Want Gains? Do Fewer Exercises.

When it comes to exercises in the gym for more muscle and strength, focus on doing less, but doing it better.

More focus.

More weight.

More control.

More intensity.

The easiest way to point out someone spinning their wheels and living in permanent mediocrity is seeing how many exercises they do in a session and how redundant those exercises are.

As an example, today is a PUSH day for me.

My workout is:

Warm up: 1 set of rear delt/scapular flyes; 1 set of leg raises

Ex 1: incline dumbbell bench press-3×6-12

Ex 2: chest supported lateral raise-4×10-15

Ex 3: cable overhead extensions-4×10-15

I could replace lateral raises with overhead presses, but I want to do an isolation exercise for shoulders today. I'll do overhead presses next time.

As you can see, that's only 3 exercises. But the volume is moderate (especially since I generally do 2 PUSH sessions per week), the effort is high, the focus is high, and the distractions and fluff are low. Progress is inevitable when I focus on fewer things during a workout.

You don't need to hit the chest from every angle in a single session.

You don't need to isolate every fiber of the shoulder every session.

You don't need to do every tricep exercise you've seen on social media every session.

Pick 1 chest exercise, 1 shoulder exercise, and 1 tricep exercise.

Do 2-5 sets per exercise.

Do each set to the best of your ability.

Complete the session and leave. You get no brownie points or extra gains because you spent more time physically hanging out in the gym.

If you like other exercise variations, feel free to use those alternate exercises next PUSH session.

However, be careful not to have too many exercise variations per muscle group! I find 2-3 exercise variations per muscle group or movement pattern works best.

When it comes to PUSH days, I pretty much alternate between 2 sessions:

Session 1: incline dumbbell bench press, chest supported lateral raise, overhead cable extensions

Session 2: single arm kettlebell overhead press, weighted pushups, single arm cable pushdown

I occasionally do dumbbell skull crushers as my tricep isolation.

If you want, you can add a 4th exercise to focus on a particular muscle group that you want more focus on. I'll sometimes do both overhead presses and lateral raises in the same session. If doing 4 exercises, though, I generally do just 2-3 sets per exercise, while I do anywhere from 3-5 sets per exercise if doing only 3 exercises per session. Which you choose – 3 exercises or 4 exercises – really depends on personal preference. Don't overthink it. 

That's it. I'll stick with these 2 sessions and 2 exercise variations per muscle group for at least 3 months (often a year or longer) before I switch something out for a “new” exercise variation.

Focus on doing less but doing better.

Bonus!

In the name of leaving no stones unturned, here's how I program PPL PULL and LEG sessions when doing just 3 exercises.

PULL A

Ex 1: pullups-3-5x5-10

Ex 2: single arm rows-3-5x6-12

Ex 3: incline dumbbell curls-3-5x6-12

PULL B

Ex 1: pullups-3-5x5-10

Ex 2: single arm rows-3-5x6-12

Ex 3: concentration curls-3-5x6-12

LEG A

Ex 1: Bulgarian split squats-3-5x6-12

Ex 2: single leg RDL-3-5x6-12

Ex 3: offset calf raise-3-5x10-15

LEG B

Ex 1: box step up to reverse lunge-3-5x5-10

Ex 2: B stance RDL-3-5x6-12

Ex 3: single leg calf raise-3-5x10-15

Those are just the sample exercises I'm currently digging. I'll dig in more to some of these exercises later.

Stop complicating you're training.

3-5 exercises per session.

2-5 sets per exercise (the fewer the exercises, the more sets you can/should do).

3-6 lifting sessions per week.

Keep sessions brief (the more frequently you train, the shorter your sessions should be).

Focus on training consistently and over the long haul, rather than worrying about having individually heroic sessions.

Focus on fewer exercises.

Prioritize compound exercises that provide you high returns on your investment (and that are also enjoyable).

Focus on training hard rather than accumulating unnecessary hours in the gym each session. 

Avoid redundant exercises in the same session.

Simplify!