Less is more?

Recently with having a busy life, time constraints, working two jobs, family, huskies etc I realised I wasn’t getting as much gym time as I would like or was trying to do too much at once.

I had a 4 day split for my workouts and if I was getting to the gym twice a week which meant bodyparts were being trained every two weeks and I wasn’t making any progress and if anything was getting out of shape. If I was getting to the gym more than that I still wasn’t making progress and was feeling tired

In the gyms I work in I see so many people who spend hours there each week and never seem to progress, improve or get anywhere with their physiques.

In the New Year I decided to see if I could change things up and I decided to see if I could find a solution to getting my workouts done each week with my busy life.

The Kinobody “Greek God” program by Greg O’Gallagher was suggested to me and I though it would just be another fad workout someone was trying to make money from.

I decided to give it a try as a push/pull program training just twice a week to encompass full body training within a one week time period.

Much to my surprise my lifts have increased dramatically in just three months and I have dropped 12 pounds in body weight at the same time.

I was very sceptical of this at first but I am very surprised at the results I’m getting.

Mainly basic compound movements with only 4 exercises per workout using a reverse pyramid set method ie warm up to attempt your heaviest set first then drop the weight for two subsequent sets whilst increasing the no of reps.

Isolation movements are only 3 sets at the same weight.

As an example:

Workout A

Flat dumbbell press 5,6,8 reps

Standing barbell shoulder press 5,6,8 reps

Dumbbell side laterals 3 sets 8-10 reps

Tricep push downs 3 sets 8-10 rep

Workout B

Chin ups weighted/assisted 5,6,8 reps

Hack Squats 5,6,8 reps

Dumbbell bent over laterals 3 sets 8-10 reps

Barbell curls 3 sets 8-10 rep

And that’s it – I thought I would have to do a lot more to see progression but it’s working and I feel stronger than I have in a long time and getting in to good shape without killing myself at the gym.

I’m thinking that more isn’t always better and I’m feeling stronger and fitter than I have done in a long time and the only cardio I do is my regular husky walking.

I’m getting older and realising that a different approach is required allowing more rest and recovery time but whilst still making an effort.

If you think you are getting stuck or slowing down as you get a bit older maybe more isn’t always better and you may need to rethink about your approach as to how often and how much you need to train.