weights. It makes me feel amazing. But I know if I do high volume AND high intensity, my frequency is negatively impacted due to recovery demands. That combination takes the fun out of training.

Instead, I prefer doing relatively high intensity (taking sets within 0-3 reps of failure), high frequency (training 4-6 days per week), but using a lower (daily) volume.

I want my lifting sessions to feel like play. Short, intense, but regular (nearly daily) lifting sessions feel like play.

It also keeps me in the habit of training. It's like basic hygiene for me.

As for cardio, I try to incorporate some sort of short interval training – either with kettlebell ballistics (swings, snatches, clean & jerks), jump rope, or jog/walk intervals – at least 1-2 days per week.

I go for a 45+ minute minute walk every day. Sometimes I add in a couple shorter walks. Other days I'll do 1 much longer walk.

If I'm away from weights for a few days, I do bodyweight exercises like pushups, air squats, air single leg RDLs, lunges, single leg box squats (to whatever bench, bed, or chair I have available), and even pullups if I can find something sturdy enough to hang from.

Point is: I incorporate exercise into every single day. Whether that's lifting, ballistic/explosive training (kettlebell swings/snatches or jump rope or bouncing), or some general steady state cardio exercise. It doesn't matter. I make sure I do something every single day.

It keeps me mentally, physically, and emotionally fit.

These short lifting sessions make training so enjoyable, sustainable, and progressive for me. I can't encourage this style enough. Train more frequently but use shorter sessions.

If you're not sure how to do this, follow my blog: 30minutephysique.com where I share tips, sample programs, and my own personal training logs. I'm consistently posting ideas and workouts that take just 15-30, maybe 40 minutes and provide great results. The results are positively compounded when you take this 15-30 minute workout habit and do it 5-7 days per week.

Training like this can be very simple and effective if planned correctly.

But, unlike many people that talk about short, minimalist workouts – I don't take a minimalist approach to my training just because my sessions are usually around 30-40 minutes or less. I hate the minimalist approach. You know it – the minimalist guru idea of only doing the same few exercises (like, literally, 2-3 exercises is the entire program) a few days per week and staying far away from failure during all your sets. Bloody awful.

These minimalist programs leave out several main movement patterns and usually include absolutely zero isolation exercises. Can you imagine doing a program that doesn't directly train your calves, biceps, triceps, and side delts? It's as terrible as it sounds. Trust me. I've tried these programs before. They're boring and horrible for your gains.

Now, minimum effective dose is fine. That's doing the minimum amount it takes to make positive muscle and strength gains. MED is basically doing the least to make actual progress. While everyone's minimum effective dose varies, I think my approach is a bit more work than minimum effective dose for just about everyone. It certainly is more than my minimum effective dose.

Don't be a fool who confuses short, brief training sessions as being minimalist.

I split up my training into multiple sessions so I'm able to hit ALL the main movement patterns (the big 6), plus secondary exercises within those movement patterns (accessories), and I include isolation exercises (because they're definitely important).

Using multiple different sessions allows some training variety, but, more importantly, it allows me to effectively train every muscle group every week, while keeping my sessions short. It's one reason why I love Low Volume Full Body plans, PPL, and Upper/Lower splits so much.

Currently, my general program template looks like this:

I call this Program, “Full Body Low Volume.”

I like this program a lot and use it with most of my clients. Sometimes I’ll superset 2 exercises or even pair 3 together in a circuit.

Each session is just 5 exercises:

Push

Pull

Lower body

Accessory/isolation for arms

Secondary accessory/isolation exercise for whatever you want (side delts, calves, hamstrings, glutes, etc)

We split up horizontal and vertical pushes, horizontal and vertical pulls, and do a squat pattern and hinge pattern on alternate sessions.

While this is full body, there’s enough variation in exercise selection each session – such as vertical push and pull one day, horizontal push and pull the other, squats one day and hinges on another day, biceps one day and triceps on a different day – that you could train very frequently, even on consecutive days. And because the volume each session is relatively low (10-15 total sets per session) you’ll likely not be super fatigued or incredibly sore (just suffering a little soreness usually). So you could train 5 or even 6 days per week with this program, if you plan appropriately.

Without further adieu, here’s the FBLV program for consistent, practical long term muscle and strength gains.

Enjoy!

FBLV

warm up for 1-2 sets before all workouts:

1. glute bridges OR clam shells

2. band pull aparts OR bent over rear delt flyes OR face pulls (cable, rings, or TRX) OR TRX T drill x 15-20 reps

3. core (sample options: leg raise, frog situp, loaded carries, side planks, Copenhagen planks, leg raises, double crunch, dead bugs, ab wheel rollouts)

FBLV Session A

Ex 1: incline DB bench press or pushups-2-3x6-12 or 2-3 x max

Ex 2: Single arm rows-2-3x6-12

Ex 3: B stance RDL, single leg RDL, kettlebell swings-2-3x10-15

Ex 4: bicep curl variation-2-3x6-12

Ex 5: lateral raises or upright rows OR kettlebell swings, cleans, snatches, or leg curls-2-3x10-15

FBLV Session B

Ex 1: overhead press or clean & press-2-3x5-10

Ex 2: pullups or lat pulldowns-2-3x5-8

Ex 3: Bulgarian split squats, step ups, reverse lunges, step up to reverse lunge, potato sack squats, front squats, goblet squats, tactical clean & reverse lunge, or box squats-2-3x6-12

Ex 4: tricep extension variation-2-3x10-15

Ex 5: calf raises-2-3x10-15

Experiment and see what training frequencies, volumes, and intensities work best for you.

