Two Workouts A Week Is Enough For 80% Of The Gains
Takeaway Points:
There are strong diminishing returns to additional sets per workout, and additional workouts per week.
Contrary to popular belief, a simple workout routine consisting of 2 workouts per week is enough to get 80% of the benefits of exercise with 20% of the effort.
For people who do not have significant athletic or aesthetic goals, this is more than sufficient in most cases.
For most people, 2 workouts a week is enough.
It’s common to adopt a “no pain no gain”, “more is better” mentality all the time. Unfortunately, for most people, this doesn’t really hold true.
The reality is that there are well-known diminishing returns to exercise. You get the most benefit out of the first few sets of any exercise for any muscle group in a workout, and results per additional set diminish rapidly after that. You get the most benefit from a single full body workout per week, and the results per workout diminish rapidly after that. Research has repeatedly shown that you can develop and maintain significant results from just a couple short workouts per week, and that while you get more benefit out of more work, the results you get out of it drop off rapidly.
The tension arises from the fact that there’s often a terrible confusion that arises between people who are just exercising for health and people who are exercising for higher level goals like competitive strength or physique, significant manipulation of bodyweight, and so on.
I’ve seen this, so many times, result in a kind of crossing of wires. Bad personal trainers insist that their clients can’t get any results unless they’re putting in 4+ workouts per week, or working out multiple times per day, or similar. The end result is that they’re doing large quantities of low quality work, which often results in little to no real progress despite the excessive effort.
The reality is that if you know what you’re doing - you can absolutely get amazing results with just 2 short workouts per week, provided you’re pushing yourself hard.
What are the benefits and limitations of working out twice per week?
1.
The first and most obvious limitation of 2x/week workouts is that we have to be very clear - this is NOT going to get you maximum-possible results. It is going to give you 80% of the results with 20% of the effort, but it WILL take you that additional 80% of the effort to get that remaining 20% of the way to full genetic potential.
It is up to each person to decide where they fall on that scale. Do you want to reap the optimal reward with minimum effort, or do you want to get the maximum reward with maximum effort? Most people will fall somewhere between the two on the spectrum. Most of my clients, for example, still train 3-4x/week because they find that this is a good setup for them that enables them to pursue higher level goals without going too hard. But then again, I have plenty of clients who train 2x/week and get amazing results, or serious lifters who train 5-6x/week and really push the limits of what their bodies can do. It’s entirely up to you to decide what you think to be worth it, based on your lifestyle.
Some have advocated similar approaches, but tried to promise you results superior to what you would get with more training, which is simply untrue (Tim Ferriss’ 4 Hour Body). There are limits to the minimalist approach, and it is best to be honest about those limitations rather than projecting false results in an attempt to oversell the value of such an approach.
2.
The second major limitation is that since you have fewer workouts, it makes less sense to do complicated body part splits. A bodybuilder might train shoulders one day, chest another, back another, quads another, hamstrings another, and so on. When you’re only training 2x/week, you don’t have this kind of luxury. The best approach is to do two full body workouts, training every major muscle group each workout. You could also do an upper/lower split, training upper body one day and lower another, though this would be slightly worse off than doing full body.
This also brings us to the next point:
3.
The third notable effect is that since you’re only training 2x/week, you do NOT need to worry about recovery. It typically takes the body 2-3 days to recover from a tough workout. This becomes a problem when you’re training 4+ days per week, where chances are high that you will not be fully recovered by the time you have your next workout, and thus you have to carefully manage your training throughout the week to ensure that you’re not hitting the same muscle group again too hard before it’s fully recovered.
With a 2-3x/week frequency, you basically don’t need to worry about this at all. You’re always going to have a 2 day rest at minimum before your next workout, so you’ll typically always be fully recovered by your next workout. This works well when you’re doing a full body workout, since it means that no matter how hard you hit it, you’ll probably be fully recovered before your next workout.
4.
The next notable feature of this kind of approach, is that since you have fewer overall workouts (and thus cannot get in as many distinct exercises in a timely fashion) you really need to save time by skipping the less broadly useful accessory work, and focus directly on the most important movements - pressing, pulling, squatting, and deadlifting, ideally plus some kind of core exercise and some kind of cardio. This ensures you can hit all major muscle groups with minimal wasted time, and maximize the benefit you get out of it.
5.
Alternating rep ranges and exercise variations.
