If you’re like most people that begin a serious quest towards health and fitness you believe that “more is more.” The more you do the better off you will be and the quicker you will see the results you are after.
You hit the gym 6 days a week and you give it 110 percent convinced that you will see results even if it kills you.
If you miss a session for one reason or another you perform an extra-long session next time or you may even decide to make up for it by performing two sessions one day.
Unfortunately for most, this only leads to discouragement, injuries and loss of muscle mass…three things that must be avoided if you want to see long-term results with your fitness plan.
Truth is, there is a very fine line concerning fitness…where less is more. If you do too much exercise and cross over this point you are only going to cause harm to yourself.
The great news is that fitness does not require hours at the gym weekly in order to see and reap the benefits.
If you are exercising properly, you can see powerful results in as little as 60-120 minutes per week or even less. Those working to gain extreme strength or muscle size will need a bit more exercise than someone who is working to maintain functional strength. Either way, it never requires 6 hour-long workout session again.
The key is minimalist exercise where you perform the minimum amount of training but receive the maximum amount of benefits. However…this does not translate to putting in as “little effort” as possible in order to obtain maximum results. Putting in little or no effort will result in no benefits.
Strength training/progressive resistance training is the key element in minimalist training, it is the most effective form of exercise that can help you to reach your fitness level.
Be aware that not all exercise qualifies as effective exercise. It may be fun and it may burn calories but not be effective training…the very goal of minimalist exercises.
Main principles of effective minimalist training:
Choosing the Right Exercises: The first requirement for in minimalist training programs in order to be effective is using compound, multi-joint exercises. This means that the movements that you do are doing are going to be working multiple muscle groups at once putting more force behind each and every lift you do. Using the technique of working multiple muscle groups at once means fewer exercises per session and a shorter workout overall. Compound exercises use more total muscle fibers to execute each lift meaning you have more sheer strength behind you as well. Compound exercise help you to reach your goals quickly and easily.
It does not require hours each week exercising to see stellar results if you are using basic, proven forms of exercise. It does however require the most effective exercises and these exercises can be identified by the following criteria:
Muscular strengthening: Vital for maintaining a healthy and fit lifestyle well into your senior years. Without placing some type of resistance overload on your muscle fibers…in time, those muscles will be lost.
Bone strengthening: Like muscles, bones degrade without proper tension placed on them. They can actually remodel themselves with the proper tension and become stronger than before.
Cardiovascular strengthening: Working your heart muscle to the full extent possible helps your heart to become stronger so it’s more capable of pushing blood throughout the body. The stronger the heart, the less likely yo0u will end up with heart disease.
Enhanced flexibility: Flexibility is something that goes fast if you are not continually working to improve it. The less flexible you are the harder it is to do certain movements.
Increased lean muscle mass: If you are apply a continual stimulus overload in the form of more resistance you will see an increase in the lean muscle tissue generation. More muscle mass means more calories burned. It also makes every move you make easier.
Increased resistance to injury: The right exercises should provide increased resistance to injuries because they strengthen bones, ligaments, tendons and muscle.
Top compound exercises that fill the above requirements and need to be part of your minimalist program:
Squat The “king” of lower body movements.
Deadlifts
Bench press
Bent over rows
Pull-ups
Pull-downs
Shoulder press
Lunges
Let press
Step-ups
These compound exercises should be forming the foundation of any good workout routine.
The next requirement is adequate weight lifted. Using the adequate amount of weight or resistance help you to gain maximum strengthen level and boost your metabolic rate.
Optimal Set/Rep Ranges: Minimalist means doing a fewer number of sets overall in the workout program and that means you should be keeping your total sets performed to around two to possibly three at the very most. If your primary goal is strength gains then use a lower repetition range, if your goal is fat loss or muscle building then use a slightly higher repetition range. Generally speaking, aim for around 5-8 reps for pure strength pushing up to 8-12 reps for fat loss/size.
Proper rest periods: You must take the proper rest between each set you perform to allow the body to recover and get ready to push hard again. Keep your rest periods on the slightly shorter side so that you can maintain a good intensity level and always remember minimalist training requires you to keep the training sessions short but intense.
Sufficient time off for recovery: You need at least 48 hours of rest between working any given muscle group in order to it time to recover back to its full strength level again. If you hit a muscle group that’s still trying to repair itself from the previous session, you’ll be breaking it down further and growing weaker rather than stronger.
Done right, minimalist training will completely change how you view exercise. The real key to success with minimalist training is not to expect perfection …but to stay committed and expect maximum effort.
Everything you need to succeed with minimalist training can be found in my “Minimalist Exercise and Nutrition Program”…
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