Find what works for you. For me, that's frequent, brief, but repeatable lifting sessions (with a focus on building muscle and increasing strength) along with quick and fast conditioning workouts and lots of walking outside.

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Here's another program. It's a Pull/Push/Legs Program. I love PPL for high frequency, short duration workouts. This is my favorite way to train. Aim to do anywhere from 3-6 sessions per week. Each of these sessions will take 20-30 minutes.

Pull Day 

Ex 1: pullups (or lat pulldowns)-2-3x5-8

Ex 2: single arm rows-2-3x8-15

Ex 3: incline dumbbell curls or concentration curls or spider curls (or whatever other curl you like)-2-3x6-12

Ex 4: incline hammer curls or secondary bicep curl or bodyweight face pulls or reverse scapular flyes (squeezing shoulder blades together) or inverted rows-2-3x10-15

Push Day

Ex 1: clean & press or overhead press variation-2-3x5-10

Ex 2: incline or flat dumbbell bench press (single arm or 2 arm)-2-3x6-12 or pushups for 3 x amrap

Ex 3: cable/band pushdowns or cable/band overhead extensions or dumbbell/kettlebell Skull Crushers or rolling tricep extensions or dumbbell kick backs or diamond pushups-2-3x10-15/amrap

Ex 4: lateral raise variation (I like chest supported or seated) or upright rows-2-3x10-15

Legs

Ex 1: Bulgarian split squats or standard split squats or alternating reverse lunges-2-3x8-15

Ex 2: single leg RDL or kettlebell swings or hamstring curls or single leg glute bridges-2-3x10-15

Ex 3: single leg box squats or box step ups or reverse lunges or box step ups to reverse lunges or heel elevated goblet squats or jump squats (use a box to keep depth just at or above 90 degrees on jump squats)-2-3x10-15

Ex 4: calf raise variation-2-3x10-20

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You'll see in this plan that my leg days include quite high reps. This is because I like large rep ranges to progress through before increasing weight (add reps first, then, after hitting 12 or 15 reps, increase weight) and also because I've found that legs respond especially well to time under tension. This seems to be more true with single leg work, which dominates my lower body training days.

Where you see multiple options of exercises, feel free to pick and stick with 1 OR just rotate between the options from session to session as you please.

I naturally gravitate towards these brief, frequent body building type sessions. It's fairly inspired from my time studying and experimenting with Vince Gironda's programs. Vince believed in training frequently yet briefly, and I found that fits perfectly with my own desires. A key difference between Vince's sessions and mine, however, is he liked doing more sets per exercise (4-8) with very short rest periods (30-60 seconds) between each set. I, on the other hand, have grown to respond best to fewer sets per exercise (2-3) and more rest between sets (1.5-3 minutes).

You see, I feel best when I train. Days where I don't train, I feel anxious and I itch for physical activity. A quick pump does me good.

With that said, I have no desire – nor do I respond well – to slogging around in the gym for hours at a time.

If I can do 4 exercises for 2-3 sets apiece (exception being EMOM, which I'll get into more later), 5-6 days per week, I'm a very delighted camper. These 25-40 minute sessions, practiced nearly daily, satisfy my mental, emotional, physical, and possibly, in a weird way, even my spiritual needs. 

While the volume seems fairly low, I'm able to accumulate around 8-12 sets per muscle per week of direct stimulus, along with plenty of indirect stimulus. I am able to keep the quality of each set high, get a good pump, and finish my session without being completely wrecked for the rest of the day or week. I do enough to trigger a hypertrophic response (which is my main goal) but not enough to fatigue myself or tax my recovery system.

The next day, I train a different area of the body, and I'm able to squeeze in my training wherever I need to, or am able to, during the day. In that brief period of time I train hard, make a little progress, force a growth adaptation, and get out in one piece. I repeat this over and over again.

I train anywhere from 3-6 days per week, and, as long as I get 3 sessions per week I know I'm doing what's needed to improve my physique. But again, I, personally, tend to aim for 5-6 sessions per week.

Furthermore, I can easily adjust the program, or individual sessions, to fit the needs of myself or my clients based on what they enjoy, what equipment they have available to train with, and what exercises they/I need most to improve weak points in the 

physique.

This program offers quick sessions, the flexibility to train very frequently, if desired, or as little as 3 days per week, and the flexibility to adjust exercises as you wish.

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