You generally get the best results from training in more than one rep range per week - for example, one day you train sets of 5-10, and another day you train with sets of 10-15. Training in the same rep range over and over again produces worse results, and increases your risk of overuse. The name for alternating different rep ranges throughout the week is called Daily Undulating Periodization (DUP), and has shown better results compared to hitting the same rep ranges over and over. Thus, we would want one of our training days to be a lighter day, and one a heavier day, in order to get the most benefit out of the training.
Research also generally shows that when you train a muscle group, more variety in terms of exercises used tends to produce better results as well. This makes sense, since it means that you’re working the same muscles through a greater range of stimuli, and helping to target muscle fibers with one movement that may not be as well trained in another movement and vice versa. Thus, since we are again very limited on total exercises, we should definitely ensure that we’re doing different exercises on each day to maximize the results that we’re getting.
A Sample 2x/Week Program
So what would a 2x/week minimalist program look like? Here’s an example:
| Exercise | Workout 1 | Workout 2 |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Deadlift 3x2-6 | Squat 3x2-6 |
| 2 | Bench Press 3x2-6 | Overhead Press 3x2-6 |
| 3 | Leg Press 3x8-12 | Romanian Deadlift 3x8-12 |
| 4 | DB Seated Overhead Press 3x8-12 | Incline Bench Press 3x8-12 |
| 5 | Plank 3x to failure | Lying Leg Raise 3x to failure |
| 6 | Cardio: 3x 30 sec sprint, 30 sec rest, maximum effort | Cardio: 10-15 minute jog, moderate effort |
Such a workout could be completed in probably 30-45min in most cases, depending on how quickly you progress through the exercises.
If you prefer other variations, you can swap out virtually any of these exercises with a similar full body movement, typically done with barbells, dumbbells, or machines.
Progression wise, you can follow a simple progression of adding a few total reps per week to each exercise - once you are able to perform 3 sets of maximum reps per set at a given weight, then you can add weight and drop back down to the minimum and repeat.
All sets should be performed at a weight that feels challenging/near failure within the given rep range.
You can adjust the rep ranges that you use in this program. If you care more about strength, then you might select something like 2-5 and 5-10 as your rep ranges. If you care more about endurance, then you might select something like 8-12 and 12-20 as your rep ranges. For general physique/muscle mass, the above approach will probably be just right for you.
Outside of the Program
Move on with your life. Get on with all the other stuff that you care about.
To support maximum results and recovery, ensure that you’re getting in around 0.8g/lb/day of protein - about 80g for a 100lb person, 120g for a 150lb person, or 160g for a 200lb person, and so on. You can focus on getting this via high protein foods, ensure you’re getting in a lot of fiber as well, and don’t worry too much about the rest of your diet. Minimize your junk food, but enjoy the occasional comfort food when needed.
Make sure that you’re managing your stress levels via mindfulness practice and quality sleep.
Keep your step count high. A step count of 5,000+/day is a good value that maximizes most of your benefit, and a step count of 10,000+/day is a common (though not necessary) target for those looking to maximize their health benefits from movement.
If you do all this stuff, you will be getting 80% of the benefits you can get out of fitness with minimal effort. This should be your baseline goal for any training program, and should be the baseline goal for any person looking to maximize their lifespan.
If you are a person without significant athletic or aesthetic goals, you probably don’t need much of anything else. If you’re a personal trainer or coach working with general population clients, this should be your goal to get clients to stick to.
We do not need to complicate it, we do not need to put in unnecessary effort. Just stick with what works.
Some people have tried to overly complicate this formula (Tim Ferriss’ 4 Hour Body). Don’t bother with it, this is easier and better.
About Adam Fisher
Adam is an experienced fitness coach and blogger who's been blogging and coaching since 2012, and lifting since 2006. He's written for numerous major health publications, including Personal Trainer Development Center, T-Nation, Bodybuilding.com, Fitocracy, and Juggernaut Training Systems.
During that time he has coached hundreds of individuals of all levels of fitness, including competitive powerlifters and older exercisers regaining the strength to walk up a flight of stairs. His own training revolves around bodybuilding and powerlifting, in which he’s competed.
Adam writes about fitness, health, science, philosophy, personal finance, self-improvement, productivity, the good life, and everything else that interests him. When he's not writing or lifting, he's usually hanging out with his cats or feeding his video game addiction.
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