How To Build More Muscle In Less Time

Imagine you take a medication with lots of side-effects. Now, they invent a new drug with the same results for the same price with no side-effects. Of course you’d switch medications, right?

But what if I did the same thing to your workouts? What if I halved the time you spent in the gym to get you more results than before — would you try it?

I hope. Because a big mistake I see at commercial gyms is this:

People do too many exercises.

Just to “work their legs,” they’ll use two different leg press machines, a leg extension machine, a leg curl machine, and a calf raise machine. That’s five exercises. And to “work their chest,” they’ll do a flat bench press, an incline bench press, a decline bench press, a chest fly machine, and seated cable chest press machine. That’s another five. So targeting the chest and legs, they’ll do at least ten different exercises.

I could do it with three. (Four if you’re really strong.)

How? By using complex, multi-joint exercises that work everything. These are “bang-for-your-buck” exercises that exhaust many muscle groups, strengthen joints and ligaments, sharpen your motor control, are easy to increase in load, save time, and all-in-all look badass.

Here’s a workout that contains only these comprehensive-type exercises to get you more results:

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The Workout

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Workout A

Pick one of each:
Legs: Goblet Squat / Front Squat / Back Squat
Chest: Push Ups / Barbell Bench Press / Dips
Legs**: Split-Squat / Reverse Lunge / Lateral Squats
Vertical Push: Dumbbell Overhead Press / Dumbbell Push Press / Barbell Overhead Press
Core: Plank / Stability Ball Rollouts / Stability Ball Jackknives

Workout B

Pick one of each:
Legs: Deadlift / Romanian Deadlift / Pull-Throughs
Back: Seated Cable Row / Inverted Row / Pendlay Row
Legs**: Step Up / Bulgarian Split Squat / Kettlebell Swing
Vertical Pull: Pullups / Chin Ups / Kneeling Pulldowns
Core: Palloff Press / Side Plank / Farmers Carry

** for higher-level trainees

Every time you workout, alternate between Workout A and B. Do 3 sets of 5 repetitions of the first two muscle groups, then do 3 sets of 8 reps of the vertical pull or push. For the last group – core – just do 2 sets of either 8 repetitions or 45-60 second holds (for the plank). If you’re a higher-level trainee, do an extra exercise for the legs at 3 sets of 8 reps.

Workout three times a week, with at least one day of rest in between. That could be Monday, Wednesday, Friday or Sunday, Tuesday, Friday, for example. Stick to it for twelve weeks, then pick new exercises for Workout A and B.

Increase the weight of your lifts by 5lbs every workout. If you did 3 sets of 5 reps with 150lbs on your front squat, do 155lbs next time.

Sample Workout A:

Front Squats: 3 sets x 5 reps
Barbell Bench Press: 3 sets x 5 reps
Reverse Lunge: 3 sets x 8 reps each leg (If you’re higher-level)
Kettlebell Overhead Press: 3 sets x 8 reps
Plank: 2 sets x 60 seconds

Sample Workout B:

Deadlifts: 3 sets x 5 reps
Seated Cable Row: 3 sets x 5 reps
Bulgarian Split Squat: 3 sets x 8 reps each leg (If you’re higher-level)
Pullups: 3 sets x 8 reps
Paloff Press: 2 sets x 8 reps

Too simple? Well, you’re right. It’s brutally simple. But strength isn’t meant to be complicated. (Difficult, yes — but not complicated.) We’re reducing the clutter while raising the intensity.

How about arm work? Consider this: when you do a chest or a vertical push exercise, you work your triceps; when you do a back or vertical pull exercise, you work your biceps. And because our goal is to save time, we need to focus on exercises that build the most muscle overall — bicep curls ain’t gonna cut it. (Your biceps will scream anyway after chinups with a 20lb weight vest.)

**By the way, you’re a “higher-level trainee” when you squat about 1.5-times your bodyweight: if you weight 150lbs, that’s a 225lbs squat.

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“Wrap It Up!”

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Okay, okay. Aside from your warm ups, these workouts should take no more than 25 minutes. And since you’ll start with four exercises per workout, that’ll be easy. Get in, get out, get strong — that’s our goal.

As long as you’re prioritizing your workout around a few key lifts, you will get the results you want with a lot less side-effects. But don’t just take my word — give this workout an honest try for three months, making sure you’re increasing the weight workout-to-workout, and see how your body composition improves.

You’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Try this workout and tell me how it goes. Have another quick workout you use? Tired of spending too much time in the gym and not getting the results you want? Leave a comment, “Like” it, hit me up on Twitter, or add me on Facebook.

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